implicit prejudice

we're all soooo evolved that we're above it, right?  wrong.  try this.

Wow.  Well heck, I don't even need to take the test to know that age prejudice is alive and well. 

peaches, i'm just trying to give ibez the benefit of the doubt by assuming that he'll grow out of it.  if that's age prejudice - okay.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

Original Post by ibez:

I don't know that a master's degree could be considered proof of intelligence; you don't have to do exceptionally well in the classes, nor do you even have to take difficult classes to get any old degree.

true enough.  although i did, on both counts.

but being called stupid by a petulant infant is definitely not proof of stupidity.

Your wording, not mine. I only implied stupidity, up to this point.

And yes, I do quite unapologetically view opinions based on emotions and not a workable model of reality as stupid. Prejudice is an important part of human cognition, and you have to understand something before you decide to "challenge it". Your posts are rife with prejudice; as one would expect. You're only human.

On that note, I should get my lifting done before my next meal. It was fun.

Opinions based on emotions is exactly what prejudice is. So, if I'm reading you right - while prejudice is a perfectly normal and important function of the human brain, it's 'stupid'?

(Yes, I'm replying inbetween sets. Laptops are the bane of my productivity.)

Prejudices can not be intelligent or stupid; they're an automatic process based on  association. That's why in the tool posted by the OP, your prejudice comes out subconsciously. It might have emotions related to it, in the form of emotional reactions in the past to something, but again, it is what it is, and it serves and served important purposes.

the function of prejudice (categorization, classification, association, whatever) in the brain is very different from the function of prejudice in society.  this is why it's important to recognize, acknowledge, and address it.

of course, that's an individual choice.  if you've rejected society (or had society reject you), then embracing prejudice might make perfect sense.

Original Post by ibez:

(Yes, I'm replying inbetween sets. Laptops are the bane of my productivity.)

Prejudices can not be intelligent or stupid; they're an automatic process based on  association. That's why in the tool posted by the OP, your prejudice comes out subconsciously. It might have emotions related to it, in the form of emotional reactions in the past to something, but again, it is what it is, and it serves and served important purposes.

 Disagree. Sounds like you are mistaking instinct for prejudice. Prejudice is a learned behavior, or born out of an emotional response. Your analogy of the spider seems incorrect because we are instinctually frightened more by creatures that have been able to kill off our ancestors than by our own choices (driving in a car).

I would further submit that the reason society views obesity as unattractive is simply because we have developed a very narrow view of beauty. Thanks to media, gender bias and a whole myriad of other stimuli that have nothing to do with who a person is.

i think ibez believes he is a vulcan.  and he's not.

and if anyone thinks i'm prejudiced against vulcans, i am.  but not as prejudiced as i am against romulans and--especially--ferengi.

I'm prejudiced against people who considering using big words and sounding like they're verbally vomiting a textbook as proof that they are somehow educated, intelligent, and/or a wit.  Just sayin'.

Original Post by nuggetkong:

I'm prejudiced against people who considering using big words and sounding like they're verbally vomiting a textbook as proof that they are somehow educated, intelligent, and/or a wit.  Just sayin'.

 or consider?

Original Post by starlitocean:

Original Post by nuggetkong:

I'm prejudiced against people who considering using big words and sounding like they're verbally vomiting a textbook as proof that they are somehow educated, intelligent, and/or a wit.  Just sayin'.

 or consider?

See, so by my own judgements I'm a frickin' genius. 

Typos happen.

Your data suggest little or no preference for Vabbenif compared Reemolap.

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Your data suggest little or no preference for Vabbenif compared Reemolap.

But my data also suggested that I have a"slight automatic preference for Young compared to Old."

I hate me some old hags.

Original Post by ibez:

It's just the curse of competence, really. Normal people are tedious.

hahaha so funny!!

Edited to add: Just been on your profile and realised you're only 17, sorry, makes sense now

Original Post by kathygator:

Original Post by ibez:

(Yes, I'm replying inbetween sets. Laptops are the bane of my productivity.)

Prejudices can not be intelligent or stupid; they're an automatic process based on  association. That's why in the tool posted by the OP, your prejudice comes out subconsciously. It might have emotions related to it, in the form of emotional reactions in the past to something, but again, it is what it is, and it serves and served important purposes.

 Disagree. Sounds like you are mistaking instinct for prejudice. Prejudice is a learned behavior, or born out of an emotional response. Your analogy of the spider seems incorrect because we are instinctually frightened more by creatures that have been able to kill off our ancestors than by our own choices (driving in a car).

I never really like to continue a discussion too much once it starts to become more about semantics.

However, saying that a fear of spiders is genetic is a lofty claim, I should think. Anything genetic is limited, most fears are learned. Of course, the body has two methods of information storage - genetic and cognitive, genetic being much more limited in capacity.

The field of evolutionary psychology is not a very old field and it's hard to find really solid research on this sort of thing. Are newborn babies afraid of spiders? On a completely anecdotal premise, I would say no. And for it to be a genetic fear, that means we'd have to have many visual representations of spiders and hundreds of other creatures stored in our DNA, which doesn't seem entirely likely to me. I would argue that the basic emotions are there, and we refine them to situation-specific phobias as we age... through memory, not genetics. But I don't think this whole thing is all that relevant at this point anyway.

Are instinct and prejudice really very different in the first place? "Instinct" itself is really used in a mystical and unclear context most of the time. We certainly don't make any decisions without a reason though. Instinct is an instant conclusion based on a judgment of the information available to the decision-maker. How is prejudice so different? We know prejudice is something that takes effect instantly, again even simply based on the study that the OP linked to.

Then again, prejudice has a kind of shaky definition as well. Are racial judgments prejudice? Sometimes. Always? Maybe not. Black people are, on average, the best sprinters. That's not a prejudice, it's a provable fact. Prejudice is holding opinions towards a group of people with shaky rationalization or evidence. Who's to say that what we consider to be prejudice is based on shaky evidence, though? I don't believe that many forms of "prejudice" are actually prejudice. Maybe on the other hand, some people have an unreasonable bias towards the inclusion and completely equal judgment of all types of people.

Of course, I do believe that choosing actions based on prejudice is stupid. It's always stupid to fail to take all the setting-specific factors into account when making a decision. But the existence of prejudice itself is just based on the brain's natural process of association.

Original Post by nuggetkong:

I'm prejudiced against people who considering using big words and sounding like they're verbally vomiting a textbook as proof that they are somehow educated, intelligent, and/or a wit.  Just sayin'.

Or, maybe they just know words which are more applicable to the specific context? Why don't you just say "smart" instead of intelligent? Think you're smart or something?

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

But my data also suggested that I have a"slight automatic preference for Young compared to Old."

I hate me some old hags.

okay, i'm changing my avatar.  if i can't be a mafugga....

Original Post by pgeorgian:

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

But my data also suggested that I have a"slight automatic preference for Young compared to Old."

I hate me some old hags.

okay, i'm changing my avatar.  if i can't be a mafugga....

 totally lifelike.

only kenya can love a face like that...