We can learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own

People typically feel comfortable when they are around with others who bear similar personalities with them. On the other hand, they feel discomfited when surrounded by those whose views are incompatible with or even contradict with their own stances. Regarding this matter, the given prompt contends that people can attain lessons from people with similar views than those with opposite views. I mostly disagree with this argument for two reasons, but I do concede that people can reinforce their strengths by sharing similar views from others.
First of all, people can broaden their perspectives by sharing contrasting viewpoints from those with opposite stances. Specifically, they can expose themselves with new and unusual ideas that cannot be shared when discussing with people with similar viewpoints, which help people to think in a various point of view. Consequently, this widen perspective may play a significant role in one’s growth in career or interpersonal skills. For instance, in the mid-19th Century, Japan was able to accomplish an exponential growth in its economy due to its openness to new and even contradictory ideas and technologies from the Western civilization. To elaborate, Japan was able to implement mass production and capitalism in its society, which resulted in dramatically increased efficiency in circulation and economic growth. Were it not for the willingness and tolerance of the Japan toward unusual and novel technologies and products from the Netherlands, Japan could have not accomplished to attain hegemony at that era. This example shows that accepting and sharing contrasting ideas from others can help achieve a considerable national growth. Similarly, this applies to people, too. If people are willing to share thoughts that may go against one’s convention, they are highly likely to accept various perspectives and utilize them for personal growth.
Secondly, sharing contradictory perspectives with others aids people to improve on their weaknesses or overlooked aspects. Specifically, those contrasting viewpoints force people to view their own perspectives objectively, which enables them to look for overlooked areas or prejudices. By fixing these vulnerabilities, people can make enhancement on their views. For instance, suppose that there is a man who believes that hardworking is the primary virtue to which people should adhere. He may feel obsessed with finishing all tasks in time and perfectly, which makes him intensely stressful. However, if he has an opportunity to meet with someone who thinks that managing stress and maintaining composure is a key to achieving one’s goal, he is more likely to adjust his previous viewpoint to have more relax than when he does not meet this person. He may also realize that his belief system was somewhat flawed and was detrimental to one’s mental health and happiness. This hypothetical example presents that sharing and accepting opposite viewpoints offer an opportunity for people to discover their weaknesses or biases, help them fix those problems, and make improvements.
It is true that sharing similar views help people to focus more on their strengths. However, in this situation, they are susceptible to falling into false impression about their strengths. They are more likely to be influenced by prejudices and biases that hinder them to make genuine enhancements in regard to their perspectives. Furthermore, they are more likely to become complacent with the current status than when they share contradictory views with others and focus on weaknesses.
In conclusion, since people can widen their viewpoints and make improvements by focusing on weaknesses, sharing contradictory views with others is better for one’s personal growth than sharing similar views. Even if it might be the case that sharing similar perspectives induce people to focus on their strengths, they are prone to experience drawbacks, such as falling into false impression of making a true personal growth and being subjected to partiality and complacency. Hence, people should try to expose themselves with contrasting viewpoints in order to make improvements in their lives although this may be uncomfortable.