The idea of the Gestalt “closure” principle and its connection to stereotypes reminded me of the reading we did about Small scale societies. Evolutionarily, people look to those that were physically strong and serious to become the face of a leader. The example of the Warren Harding Error emphasizes how easily people try fitting others into a narrative in their head. Through physical appearance paved the way for his nomination and election of POTUS. This is a dangerous way of thinking because people who do not have the criteria to fill certain positions are the ones holding them because of the evolutionary idea people have as leaders. The implicit bias that people hold about what a leader ‘should’ look like is what prevents leadership positions from becoming diverse.

I learned a lot about the Stanford Prison experiment in my LDST 102 class and how an experiment like that could never occur again. The experiment created long-term detrimental affects to those that participated in it because of the humiliation they caused to the volunteers in front of parents, neighbors, and to each other. Human beings have a natural instinct of survival, which I believe was very prominent in this experiment. Those that were randomized into the group of guards adapted to the dominant and aggressive traits. Those that were randomized into the prisoner group felt vulnerable and actually felt like prisoners. This experiment, although lasting less than half of what it was originally planned for, shows how easy human instincts arise in situations where they feel vulnerable. It also shows how quickly people are to adapt to certain situations and become a leader or follower for their cohort.