In any hard discussion, and particularly in a Who Are We? conversation, we are wise to avoid generalizations—and to speak, instead, about our own experiences and emotions. Identity threats typically emerge because we generalize: We lump people into groups (“Lawyers are all dishonest”) or assign others traits they loathe (“Everyone who voted for that guy is a racist”). These generalizations take all of us—our unique perspectives and complicated identities—out of the conversation. They make us one-dimensional.
