14 DAY TRIAL // A group of investigators led by experts at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) says that their latest study on the influence of culture on human behavior revealed a worrying aspect – the way our culture is set up is poised to instill a little bit of racism and discrimination in everyone of us.
In a paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed British Journal of Social Psychology, the team explains that there are numerous aspects of discrimination that our culture may promote, either inadvertently or purposefully.
These include ageism, racism, gender discrimination and other biases. The most interesting thing the investigators learned was that these behaviors appeared to occur within the same population group as well. This means that researchers saw them within tightly-knit groups and extended families as well.
In contrast with what other researches uncovered, the Georgia Tech investigators learned that the Internet, newspapers, radio, TV, literature, music and movies – all the aspects of America's infamous “soft culture” - were responsible for instilling these “values” in citizens.
While authorities and non-governmental groups (NGO) work hard to obliterate stereotyping and other harmful behaviors from our society, these media are working against it, constantly depicting them in the same light as they have for decades.
Under such conditions, public awareness campaigns have absolutely no chance of swaying anyone's mind, researchers say. The study was led by Georgia Tech School of Psychology professor Paul Verhaeghen, PsychCentral reports.
“There’s one idea that people tend to associate black people with violence, women with weakness, or older people with forgetfulness – because they are prejudiced. But there’s another possibility that what’s in your head is not you, it’s the culture around you,” the team leader explains.
“And so what you have is stuff you picked up from reading, television, radio and the Internet. And that’s the question we wanted to answer: are you indeed a racist, or are you just an American?” he adds.
The investigation revealed that the way people heard others refer to various topics that are usually prone to discrimination tends to dictate their first reactions when hearing these topics brought up in a conversation.
“One of the things these findings suggest is that for those of us who, like me, very often feel guilty about these gut reactions you have and you’re not supposed to have is those gut reactions are normal and they have very little to do with you,” Verhaeghen explains.
“They have more to do with the culture around you. What is more important is your behavior, rather than your gut reaction,” the expert concludes.
Video source: GaTechSciences