PART 2: Integrative Complexity (IC) and Our Choices in Life
In my previous post (Since I am Right, You Are an Idiot!: the Destructive Influence of Low IC), I introduced the idea of integrative complexity (IC) and its relationship to how we process complex sets of information. I’m not a psychologist, but it’s fascinating to consider some of the possible implications IC (or the lack thereof) could have on how we view different issues.
Looking at my very conservative upbringing, I would have to conclude that one side of my family isn’t terribly high in IC. They tend to see things in binary, all-or-nothing terms and often fall for conspiracy theories. Perhaps the earliest example I can remember was my John Bircher grandpa telling me that the Watergate burglars were really looking for evidence that the Democrats were getting money from Cuba.
On the other side of my family, I had a high IC uncle who taught university-level psychology, helped design the original Disneyland, and led the establishment of a new business college in Malaysia. My parents spent considerable time trying to “convert” my uncle from his liberalism.
Effects of IC on Career and Political Choices:
How does IC affect our career choices and even our politics? High IC people like my uncle make good scientists, academics, and artists, as they are highly curious and comfortable with uncertainty. People with mid-to low-range IC make good business people. Lower IC people might gravitate towards the trades and services. High IC people tend to have moderate political views, especially left of center on the political spectrum, while those on the far left or right tend to be lower in IC.1
There are many exceptions, of course. For example, a person with high IQ might have midrange IC. But IC could explain why liberals dominate in academia – they are comfortable with uncertainty that is an inherent part of research. IC might also help explain why most small businesses are owned by conservatives.2
Does IC Impact the Way We Interpret the Bible?
If IC is locked into personality, there’s not much we can do about it, right? Perhaps there is – the Bible seems to say that we often need to install “overrides” on our personality. Consider Matthew 18:21-22, where Peter asks Jesus “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Peter wanted an easy rule of thumb, but Jesus’ response was more nuanced: “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven”—that is, an unlimited number of times. If we consider Jesus’ teachings throughout the four Gospels, he was often saying that things can’t be always boiled down to hard-and-fast rules. Could it be that Jesus was telling us that we all need to raise our IC?
Could our IC have anything to do with how we interpret the Bible? The origins debate might be the easiest place to see IC (or the lack thereof) in action. Consider the Paul Nelson controversy surrounding the first Is Genesis History? movie. In the movie, Nelson appears to be arguing that there are only two options for origins, “…deep time, 13.7 billion years…” or “the universe, the solar system, our planet, life itself, all of that begins fully formed as a functioning system.” However, after the movie came out, Nelson distanced himself from it, stating: “…an array of differing positions — more than two, certainly — exist concerning origins.”
Binary, either/or reasoning seems to be the modus operandi of young earth leaders. Indeed, if you peruse through articles on any young earth ministry website, they seem to be targeted for binary thinkers. They all seem to be saying that if the earth is old and evolution occurred over deep time, then the bible isn’t true. "Believing the Bible” means you have to take it in a wooden literal sense. Accepting evolution is the same as unbelief. Complicated issues like abortion can be reduced down to cut-and-dried solutions. There is no middle ground. This became one of the main drivers behind the single-issue evangelical voter.
How About the Impact of IC on How Evangelicls View Science?
The spillover from a binary view of origins helps explain the negative attitudes of many evangelicals towards science in general, including climate science and medical science. For example, consider the behavior of some evangelical congregations towards public health measures and resistance to vaccines during the recent pandemic. The low IC reflected in science skepticism transfers to "church services must go on; forget the danger; faith over fear."
Could IC have something to do with the division in our country? It could be argued that high IC people have been more successful in navigating our increasingly complicated world. Go to college, and you get exposed to all kinds of different views. Animosity seems to be growing between “regular people” and the educated “elites.” “Regular people” feel like the “elites” talk down to them. In the same way we stratify by wealth, what happens if we also stratify by IC for several generations?
The Destructive Influence of Simple Answers to Difficult Problems:
Our increasingly complicated world requires the we resist our desire for simple answers to difficult problems. Politicians are good at providing simple answers. Today’s problems require complex thinking to resolve, but our algorithm-driven social media and artificial intelligence pushes us in the opposite direction. Even our pop music is low (IC). Truth be known, we may never solve our most complicated problems. Factor in how easy it is for outside interests to get one group to hate another, and we have a recipe for trouble if we don’t change our ways. For the sake of our national stability, we need to get past our resentments and embrace the need for all kinds of thinkers to keep our country running smoothly. Do we find ourselves presently mired in prideful, simplistic “common sense” constructs from the extreme right and extreme left in both politics and religion?
1 Békés, V. and Suedfeld, P., 2019, Integrative Complexity, in Zeigler-Hill, T. K. Shackelford (eds.), “Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences,” Springer International Publishing. [link]
2 Marks, G., 2016, Study: Republicans are 24 percent more likely than Democrats to be business owners, Washington Post [link].
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