In Blindspot by Banaji and Greenwald, the authors discuss how humans each day make ‘unconscious inferences’ about objects, information, and even people. This can include making mundane inferences about a person’s political views or even what region they are from in the United States. One can assume that it does not matter whether these inferences are right or wrong. However, making these inaccurate judgements can be very dangerous in serious matters. For example, this reading references the determination of trust or intelligence based on only a picture of an individual. The implications for these assessments can mean someone’s life or their safety. This can be seen in mistaking an innocent black man as a suspect because his appearance is similar to a certain stereotype. This reading was fascinating for me since it demonstrated that our unconscious thoughts can have farther reaching consequences than we anticipate.
Critical Thinking
You mentioning how ready we are to judge someone purely on a picture … really is freaky. But I feel like we do it so often! If anything, especially with social media, I feel like we almost enjoy “jokingly” judging people based on photos or small bits of info. It can have dangerous consequences, like you mentioned, but I wonder if we as a society will put in the effort to change …
The example of the innocent black man being shot really was a wake up call for me about how much we internalize stereotypes without even realizing it. Knowing that we make these unconscious inferences means to me we have to evaluate the judgements we make and really think about why we make them.
I agree, I always knew that stereotypes have been something that people unknowingly internalize, however it is so scary to learn that in doing so people can negatively impact their health. I think that it is still crazy to hear how judgemental people are, even after hearing it millions of times. It is still crazy to me that people will trust people who look certain ways more than others.