I found this reading to be super interesting. It’s crazy how the human mind has such a strong desire to know what something is or why it is that it will come up with things to make it feel better. This made me think of how important first impressions are. I think I am a very observant person, so when I first meet someone I watch the way they talk, the way they walk, and even their mannerisms until I think I have a good understanding of them. I’ve noticed that quiet people attract a lot of people whether they realize it or not because they are a mystery for other people to solve. This also made me realize how important stereotypes are. Stereotypes are very dangerous and play a part in this. If we think someone is a mystery, we may use the stereotypes we have or a bias we have to help solve this mystery. This can cause people to be misgendered or someone to be highly offended.
I’ve learned about the Stanford prison experiment but it still scares me every time. It makes me really think about power and what that means. I’ve read something about Foucault that makes me question power. Power dynamics affect our lives from the time we are born to the time we die. The people in this experiment were regular people who were given power and turned evil. I also wonder if this a white male thing. Throughout history, we see that white men can be rather evil and crave power. I wonder if their race or gender was different if the results would have been different.
That is an interesting point about whether race and gender played a role in the Stanford prison experiment. If I’m remembering correctly, I think we discussed this possibility in my last 101 class and I thought that if the experiment was conducted by women it would go much differently because I would expect the women to be less brutal, but I think the results ended up the same. As someone who is not in a position with lots of power and control over other people, it’s crazy to me how humans can change so easily with power.
You make an extremely interesting point about how we use stereotypes to fill in information that we do not, but would like to, know about people we are unfamiliar with. This is often best revealed by instances when someone doesn’t match their associated groups’ common stereotype, and others are somewhat surprised/amazed, despite not knowing the truth about the person being observed beforehand. All people need to be more careful at recognizing when stereotypes are implicitly dominating our assumptions, and correcting the thought as to give people we do not know a clean slate upon first impression.
I think that there would be a difference in the Stanford Prison Experiment if race and and gender were different than what it was. We might see a difference of power and how that is distributed if the experiment were run by women. However, seeing as power can make people rather crazy, I think eventually any variable tested would lead to an abuse of power.
I think that it is interesting to think about how much of an effect the environment has on people’s mental states. Though our generation thinks of ourselves as more accepting or more open to new ideas of racial justice and gender identity, are we really as accepting as we think? Do we still have the same biases that our parents and grandparents do? Despite the fact that America elected its first African American president, we can look at the current administration and see that nothing has really changed in society. This makes me ask the question of how we as a generation can be better than the ones who came before us. Yes, society has come a long way throughout history, but we still have such a long way to go so what is the best way to bring about change and prevent the misgendering of, or the offending of all types of people.
Along with how strong the mind is, it also shows me how strong the effects of being imprisoned can cut and makes me question the whole system. I realize people should be punished but this tells me that there must be a better way to do it than its current arbitrary nature. I think there is a more constructive way to go about it.