9 minutes
Finding your own us-and-them judgments, honestly A non-punitive look at where you may be ranking a group as simply better or worse, in either direction, and what to do once you notice it.
What you’ll be able to do Identify at least one specific ranking you hold about a group's way of doing something, in either Defense or Reversal form, without treating the finding as a verdict on your character. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: What is the more honest next step? Document a next step for Finding your own us-and-them judgments, honestly: Write down one specific ranking you hold about a group's way of doing something, in either direction, and name one piece of evidence that would actually test it. Both directions count It is easier to notice Defense in yourself than Reversal, because Defense sounds like a judgment and Reversal sounds like admiration. "Their way is healthier than ours" can feel like the opposite of prejudice. But it still ranks a whole group's approach as simply better, based on limited contact, and it still flattens the real complexity and disagreement that exists inside that group as much as inside your own.
An honest self-check looks in both directions at once: where have I quietly decided my own group's way is the right one, and where have I quietly decided another group's way is the admirable one, without either judgment resting on much real evidence? Naming a specific example in either direction is more useful than a general claim to have no rankings at all.
What an honest self-check for Polarization looks like A specific comparison, not a general claim to be neutral or unbiased.
An honest account of how the ranking formed: direct experience, secondhand impression, or something absorbed without examination.
A willingness to name a Reversal-direction ranking, not only a Defense-direction one.
One concrete way to test the ranking against real evidence rather than impression.
I would have told you I admired that team's culture more than mine. It took someone asking what I actually knew about how they handled real conflict, not just the parts I'd seen from outside, for me to notice I was ranking, not just admiring.
Composite staff perspective, illustrative Reframes that help this land honestly Admiration can still be a ranking
Idealizing another group's approach is Reversal, not neutrality. It deserves the same honest look as a Defense-direction judgment.
"Preference" needs a check
Ask yourself whether you would call the other approach worse if pressed. If the answer is yes, it was a ranking, not just a preference.
Specific beats general
"I don't rank cultures" finds nothing. "I've treated this specific comparison as settled" gives you something to actually test.
Try a situation You are completing a self-reflection for this program. It asks you to name a group whose approach to something — parenting, decision-making, conflict, time — you have privately judged as better or worse than your own. Your first instinct is to write, "I don't really rank cultures, I just have my own preferences."
What is the more honest next step? Accept that answer. Preferences are not the same as judgments, so there is nothing further to look for.
Assume the honest answer has to be about Defense, favoring your own group, since that is the more commonly discussed direction.
Name one specific comparison, in either direction, that you have treated as settled without ever really testing it, and write down what you actually based it on.
Consider your choice Try another response Carry this forward Everyone carries some real rankings, in both directions; the honest work is naming a specific one, not proving you have none.
A ranking that flatters another group (Reversal) is just as much a ranking as one that favors your own (Defense), even though it feels more generous.
The useful question is not "am I judgmental" as an identity, but "which specific comparison have I been treating as settled without real evidence?"
Noticing your own ranking is progress, not proof that something is wrong with you.
A first-person reflection scenario and a knowledge check on what an honest self-check for Polarization looks like.
Write down one specific ranking you hold about a group's way of doing something, in either direction, and name one piece of evidence that would actually test it.
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Previous lesson Next lesson Carry this into practice Polarization is where cultural difference first becomes visible — and gets sorted into better and worse, us and them, sometimes favoring one's own group (Defense) and sometimes favoring another group over one's own (Reversal).
Return to the experience: What did you notice or try, whose perspective informed it, and what would you keep or adjust?
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
