Third Person Effects and "The Other Side"

I found the third person effect to be quite interesting because although I had thought about it before I had never researched it. It surprised me to know that the effect had been studied so much and that it was a universal human behavior. It's almost an elitist attitude where we think that we're somehow above the rules or above the norm. But what I really found interesting was the "The "Other Side" Is Not Dumb" article. At a glance you might think that the article is simply saying "every one's opinion matters, we should all listen" blah blah blah. But especially in these incredibly polarizing times it was refreshing to read something that at least made me want to improve my own behavior. Basically he discusses how quickly we are to discredit/shame/blame those who's opinions disagree with ours. Like when I see people sitting protesting Planned Parenthood locations, I get angry and automatically assume the person is some uninformed bigot. This isn't to say that I've never thought about where someone I disagree with might be coming from, but I typically shame or discredit their reasoning. The author writes "As any debate club veteran knows, if you can't make your opponent's point for them, you don't truly grasp the issue." Especially with the current administration and all the hatred that is brewing on both sides, the article helped me realize it doesn't help anyone for me to be in attack mode all the time. We all need to listen more and try to calmly explain our reasoning instead of coming in with these "I'm better than you" attitudes. All of these articles basically say that it's human nature to think that we are individually better than the "average" person. And it would be far more beneficial for everyone to reserve their judgments and not assume that we're better than those who disagree with us.