Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

Goals • Discuss stereotypes and prejudice. • Analyse text structure, style and tone. • Research information on festivals and festivities. • Talk about cultural and ethnic aspects. Speaking: Bias and stereotyping You’ve been asked to talk about bias and stereotyping as presented in the text above at your school’s weekly assembly. In your talk, you should: • discuss the most surprising aspects • comment on worrying aspects • outline the consequences of an ethnically and culturally diverse society 2  The psychology of stereotypes “When you’re a social animal, you need to be able to distinguish who’s a friend and who’s a foe. You need to understand who’s a member of your pack, who’s a member of a different pack,” said John Dovidio, a professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut. According to Dovidio even those of us who believe that we don’t stereotype, do. “We categorise people automatically, unconsciously, immediately, based on a person’s race.” […] It begins in childhood. “20/20”, a popular American magazine programme, brought together three groups of kids and showed them pictures of two men – one Arab, the other Asian. When they asked the children which man they liked better, over and over, more kids said they preferred “the Chinese guy”. One child preferred the Chinese man “because he looks nicer and he has a smile on”. But both men were smiling. Several children weighed in on the Arab man’s personality, basing their opinions on just seeing his picture. One child said, “I think he’s weird.” Another child said, “He’s like the scary dude.” Next, “20/20” showed the kids pictures of a black man and white man. This time the pictures were different. Here were some of the comments the kids made about the photo of the black man. One said, “He looks mean.” Another referred to him as “FBI’s most wanted”. Another commented, “He looks like he’s a basketball player.” When the white man’s picture was shown, one child said, “He’s nice.” Another said, “I think he’s nice except he might be mad about something.” The boy was probably picking up on something. The photo of a white man was of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh who was executed for the 1995 bomb attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City which claimed 168 lives. Admittedly, the pictures were a little bit different, but when they asked which man is a criminal, most kids pointed to the black man. When the children were asked which man was a teacher, most pointed to McVeigh. This is ironic because the black man pictured was Harvard University professor Roland Fryer. Most adults claim they don’t have these biases, but psychologists who study stereotypes say they do. (John Stossel and Kristina Kendall, ABC News , 2006; adapted) 123 Nur zu Prüfzw cken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv