RE: The neurobiology of stereotypes
Jeeze, Petra. Another incredible post that is just thought provoking as hell. How do you keep coming up with them? I'm more impressed every day, it seems.
I have a really good friend that is a serious bigot. Part of being friends with me is unvarnished and raw calls on bullshit. We've had more than a couple, in fact probably average a couple per week.
The thing about his behavior that just puzzles me is that he has really long term black friends that he places outside one of the groups he routinely disparages. It is as if individuals and groups are exclusive in his mind. I do not understand.
For thirty years I have been hammering him with my theory that the percentages are precisely the same for all humans. Say 5% are complete asshats, 10% are sporadic asshats 70% are ordinary folks, 10% are sporadic exceptional and 5% are always exceptional. (Not the numbers and wildly simplified)
He gets it, he really does. But he can ignore the 5% in one group and use the same 5% in another group to judge the whole group negatively (or positively depending on the group). It baffles me.
Thank you Petra. Your contribution and service to this group is exceptional.
I will tell you a little secret... I open sciencedaily.com every day instead of those "normal" news portals with celebrities and politicians to find my inspiration and daily reading material :)
Your friend seems interesting, I have a couple of them like him too and they baffle me as yours baffles you. Those numbers are something I would agree with and based on my experience with people tell you that they are statistically accurate with mentioning that they all have a possibility of changing sides at any given point :) Keeping that in mind, I think we are all sporadic asshats more times then we would like to admit. Trying not to be an asshat is the key here so good luck to as all :)