Positive Bias In Paper Tigers

Being of target of bias can affect socialization due to the negatives attitudes that it entails.

The ease of modern technology that lets people communicate globally, the access to extraordinary mobility, and the well roundedness of people today has produced the biggest population in history that prides itself in being egalitarian and fair-minded. Psychologists have found evidence in recent studies that, although people are not as outwardly racist and discriminatory as they were in the past centuries, there is an underlying bias that can lead people to act in ways opposing their beliefs. In their book Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good people, psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald explore the ideas of unconscious identity, the judgment and treatment of others based on stereotypes and the phenomenon of association, and our inability to simply stop being biased as opposed to outsmarting it.

Processing a human mind is a two-edged sword. With their overbearing nature and never-ending stream of thoughts, feeling, and impulses, these worry machines frequently help us achieve precisely the opposite of what we desire. (Qtd. In Smith

Since I was young, I have always had an affinity of people watching, and trying to figure out what type of life they lived. Especially, what type of events would cause people to adopt a positive (happy) outlook in comparison to people that dwell on the negatives attributes? Growing up, my mother had a peculiar thought process that would always managed to lead to negative (not happy) thoughts. In the beginning, I too would follow similar thought process, but I quickly realized how exhausting it was to maintain. Before reading Shawn Achor’s book, I wanted to clear my mental database and allow for this new information to be absorbed into my life.

Even though the word positive sounds like a good thing, positive stereotypes have the opposite effect on the victim. It can sabotage “the process of forming a realistic and accurate perception” (Koppelman) and are often used as a distraction to shield acts of discrimination experienced by the victim. The Model Minority Myth is an example of a positive stereotype because it “diverts attention away from serious social and economic problems that affect many segments of the Asian American population, detracts from both the subtle and overt racial discrimination encountered by Asian American, places undue pressure on young Asian Americans to succeed

Women have expressed their political allegiance long before the dawn of modern era. However, the quest for equality has always been undermined by the male dominance throughout the history. Even in the most developed countries like the United States of America, women were not entitled to the same rights and privileges as men. “In Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1875), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Constitution did not grant women the right to vote. The Supreme Court upheld state court decisions in Missouri, in which a registrar had refused to, register a woman as a lawful voter because the state 's laws allowed only men to vote”.

Identify any examples of bias presented by the author. If none exist, explain how you determined this.

This Ted Talk is about optimism bias which is the tendency to think more positively about a person’s life than to think negatively. We have these high expectations that good things would happen than bad ones. It is a positive bias towards an event before the event actually happens. The optimism bias is a naturally occurring phenomenon that seems to become part of human nature because it is an overall tendency to bring upon good things in life over a pessimistic bias (Sharot, 2011).

In the story “Sucker,” by Carson McCullers, you see heavy use of the human condition that every negative action originates from a negative mood or emotion and every positive reaction comes from a positive mood or emotion. In the story the elder cousin Pete treated his younger cousin, Sucker AKA Richard, based on how he was treated by Maybelle. When Maybelle treated Pete poorly and ignored him, Pete did the same to Sucker. This caused the young boy Richard to develop emotional problems, which caused his relationship with his cousin to be broken and tainted, due to the cascade of negativity. “Sometimes this look in his eyes makes me almost believe that if Sucker could he would kill me.” (McCullers, 3).

It is reasonable to argue that, over the last century or so, the United States has made great strides in addressing issues of injustice. Feminism, the Civil Rights movement, and activism from gay men and women have transformed laws and greatly changed the ways in which these populations were once perceived as inferior. There are still major conflicts regarding race relations, just as issues remain with other minorities and women's rights. At the same time, there has been remarkable progress, indicating a nation more aware of its ethical obligation to treat all equally. To some extent, this same awareness goes to the disabled. Unfortunately, this is a population still very much victimized by bias, and because

“You know, biases are the stories we make up about people before we know who they actually are. But how are we going to know who they are when we 've been told to avoid and be afraid of them? So I 'm going to tell you to walk toward your discomfort.” (Myers)

Human beings have a biological instinct to resist unusual. Our behaviors are influence through certainty. Not only do we learn through certainty, more significantly we are able to predict its outcome. However there are times when we just don't know why things happen or what to do after it has happened. The focus of this research is to illustrate that people react negatively to events that are uncertain because an outcome cannot be predicted.

In the 1950's psychology researchers found that ordinary citizens' reaction to scientific evidence is based on societal risks. After viewing a football games with a series of controversial officiating decisions students from each institution were asked to make their own assessments. Students who attended the offending team's college reported seeing half as many illegal plays as did students from the opposing institution. Researchers concluded group ties unconsciously motivate people to view reality in a manner that reinforces those group ties.

It is as the result of our mind, that we are able to form mechanisms that can help us abandon the predestined fears ingrained within us, however, with these abilities comes

The cognitive-neoassociation theory of aggression, otherwise known as the negative affect theory, was proposed by the American social psychologist Leonard Berkowitz. The theory suggests that certain experiences, or affects, can contribute toward the onset of aggressive feelings or behaviour. These affects can range from weather conditions (e.g. high temperatures) to unpleasant external stimuli (e.g. odours and sounds). Concurrently, the theory advocates that merely observing different types of aggressive behaviour can prompt aggression within the viewer. Given these points, an intriguing question comes to mind: might the implications of this theory be that repetitive exposure to catalysts of aggression increases a person’s inclination to be confrontational?