Are You Stereotyping?

     People stereotype each other all time, even when they don't know it.  Research proves that even those who proudly acclaim themselves as unbiased, often subconsciously hold very strong prejudices against others. Rather than outright showing it, their biases are shown through their non-verbal behavior such as expressions, eye contact, and how far they stand away others.  One experiment I found very interesting was when people were asked to determine whether a certain positive or negative adjective appropriately fit a person given only their name. These names were common white and black names and the results were very revealing: participants often responded quicker when a positive word was given to a white name and when a negative word was given to a black name.  Even African-American participants themselves demonstrated this common bias which just furthermore proves how stereotyping can affect people without even trying.  So what is the root cause of this problem? Society. Though we may not try to be prejudiced, we are exposed early on to the perspectives of others and the culture that surrounds us; and though we develop our own opinions as we age, these early interactions subconsciously affect our thinking.

     On Friday in my world history class, The Muslim Student Association held a presentation to discuss their culture and religion.  When it came time for questions, everyone had that one stereotypical question on their mind but we were all too hesitant to ask: "Are all Muslims terrorists?".  The speakers even knew what we were wondering and acknowledged it by answering the unspoken question in the very beginning.  They explained to us how a few Muslims twist their religious scriptures simply to suit their own missions of malevolence and then went on to say, "The actions of a few misguided individuals does not define the acts of an entire race".  This candid statement holds a very profound truth: we cannot let ourselves judge a whole race, gender, or religion based on only a few people.  Each individual holds their own, unique personality that we must respect.  Even if we cannot eradicate stereotyping completely, we can absolutely diminish it's negative affects by accepting the remarkable diversity that surrounds us.