What Will A 1 Micron Filter Remove

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20080813-filters

Whammo! Yous didn't see that coming, did you?

Why is information technology that, despite all our planning, we sometimes get caught past surprise, totally unprepared, with our pants down as information technology were? I mean, we're smart folks, right? How come sometimes we just don't see stuff coming?

The answer is, much of the fourth dimension, that nosotros don't see everything clearly because we don't see a lot of things at all. We process the raw stuff of experience through a variety of filters – and we act on the "processed" information, non the globe as information technology is.

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Those filters are engrained in us, often from birth, and about of the time they help us to effectively function in our social and physical environments. For example, one very simple filter we take is how to isolate something interesting or important from a cluttered groundwork – think finding your keys amid the mess at the lesser of your pocketbook. Or identifying something practiced to eat – a ripe fruit, perhaps – amongst the unripe fruits, leaves, and branches of a tree.

That's a pretty bones filtering ability (though the physiological mechanisms involved are quite circuitous) that humans everywhere rely on every day to survive, and then it's a good thing. But there are many much more complex filters that nosotros pick upwards as office of our thinking repertoire, and as helpful as they might sometimes exist, they can also become us into a lot of trouble.

Here are some examples:

Language

Linguistic communication is a powerful force in shaping our behavior. Merely ask a sanitation engineer! Employers have long recognized the mode that chore titles can touch employee performance – which is why there are and then few clerks and and then many associates at your local retail mega-outlet.

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But linguistic communication can lead u.s. astray, every bit well. Consider this instance drawn from the annals of linguistics: a tanning factory discharges wastes, more often than not animal matter, into a pond. The decomposing waste matter creates flammable gasses. A "pond", though, is not flammable, correct? I hateful, right?! A human is working almost the pond. Not taking any special precautions – why would you, next to a "pond"? – he ignites a blow-torch. A sail of flame engulfs the pond and spreads to the nearby factory, destroying information technology.

The language we use to describe people tin can strongly influence our beliefs towards them. Feminists recognized this when they started insisting on terms similar "police force officer" rather than "policeman". Or consider this: numerous studies have shown that people with "ethnic-sounding" names are less likely to get job interviews every bit similarly-qualified people with "white-sounding" names.

Gender

Gender is a powerful filter in every civilisation – although the behaviors information technology shapes tin exist very different from civilization to culture. What is considered men'south piece of work in one society – conveying heavy loads of bricks, for example – might be considered women's piece of work in some other.

Gender leads u.s. astray when it leads u.s.a. to look at a person'southward gender as an alphabetize of their abilities. For case, in the US, it is common to hear people say things similar "men are stronger than women". This is not true. Some men are stronger than almost women, a handful of men are stronger than all women, and almost men are stronger than some women. But knowing someone'due south gender does not tell you anything almost how strong they are!

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Assumptions almost gender extend far across concrete attributes. With few exceptions, women still are not promoted to acme-level corporate positions, despite the number of qualified women in the business earth. Men are assumed to have "leadership qualities" that women lack – and women'south leadership qualities tend to be dismissed as signs of "manliness" or "bitchiness".

Race and Ethnicity

What is true of gender is likewise truthful of race and ethnicity. Knowing someone's race or ethnicity tells us little near that item person – yet we act as if it told the states a lot. Here'south an example: a black student of mine was accused of plagiarism in another class when she handed in an excellent essay. This is a student that added immensely to every classroom give-and-take she took part in, and who wrote insightfully in every assignment she gave me (including "personal reflection" papers that cannot be plagiarized). The other professor did non have any examples of work that the pupil had allegedly copied from; it was but "besides proficient". Race may not have been the only cistron, just it was clearly a factor; I've never had a white student of similar quality face a similar allegation.

Here'south another example: Blackness and other minority athletes, performers, even military leaders and politicians are often described as "articulate", an describing word rarely applied to their white counterparts. People do not await articulate spoken communication from non-white persons, and are surprised when they hear intelligent dialogue from blackness speakers.

Personal Experience

An erstwhile joke claims, "All Indians walk single file. At least, the 1 I saw did."

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Personal feel is a powerful learning tool, merely it tin can lead us off-target when nosotros make false assumptions based on generalizations from limited experience. Childhood experience can make for peculiarly powerful filters, as they tend to be imbued with strong emotional resonance, but whatever experience can lead united states to incorrect conclusions.

Examining Your Filters

What is insidious about all of these factors is that virtually of the time they role without us even noticing them. Nosotros don't promote Chad over Wilma because Republic of chad's a homo, but considering he seems more "leaderly", because he has that "certain something". And maybe he does – or maybe our invisible assumptions about gender make weak signs of "certain somethingness" seem potent, while Wilma'south powerful "certain somethingness" is filtered out.

Information technology's unlikely that you will catch your filters at work in your day-to-twenty-four hours life, but you can reflect on the way you have interacted with other people and how you've handled various situations (perhaps in a weekly review?). You may well be surprised to discover that, in many cases, you can't seem to put your finger on exactly why y'all acted the way you did – a sure sign of a filter at work. Paying attention to those moments will bring you a long way towards replacing the stock of feel and received wisdom with filters that allow you to more accurately and effectively act.

I've listed just a handful of obvious filters here. What are your filters? How could yous deal with them?

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