Welcome back to the best, most unique, marvelous upcoming blog on campus! Previously, we left off on a cliffhanger; if humans have such a strong affiliation need, why do things such as racism and discrimination exist? To broaden our understanding, let me first explain the most intriguing subdivision of psychology- social psychology(SP). SP is the science of interacting with others and how external issues may influence that. The more you learn about psychology, the more you tend to analyze individuals. As crazy as it sounds, people are more revealing than they realize; a person’s body language will give them away whether they want to or not. For example, people who are attracted to one another tend to lean toward each other. Now, I’m not telling you to go up to someone you are interested in and waltz into their personal space; that is a one-way ticket to getting blocked or a restraining order filed against you.
Anyways, let’s get back to the topic at hand before I bring up any bad memories. The construct of racism originated from slavery; it was not about skin color or superiority, it was initially about power. It evolved to an “us vs. them” mentality due to something known as ingroup vs. outgroup. An ingroup(us) are the people we relate most to, whether it concern politics, race, gender, etc. As discussed in our last blog post, these people help us fulfill our affiliation needs the most because they can relate to us. Initially, you may assume this is good, right? WRONG. Due to this division, a phenomenon known as ingroup bias originates. You already know how I feel about humanity, but this is the icing on the cake that makes them the worst for me. People do not see their opinions as mere convictions; in other words, my way or the highway. This way of thinking is Belief Perseverance and is arguably the most outlandish thought pattern one could ever encounter. For instance, think about one of the most obnoxious, annoying, delusional fanbases in sports (Cowboys) and how often they will try to convince you they are winning the Superbowl despite no success in ages; that is belief perseverance. People are so attached to their views that it gets to a point in which it is virtually impossible to envision being wrong, which is a destructive, nonprogressive way of thinking. Discrimination can quickly form through our ingroups because we readily create heuristics of outgroups(them). The world has a history of prejudice, but nobody in this world is born racist; allow me to explain why this is the case. A(n) ingroup is usually formed with people who have the same ideals as you, opening the gate for one of the most prominent topics in social psychology- group polarization.
Children are taught by their parents what is right and wrong, which becomes their way of thinking! Thank God for the ability to grow and think for yourself, or else we would all be even more divided than we already are. In short, the idea of racism stems from our “groups”; therefore, I challenge my numerous readers to approach every situation as if you were wrong for a better tomorrow and to bring unity to the world one step at a time. Til next time on The Psych Era
I have always been really interested in psychology, so your blog is especially interesting to me. I am especially fascinated by the belief perseverance point you made. It explains a lot about politics and sports phenomenons, and also explains a lot about why people are so unwilling to change their opinions when it comes to arguments. This also further helps me to understand heuristics.
I really like that your example for this blog(racism) is based in history but analyzed with modern psychological theory. All the while you mixed in a new, less controversial(to most people atleast) example with the Cowboys. It really shows how this information can be applied in the past, in the present, or in the future and still hold true. Also, thank you for the links out, I would have had to buy my own psych book to look up some of these ideas.