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The influence of body language in communication
Body language and non-verbal communication
Stereotypes and their effects
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When you are sitting on a public bus and look around, it is easy to make conclusions about people. The guy sitting alone with the messy hair and cloths is obviously a drunk and just wondering aimlessly. The lady sitting in the short dress and has on really heavy makeup, is obviously a prostitute. The young girl with the baby is certainly an unwed mother and lives on welfare. These are the conclusions that many people make about others without knowing any facts about that person. We all stereotype and generalize others without taking the time to meet people and find out who they really are.
We stereotype based on simple observations. A judgment, we can come up with in a minute or two. Often we call this the first impression. In actuality it is a judgment with little or no foundation. People get stereotyped into a category or categories in a variety of ways. One is based on physical appearance. This can range from how someone is dressed to their nationality and/or the company they keep. It is very common for people to stereotype young black males. When people see two or three young black males together, it is very common to jump to the conclusions that they are hoodlums that want to rob people or to gang up on others and cause them harm. People never conclude that they are young men that have just left work and are walking home together. It is easier to jump to negative conclusions.
People stereotype others and are stereotyped by others. This is generally without our knowledge. In the beginning of “Black Men and Public Space” the author starts off by calling one of the characters in the story his “victim” (Staple). Right off the bat we think that he is going to harm this women in some type of way. The author...
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... judge people on looks and by how the act and react. Stereotyping has always been part of society. We look at people that have met with hardship and make all kinds of conclusions, they are addicts, they are lazy or they are criminal. We claim to be sympathetic when really we are judgmental and unfair. It is easier to judge and then to get to know others, it is also safer.
Works Cited
Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." X.J. Kennedy, Dorthy M. Kennedy, Jane E. Aaron. The Bedford Reader. Boston, Ma: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 367-371.
Mernissi, Fatema. "Size 6: The Western Women's Harem." X.J. Kennedy, Dorthy M. Kennedy, Jane E. Aaron. The Bedford Reader. Boston, Ma: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2009. 252-259.
Staple, Brent. "Black Men and Public Space." X.J. Kennedy, Dorthy M. Kennedy, Jane E. Aaron. The Bedford Reader. Boston, Ma: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2009. 208-211.
Volume III: P-Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print. The. James, Edward, Janet James, and Paul Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950.
Staples, Brent. “Black Men and Public Space.” Reading Critically, Writing Well. Sixth edition Eds. Rise B. Axelrod and Charles R. Cooper. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 134-136. Print.
Brent Staples was one of nine African American children born into the Staples family in Chester, Pennsylvania. He and his family were witnesses to Chester becoming victim to the slums after the city closed some of it’s major industries. As a former reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, he worked his way up a few positions to the assistant metropolitan editor of The New York Times Book Review. In 1994, he published his memoir, Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White. One of his most moving pieces is his essay on the stereotypical views of the average African American Male entitled, “Black Men and Public Space.” It was first published in Harper’s Magazine in 1986. This essay shows not only the average African American male’s thoughts while simply walking down the street at night, but he somewhat explains that he also understands what is going through the mind of the average white by passers as they are forced to cross each other’s paths in the dead of night.
Throughout the years, the black community has been looked down upon as a community of criminals and a community of lesser educated and poor who have a lesser purpose in life. Journalist Brent Staples, the author of Black Men And Public Spaces, takes us into his own thoughts as a young black man growing up in Chester, Pennsylvania to becoming a journalist in New York City. He tells us his own challenges that he faces on a daily basis along with challenges that many black men his own age faced and the way he changed in order to minimize the tension between himself and the common white person. Growing up in the post-segregation era was a challenge for most blacks. Having the same rights and privileges as many white Americans, but still fighting for the sense of equality, was a brick wall that many blacks had to overcome.
