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October 30, 2024
Dear University Community,
Have you ever ridden an elephant? This is a rhetorical question, of course. Whether you know it or not, you ride an elephant every day. Dr. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Happiness Hypothesis, in the video below uses the metaphor of the elephant and the rider to describe the parts of the mind. “The rider is our conscious reasoning; it’s small and impotent, but it acts like it is in charge. The elephant is the other 99% of the mind that runs most of our behavior.” As an educational community, we trade in knowledge – facts and figures. Most of us, in everyday conversations in the workplace and classroom are speaking to the rider. In these conversations, where emotionally the stakes are low, we don’t recognize the elephant because it lays low too. In difficult conversations, where emotionally the stakes feel high, the elephant stands at attention and can, at times, dig its heels all the way in.
It’s easy to question how people who “seem so reasonable” can be “so unreasonable” about certain issues. We are missing the fact that persuasion with facts has its limitations. You can’t ignore the elephant. The next time you find yourself in a tricky conversation, pause long enough to truly see the person in front of you. Try to identify with them, not as a person on a different side of an issue, but as a person – a human being just like you, deserving of dignity with hopes, wishes, and aspirations. Then, try listening again to what they are trying to say. You just might learn something, you may not agree, but you will have offered respect, and that is a great place to start.
In service,
Enobong (Anna) Branch, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President for Equity and Professor

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