It's+Only+Skin+Deep

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Now that you've lived through the presentation, TAKE THE IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST! (this is what IAT stands for)

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/

=Wow, look at that WHITE girl! That BLACK girl is so intelligent.=



Why is having an open mind, free of stereotypes, nearly impossible?
Workshop IV - It’s Only Skin Deep: Stereotyping and Totalizing Others, January 25, 2009 As globalization encompasses our world, and the United States of America becomes more and more diverse, articles of this nature become more relevant in ensuring sensitivity of our communication processes. In today’s society, we must be constantly vigilant of our interactions with one another, in which we are both senders and receivers. However, when diversity is left undiscovered misunderstandings abound, the birth of stereotypes and the totalizing of people, or judgment of a person by a single of their aspects, occurs. In the article, “It’s Only Skin Deep: Stereotyping and Totalizing Others,” Julia T. Wood describes the key concept of the article, totalizing, as “communication that emphasizes one aspect of a person above all others.” A comment like “that Arab man” can be totalized, so that all of the individual attributes, including the word “man,” are overpowered by the word “Arab.” The act of totalizing eliminates the humanistic values of the individual, generalizing their existence. “When we engage in totalizing, we cripple our perceiving by forcing ourselves to look through blinders. As Wood puts it, ‘we tend to perceive others through the labels we use to describe them.’” The reasons that people stereotype are because of a matter of difficulty and automatic human brain processes. Basically, it is easier to deal with a one-dimensional person than with a multi-faceted three-dimensional person. Psychologist Gordon Allport found that stereotypes came from normal activities, and that classification and generalizations were a major cause of this dilemma. To preserve mental stability, our brain automatically classifies and generalizes information. The problem is that our brain processes can lead to “implicit personality theories,” or common ideas attributed to sets of characteristics; the example utilized in the article suggests that calling a person overweight would also imply that they are happy, lazy and lack discipline. “Language reflects, selects, and deflects,” according to Kenneth Burke, Language and Literature Critic, who states that “any given terminology is a reflection of reality, by its very nature as a terminology it must be a selection of reality; and to this extent it must function also as a deflection of reality.” Burke alludes to the importance of our word choice and how this will transmit a specific idea and disregard all other individual attributes of the person, because the perceptions created were based on our word choice. There is a problem with describing people through the use of one explanatory word. Firstly, through the use of one word, we cannot possibly capture the immense complexity of an individual. Secondly, the term used to describe the person has attached connotations, thereby, expanding our “understanding of the individual” and spreading falsities of their reality. For example, the problem with calling someone that obviously has an impairment “disabled” comes when the descriptive word precedes all individual characteristics. If we meet someone that does not fit into our stereotype, we mark the individual as an exception to the group, ultimately creating no change to our preconceived notions of the group. Two predicaments may arise from expressing stereotypes of the group to which the individual is identified as a member, it can either incite negative feedback, or encourage the individual to “deny identification with the group.” Although stereotyping is a normal, natural activity, it sets back communication because, through stereotyping, we rape individuals of their individuality. It is necessary, in order to ameliorate our interpersonal relationships, to understand people for their persona and not for the group to which they are stereotypically attached. This is necessary in order to promote trusting relationships. In order to promote a more trustful environment in our classroom, I will use the less intense form of the Power Shuffle. This activity reaches the core of humanity by stripping away our preconceptions so that we can understand our human experiences. In review of this article, I found important information on the causes and effects of stereotyping. However, it lacked depiction of media’s role in the proliferation of stereotyping, and a clear definition of the action necessary to battle stereotyping and totalizing. This passage from When news reporters deceive: the production of stereotypes by Dominic Lasorsa and Jia Dai captures media’s use of generalization in the area of news reporting: News stories and news columns revealed as deceptive were more likely that presumably authentic ones to treat members of social groups as identical, especially when referring to nationalities (e.g. Iraqis) and regions larger than a nation (e.g. Europeans). Deceptive articles also were more negative in overall tone. Findings support the theory of automaticity of stereotyping – unless a perceiver is able and motivated not to stereotype, stereotyping tends to occur. This report emphasizes the critical role played by the media, and shows the elements necessary to stop the vicious cycle of stereotyping – a clear and conscious effort by the individual who would otherwise commit these acts. By incorporating a test such as the IAT, which you can access by going to https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/, you create self-awareness, which will help you stop perpetuation of stereotyping. Further, the reviewed article did not adequately address the necessary means to battle stereotyping, there was also no mention of the Spiral of Silence theory (Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, 1974) which presents the idea that individuals in the minority feel pressured to remain silent or in agreement with the opinion of the majority in order to avoid feelings of isolation – the more people opening up to their opinion, th v e more likely they will be to share their opinion. Our Rider Statement of Community Values implies "that we recognize our differences for they are our strength," in order to do so, we first need to understand our commonalities - for humans must be understood as a group, a group of diverse individuals – in order to appreciate our differences.

**Being aware of your preconceptions is the first step to appreciating others.**
Take this first clip by Michael Savage and his interview on CNN: media type="youtube" key="WK2SYib5Sxg" height="344" width="425"

How does this make you feel? What are your feelings on his opinion and/or the clarification of his opinion? What do you think about the fact that they did not address the comment made about the sensitivity of women, sensitivity not necessary for the future of our country?

The following is a link of an interview with Maya Angelou concerning the Power of Words (embedding was disabled):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n9Pq1LNLwM&feature=related

While watching this brief clip, did you notice the differences demarcated between races by Dr. Maya Angelou? Did she support neutralized use of descriptive words that categorize people into boxes? Do you think that the IMUS scandal changed the way in which a particular race of women was regarded? To clarify, have you noticed any different usage of terminology in [specifically rap] music today when speaking in reference to women?

just in case you were not aware of the IMUS scandal:

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Please prepare by watching these clips and reading the selection on page 212 of //Bridges Not Walls: A Book About Interpersonal Communication//, Tenth Edition, entitled //It's Only Skin Deep: Stereotyping and Totalizing Others// by Julia T. Wood, a specialist on communication and gender.

By analyzing the reading, leading you through this ambitious agenda, and working together I hope to create awareness and an understanding of the negative effects of stereotyping and ways in which we can stop it from occuring. One-dimensional People – Totalizing and stereotyping  Implicit Personality Theories – words and their intrinsic values   The role of popular media and the proliferation of their ideals   Power Shuffle   Breaking down our differences – discovering dilemmas to generalizations  Stop stereotyping: the race against our minds

I look forward to traveling through this journey together.

~Joshabel

FYI - Please keep yourselves continually updated about our workshop by consulting this page.

//Sources -//
 * //Bridges not walls: a book about interpersonal communication,// John Stewart - Editor, McGraw Hill Higher Education, Textbook
 * //Stereotyping and the generality of implicit personality theory//, Paul F. Secord and Ellen Saumer Berscheid, Communication and Mass Media Complete, Online Article
 * //Perceived support for one's opinions and willingness to speak out: a meta-analysis of survey studies on the "spiral of silence"//, Carroll J. Glynn, Andrew F. Hayes, James Shanahan, Communication and Mass Media Complete, Online Article
 * The Implicit Association Test (Harvard University) can be found on this website : https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit
 * Please use the links to access the videos embedded on this page, Youtube.com