Data Science & Psychology Data Science applied to Values, Morals, Politics, & things that matter.

Losing an election is tough and I have immense empathy for those who have a heartfelt vision for their country that was not fulfilled on election day.  Most people who care deeply about the election, Democrats and Republicans, do so out of a real desire for the country to do better and it's unfortunate that the results have to disappoint so many well-meaning people.

That being said, there are some conservatives who have implied that those who vote for Obama simply want free stuff, while some liberals imply that billionaires who support Romney do so out of self-interest.  Consider this quote from Sarah Palin:

We're not explaining to the rest of America, who thinks that they're going to get a bunch of free stuff from Obama, that you have a choice. You either get free stuff or you get freedom. You cannot have both, and you need to make a choice.

Or consider this quote from Paul Krugman:

billionaires have always loved the doctrines in question, which offer a rationale for policies that serve their interests....And now the same people effectively own a whole political party.

And in reaction to the election results, Bill O'Reilly opined that the reason that Obama gets support is that...

There are 50% of the voting public who want stuff.  They want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama.

What these three quotes have in common is that they all make a common  mistake about how we view the motivations of others.  Chip and Dan Heath call this "getting out of Maslow's basement", which refers to Maslow's hierarchy of needs depicted below.

Maslow's idea was that motivation can be grouped from lower level needs such as wanting "stuff" to higher order needs like caring about others, fulfilling values, etc.   The implication of O'Reilly, Palin, Krugman, and many partisans, is that the other side is motivated by these lower level needs.  It is a common mistake, made in many domains to believe that others are motivated by lower level needs. Chip and Dan Heath have shown that we all assume that other people are motivated by lower level needs, but that we ourselves are motivated by higher order needs.  The truth is that most everyone is actually motivated by higher order needs. In the below video, they explain one of many studies showing this.

It is easy to let partisanship help you impugn the motives of others.  And there is no doubt that some amount of self-interest helps shape our values.  However, most people who care enough to vote do so out of higher order considerations.  Indeed, nobody stands in an 8 hour line to vote out of self-interest. They really do want to help the poor or promote economic growth and freedom.  And if we ever want to fulfill the bipartisanship we desire in the world, we would do well to understand the sincere motivations of others.

- Ravi Iyer