Mukherjee's 'Two Ways To Belong In America'

Me, Myself and I

Even though there are ongoing research to decipher the human mind in hopes to

understand the way the mind works, we are no closer to understanding than when research first

began in my opinion. How many times do we find ourselves trying to understand strangers, even

our closest relatives, especially if they were faced with a situation in which the expected outcome

was far from being reached? How many times did we replay the situation over and over in our

heads with the outcome based on what we would have done, unable to understand why the other

person was not able to see the outcome the we do.

A name for being unable to understand others point of view or being unable to place

yourself in their shoes is called
All samples are related to the inability to

understand or assume any perspective other than their own.

Peoples mindsets can influence the way they evaluate options and make choices (Bhanji

and Beer). An example of egocentrism is the article “Two Ways to Belong in America” by

Bharati Mukherjee. Which she describes as an embracing experience in which she would be

allow to form part of the community in which she lived and wanted to help by voting and making

whatever difference she was able to. While Mira felt that America was playing a manipulative

game, which she was ready to play.

Several studies show that in communication interactants tend to exhibit that “egocentric

bias”. An example like this is easy to relate to as there will be many people that will be able to

relate to those against it and there will also be many people relating to those who are pro-

immigration, in comparison to the example of Jenifer Tod, in which we might find it difficult to

rational the circumstances that would take us to make such a
Although Bharati and Mira grew up under

the same household, with the same parents they still grew up to be very different from one

another. Let’s take a moment to consider all of those whom are standing on the other side of our

point of view and analyze how we can, make it easier for us to see their point of view. Do take in

mind that we don’t have to agree with their point of view all we are trying to do is find the

important points in their argument to find a middle point in which we can agree and work with if

necessary. Many will find it easy, while others will have a hard time finding that middle point in

which a similar point of view can be achieve.

Psychologist have repeatedly shown that “activating or “priming” a knowledge structure

in one context can influence judgements in a separate, unrelated context. Once activate, a

knowledge structure can affect how one interprets subsequent ambiguous events to which the

primed construct relates. Conceptual priming involves activation concepts or mental

representation such as traits, value, norms, or goals that then serve as interpretive frames in