Question

Describe one situation in which your own perceptions about someone were altered. What factors (as discussed in your text and module) were at play as your perception changed?

Brainstorm at least 3 ways to learn empathy through doing (or “walking a mile in someone’s shoes”) for a group or position that is foreign to you.

As you reflect on the previous 2 questions, what can you do in the future to guard against inaccurate perceptions of people

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary. I have not mentioned a personal situation. However, I have mentioned an experiment of altered perceptions; you may edit the answer to fit your personal experiences.

(Answer) Solomon Asch was a Polish psychologist who conducted several behavioural experiments in order to better understand the dynamics of a basic human being. One of his experiments was that of the “Primary Effect” and the “Recency Effect.”

Through this experiment, Asch proved his hypothesis that human beings tend to value the prominent information they receive first about a human being and consequently undervalue the proceeding information. In order to prove the hypothesis, he took two groups of people. One group had the good qualities of a person described first and then the bad qualities. The second group conversely had the bad qualities described first and then the good qualities.

Upon a review, the group that was told about the good qualities presumed the person to be good with a few bad qualities and the group that received the bad qualities first assumed that the person was primarily bad. This is how he proved the “primary effect” by showing how the information received in the primary stages had a greater impact than the information that was later received about a person.

The opposite “recency effect” is when we get to know a person deeply; we judge them by their words, actions and overall behaviour and temperament. We may evaluate people more prominently and profoundly after considering several aspects of their personality. This is when the first impressions we have had of them might become futile and merely a small or negligible aspect of their personality. This is known as the recency effect because it is based on judgements from recently acquired information. For example, a boss might get to know the employee better after a few months of work than at the first interview.

The three ways to learn empathy are:

Listening – Listening to a person from a different situation is the first step towards actually understanding them. It is important to get a full grasp of their lives, situations and nuanced experiences. This would mean that one would have to listen to their account of experiences in order to understand their position.

Sharing tasks – Another way to understand a person is to actually be vicarious by getting into their proverbial shoes. This would teach us about their daily situations and problems. One might even show more empathy towards such people because they actually happen to feel the same way.

Compassion – Compassion is when one individual is likely to feel the emotions of another person simply because they understand how they feel. One might not necessarily have to undergo the same difficulties and experiences. However, one would have to inculcate the value of compassion by understanding that just as I get sad, another is capable of feeling just as sad. Through these attributes and exercises, it might be easier to be understanding of another’s position.

It is noticed that people who generally stick to false stereotypes or misconceptions are those that are simply uneducated about the issue. In order to curb such assumption, it would essential to learn about each other, from each other and without prejudices. Learning more about new minorities is the only way to get rid of ignorant ideas, get accustomed to new people and befriend them for their unique qualities and not avoid them for their stereotypical image.