When we interact with someone who gesticulates a lot during conversation, touches her face frequently, or speaks in a particularly distinctive dialect, we are more likely to gesture in the same way and speak with the same dialect, even if this is not our typical conversational signature. When confronted with information about someone’s age or race, we unconsciously activate stereotypes or prejudices that subsequently influence, unconsciously as well, our behavior. When we see an elderly person, either in the flesh or in a photo, we are more likely to move slowly following the encounter. When we encounter an image of an ethnic group for which we carry unconscious negative or hostile attitudes, we are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior when provoked than when we encounter an image of our own ethnic group or a group that triggers positive attitudes. We are like chameleons, designed to try out different colors to match our social partner’s substrate. -Marc Hauser in Moral Minds
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 15:43:23 +0000
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