Journal: Stereotyped Perceptions - Essay Example

STEREOTYPED PERCEPTIONS Stereotyped Perceptions The first assessment I responded to revolved around race. It entailed distinguishing the faces of African and European origin. After undertaking the test; results showed that I had a solid automatic preference for European Americans in comparison to African Americans. This result is similar to the one obtained by several people who have undertaken the same test. It is an indicator that a majority of people with this result associate African Americans with unpleasant things, while associating the European American with good things.

The results obtained are contrary to my expectations, since I do not have a strong preference for any race. This is because I have close friends from both races. The results made me feel like a racist, something I am not. From this test, I learnt that most people prefer white people compared to black people. This is because they have stereotyped unpleasant things with blacks and marvelous things with the white people. This information does not change my opinion about the black people; in fact, it makes me relate with them more in school since I have the urge to know and understand them better.

In doing this, my relations with everyone in my future work place would be peaceful. The second test I undertook was based on age. This test involved differentiating old faces from young faces. At the end of the test, my results revealed that I had a sturdy automatic preference for young people over old people. I was contented with the result since most of the people I associate with are young. Most of my friends both at school and home are my age mates; thus, it is quite satisfactory receiving such results.

From the previous statistics on the same topic, I learnt that several people associate with the young compared to the old. This could be attributed to the fact that the young people are easy to understand compared to the old people. The results are of significance to me since they give the motivation to work on ways of improving my relationships with old people. This is because I cannot avoid them at work and home.