The Genographic Project: Genetic Stereotypes

Have you thought of someone’s culture as weird? Have you thought that you are completely different from them? If so, what prompts us to make that assumption. Culture is a very good reason for this. So, to what extent does one’s culture inform the way one views others and the world? Culture informs a person on the way others are and the world.

Culture is defined by a construction of one's world-view, and it is transmitted by individuals and collectives through socialization and enculturation (Pederson & Ivey, 13). It contains values, beliefs, language, and perception. In studying cultural differences among members of distinct national, ethnic groups researcher have examined the concept of collectivism and individualism. People form individualistic cultures tend to view themselves as unique entities and independent form one another (Coon & Kemmelmeier, 348)

Most people would agree that culture can have a large effect on our daily lives, influencing what we may wear, say or even find funny. In culture there is a consequence within us known as ethnocentrism, a tendency to use our own group’s ways of doing things as a tool to judge others. When an individual grows up around a certain group of people they begin to grow into the same habits as them. The way one acts and what they eat, as well as how they dress and so much more, all have to do with the people they are spending their time in life with. People never really seem to notice how much culture may shape them into the person they have become until it is pointed out or they really pay attention to it. Many events have occurred that, up until

Everyone has a culture, a series of beliefs and principles that govern day to day life that they were likely imparted upon by their upbringing. Parents usually raise their children the only way that they know, which causes the next generation to bring up their offspring in a similar fashion. Culture tends to have borders, which generally follow the borders of nations or civilizations. So imparted from young these cultures govern everyday actions that each individual will likely take at any point in their life. Culture groups lead people to think think a certain way, dress with a particular fashion, talk with an unusual accent, or uncountable varieties of actions. Culture is by no means a concrete fact, people rebel against their culture, or

The first concept which I will explore is culture and what this means to different individuals. In simplified terms, culture refers to how we do things and also how we perceive things within a group. Culture is a shared set of assumptions, values, social conventions and perceptions, which are established on concepts of common language and

First and most importantly, it is needed to understand that individuals have different perceptions about things. Baron (1988), as cited by Durrel and Kleiner (1990) says that “perception is the process through which we actively select, organize, and interpret information brought to us in order to understand the people around us”. This judgment of facts and people is highly influenced by the society the person is inserted in and specially motivated by closer groups, such as family, which most certainly build the primary morals in these individual, intimate groups – friends, religion groups and lastly, some secondary groups like school groups, work colleagues and suchlike. The way people perceive different cultures, races, genders and nationalities can also be determined by past experiences, a practical example is the one of a person who has been mugged by a young man with a baseball cap in a bicycle, because of the shock, it is most likely that this person will be frightened every time an individual with the same characteristics passes him/her by.

Culture delivers the strategies for people’s interpretations of situations they come across and for the responses, they consider applicable. Social Structure, “the organized patterns of behavior among the basic components of a social system— establishes relatively predictable social relationships among the different peoples in a society” (Parrillo,2014). For example, the orientation between a minority group with the dominate group always has a set guideline how the other group should act or fit in with the dominate group. From the dominate group being so uptight and selfish of life, thinking everyone that is not made of their similar blood of ethnic group has to act a certain way in order to acquire a suitable life.

Isn’t it fascinating how all human race looks alike, has same biological form, is created and born same way, but yet completely different in how we do things or how we behave inside our cultures and ethnicities? Culture presents the sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next (Hirsch, Kett & Trefil, 2002).

Our cultures are a big factor of how we see things. Most of our opinions are based on our cultures but cultures also created stereotypes. One example is when adichi travel to mexico, Adichi was influenced by the american culture and their stereotypes that before traveling to Mexico she had an wrong perspective of how mexicans were. When she arrive to Mexico she realized that the perspective that the american culture introduce to her was completely wrong. During the speech Adichi said “My roommate has a single story of africa”.

There are many ways that Earth’s billions of people can be culturally different. A culture consists of many cultural components that range from one group to the next. Some people think culture is mostly about ethnic appearance; I, on the other hand, relate to culture through family, interests , and talents.

Cultural diversity is defined as the differences among people because of their racial or ethnic backgrounds, language, and traditions. According to Wilson and Hall (2000) “Cultural diversity substantiates the notion that significant meaning contained in an environment is reflective of the unique perspectives held by different populations about the way the world works and their understanding of their place in that world”. Therefore, cultural diversity is a way to describe the many different cultures in the world. It recognizes the value and learned behavior, and beliefs of the many ethnic groups. Cultural can impact self-esteem when individuals do not accept their ethnic background. When individuals accepted their cultural background there is a

I get the new issue of Cosmopolitan every month and each issue is pretty close to being the exact same. It’s filled with ads for the clothing brands, the latest beauty products and usually advice columns on sex or how to get a man. There was a story titled 3 Super Feminine Trends That Are Already Dominating NYFW, and it showed several photos of models walking down the runway in New York Fashion Week. Each one of the models looks emaciated. Their collar bones are popping out, their legs look like toothpicks, and the clothes that they are modeling are just hanging off of them, they don't even fit! I’ve always noticed how thin models were, and I’ve never understood why being extremely thin was a requirement to be a model. Its sad that a woman that is a size 4 is considered ‘plus size.’ The clothing ads include extremely photoshopped models, with thin bodies and perfect skin.

5. Cultural differences: people sometimes make stereotypical assumptions about others based on their cultural background.

Culture is “a system of meanings and values that shape one’s behavior” (Lane 2002, p.16). It is imperative that we appreciate that each person 's intrinsic values are different. Because values are so ingrained, we are not often aware that our responses in life are, in large part, due to the values we hold unique to our own culture and perspective. Furthermore, we rarely reflect on the fact that people with whom we associate hold their own unique set of values that may be different from our own. When communicating with others, the message that the other person is receiving will be based on their culture, their perception of

Culture affects our perception because the perception that we have on things around us is largely based and affected by the judgmental skills, emotions, attitude, and notions and preconceived acquired from culture. Our biases play a great role in our perception on whether a certain thing is bad or good and this is also affected by our way of thinking. Our motivation and attitude plays the great role in our judgment on whether something is simple or complex. These factors are closely connected to our culture and that’s why culture determines our structure of thinking and this in turn influences our perception (Eliot, 30).