Essay On Out Group Homogeneity Effect

Everyone makes judgements of their surroundings: it’s a part of being human. We fit things into groups, like pets, scary things, or things we can sit on. Within these groups, there are smaller groups, like separating pets into dogs and cats. Those groups can continue to get more and more specific. At a glance, a person can determine the difference between a German Shepherd and a chihuahua and act accordingly. This is true for people too. Our society claims to be “colorblind,” but when was the last time you really couldn 't tell the difference between an elderly Black woman and a Japanese man in his early twenties? The difficulty comes in “acting accordingly.” It is completely acceptable to have prejudices about how you would treat different dog breeds, and about how you would expect that dog to react. People, however, are more complicated than “man’s best friend.” We delude ourselves into thinking we have no biases, when our time would be better spent admitting them and working against them.

We have formed more subgroups for other humans …show more content…
This is largely caused by what is known as the Out-group Homogeneity Effect. The Out-group Homogeneity Effect is the fact that we are more likely to see those in an out-group as being more similar (or homogenous). Have you ever had a little more difficulty telling people from a different race apart? You might not outright say the stereotypical “They all look the same,” but the things that tell them apart are more likely to be ignored. Instead, it’s easier to push them into the “Black” group, “Latino” group, “Asian” group, or “White” group. Have you ever broken up and had a friend tell you “All men are stupid,” or “Women are crazy”? While you consciously know that half the world cannot be homogenous, it still seems to ring