In a perfect world, everyone WOULD be judged based on the content of their character. But we do not live in a perfect world and humans have always pre-judged others based on physical and cultural differences. These are the first things we notice about a stranger, and first impressions are hard to forget. Racism and prejudice have caused us to make dire mistakes in the past, but we have learned from these mistakes and have bettered our society. However, society today is filled with stereotypes and prejudices about people of certain races. It is evident in all aspects of our lives, including media, culture, and even the legal system.
It seems to be a perennial feature of human society that individuals judge each other by using the language of similarity and difference. Some of these judgments are reasoned, taking into account the actual qualities of the individual being assessed. Too many of these judgments are superficial, presuming from the existence of one readily observable characteristic a whole host of unrelated characteristics. Assessment and prejudice should be very different activities, but too often human beings combine the two, muddling their understanding of other individuals and the world.
Society is filled with prejudices often based on first impressions which are skewed by personal thoughts First impressions play a large role in how we view and judge people before we even know them. However, as people silently judge others most do not consider the impact it has on those who are judged. Both “Black Men and Public Spaces” by Brent Staples and “The Struggle” by Issa Rae exemplify the prejudices they experience as African-Americans and the misplaced expectations society places on them. The authors point of view greatly impacts the details and tone of the story. Through explicit details and clear tone, the author is able to portray their perspective and point of view.
In this narrative essay, Brent Staples provides a personal account of his experiences as a black man in modern society. “Black Men and Public Space” acts as a journey for the readers to follow as Staples discovers the many societal biases against him, simply because of his skin color. The essay begins when Staples was twenty-two years old, walking the streets of Chicago late in the evening, and a woman responds to his presence with fear. Being a larger black man, he learned that he would be stereotyped by others around him as a “mugger, rapist, or worse” (135).
Staples, Brent. “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space.” 50 Essays. Ed. Samuel Cohen.
The author of Black Men and Public Space, Brent Staples, is an African American man who has a PhD in psychology from the University of Chicago and he is a member of the New York Times editorial board. Staples published an article that described several personal experiences in which he felt that the people around him were afraid of his presence. Staples’ purpose is to bring to light the prejudice that exists in everyday life for African Americans. In Black Men and Public Space, Staples appeals to pathos by using imagery and strong diction, and he uses a somber yet sarcastic tone to portray his message.
Everyone has heard the saying don’t judge a book by a cover. Sadly every minute of the day someone gets judged because of assumptions that are not correct. These assumptions overtime eventually lead to stereotypes. A stereotype is an image or idea of a particular type of person. Stereotyping a person is seen in many differents aspects such as race, groups, beliefs, appearance, etc. An individual may ask why people are stereotyped or stereotype. In reality stereotyping helps people categorize the different type of people. It narrows down the options of who one might want to associate with. Stereotyping can have its negatives, it makes people ignore how others really are. It may lead to a person not wanting to hang out with another person because of the stereotype that persons group has. Everyday the general public use cars for the means of transportation. But what about when people use their car for more than transportation, car enthusiasts often modify their cars to their likings. Enthusiasts often join car clubs to share their common interests with other car enthusiasts. Often the people in car clubs have a stereotype of being juvenile, racing a lot, low-life bums, and ghetto when actually most do not have those characteristics.
“Stereotypes unreliable, exaggerated generalizations about all members of a group that do not take individual differences into account” (Schaefer 40). Stereotypes can be positive, but are usually associated with negative beliefs or actions such as racial profiling.
Overall, stereotypes are typically false accusations and can be destructive to individual opportunities and the society as a whole. Pre-conceived notions of race, gender, and class should be things of the past because they only lead to unnecessary discrimination.
proves that people will judge somebody sooner than they would get to know them. Regularly, individual people are very friendly, but because of there. actions throughout history or their rivalling religious beliefs. often see them as being a possible threat and treat every person of that race as if they were the same. This is called stereotyping.
Aaron, Jane, Diana Hacker, and X.J. Kennedy. "Size 6: The Western Women’s Harem." Bedford reader. 10th Edition ed. S.l.: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2013. 252-257. Print.