“The World Isn’t Going to Hell” declared a recent Wall Street Journal story (Aug. 13). Really?
You could have fooled me. Almost everywhere you look, there’s depressing news. Wars. Shootings. Riots. Bombings. Crime. Earthquakes. Floods. Pandemics. Famine. And that’s just today’s headlines.
Looking ahead, there are plausible threats of nuclear conflicts, terrorist attacks, electric-grid shutdowns, cybersecurity failures, economic depression, meteor strikes, societal collapse. The death of democracy and the rise of totalitarianism are often predicted. A “Road Warrior/Mad Max” post-apocalypse breakdown of civilization is a real possibility, some believe.
Granted, there is plenty of evidence for all of the above. So what is The Wall Street Journal thinking?
“Sometimes, it seems as though we’re living in the worst of times. The truth is, we’re really not,” Journal writer Elizabeth Bernstein declares, adding: “I realize that might seem hard to believe. And, indeed, a robust study shows that most people think society is declining morally – steadily becoming ruder, greedier and less kind. Yet the study concludes that people are just as good as they’ve ever been.”
Does that come as a surprise to you? It did to me.
The study, “The Illusion of Moral Decline,” examined research from 60 countries, which included about 575,000 participants.
“People think the world has gone to hell in a handbasket,” said Adam Mastroianni, an experimental psychologist and lead author of the study along with Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychology professor. “But as far as we can tell it’s just the same as it always was.”
This may come as a surprise to lots of people, including many of my friends who are constantly bemoaning the state of the world today and the decline of moral values.
However, this study noted: “Human beings have been complaining about a moral decline since, well, forever.” And it found that: “A remarkably consistent portion of people over the years – around 60% — have believed that people are less good now than they were in the past.” And they also believe that the moral decline began in their lifetime. Yeah, that sounds right, right?
“Yet when the researchers looked at actual behaviors over time, they found something different. Year after year, people reported that others do nice things for them. And they do nice things for others.”
People also “consistently said that their own friends and family members behave better than ever.” Hey, that might sound right as well, right?
The studies asked if people “had recently been treated with respect, done something nice for someone else or donated to charity.” Most had.
So why do we believe that society is worse than it is? Because “our brains have a negative bias,” Bernstein wrote. “We pay much more attention to bad events or emotions than good ones. This is a survival instinct: we need to detect threats.” She quotes another neuropsychologist saying: “The strategy that keeps me vigilant on whether the lion is going to get me keeps me seeing threats everywhere.”
She notes that getting older might change perceptions as well. “People often see the world as more dangerous and risky during life transitions such as becoming an adult or a parent.”
But in the end (whenever that comes), “There’s a danger to believing that people are getting worse when that’s not really true. That belief distracts us from real problems that need to be solved. It makes us susceptible to people in power who want us to believe the worst so they can claim to be the only ones who can fix it. And it keeps us from connecting with each other.”
This really rang true for me. When I began writing this column for the Reporter more than a year ago, I told the editor that I wanted to write only about positive things that people were doing here on Mercer Island, to help their neighbors and the community. I’ve kept that pledge.
And there are plenty of good things to write about. The WSJ article ends with some advice from a Stanford psychology professor who says: “Talk more about the positive things people do….And take a leap of faith on someone: Ask a neighbor for help, give an employee more responsibility, talk to a stranger.”
Just look around, I would add. Every day I see good things that people are doing to make this a better community. Groups such as Mercer Island Youth and Family Services, Community and Events Center, Parks and Recreation Department, Stroum Jewish Community Center, MI School District, PTAs, MI Preschool Association, MI Chinese Association, Solemates, Friendship Circle, Little Free Libraries, churches, synagogues, book clubs, support groups … and I know there are many others. Send your favorite examples to my email!
If the world ever does go to hell in a handbasket, chances are some good person wove the basket as a selfless act of generosity and kindness.
John Hamer (jhamer46@gmail.com) is a former Seattle Times editorial writer and columnist who has lived on Mercer Island for 25 years. He is a member of the Rotary Club, a volunteer Forest Steward with the Parks Department, and helped make Mercerdale Playground accessible and inclusive. He often talks to neighbors and strangers.
