Reading 9 - The Gap Instinct

What is the gap instinct?

human tendency to divide the world into two different groups, such as developing vs developed, or rich vs poor

The traditional labels “developed” and “developing” countries are — and reflect how the world looked decades ago but not —

outdated

today

To replace the false “gap,” Rosling (author) introduces four income levels instead of two:

• Level 1: Extreme poverty (~$1/day)

• Level 2: Low income (~$4/day)

• Level 3: Middle income (~$16/day)

• Level 4: High income (~$>32/day)

People are prone to — (i.e., thinking in terms of two mutually exclusive categories, like "good" and "bad"), so it is very hard to replace people's perceptions of a world divided into "rich" and "poor" regions with an understanding of the world in which they recognize that most people live —

binary thinking

In between those two regions

Where does the majority of the global population live (low/middle/high income countries)?

What lvls from rosling idea?

Middle-income countries

lvl 2 and 3

Media, politics, and advocacy often — the idea of gap instinct by focusing on — instead of —

reinforce

extreme cases (famine vs. wealth)

typical living conditions

People living on Level 4 (high income) are prone to misunderstanding — because everything below them can appear the same

poverty