Many people do not distinguish hemlock fir balsam, or even the oak poplar. We do not acknowledge to despise the race of trees. Moreover, for some, there are only three kinds of trees: conifers, hardwoods and ... apple - the latter because there are apples hanging from the branches. Some fellows love to imitate exotic languages, which, by definition, they know almost nothing. Many of us have at one time or another, made a pseudo-Chinese phrase, like "ching chang chong". If such an imitation could convince those around us, it is unlikely Chinese there is a recognized near and far, a single word of his language.
Personally, I find that nothing looks more like the Ninth Symphony of Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony that of Anton Bruckner. As such, I have a brain ordinary, happy at first distinguish the outline before making lace, a brain that puts things foreign in one basket until we know more, a brain which, showing of prejudice, informs me on what I already knew nothing beforehand: this music is of Bruckner's symphony. Nothing prevents me to explore the topic later.
more things we are familiar, the more we perceive their differences.
When I arrived in Marseille, after leaving my dear Tunisia, a strange thing occurred to me: many of the French metropolis are similar, especially in the third grade of high school Perier, including students Esposito and Spadoni , I have long confounded. I wondered how colleagues could make to recognize them. Did they use a technique known only native French? Or is it that my little brain had hung teen details on some particularly significant for a Carthaginian: curly hair above the ears and southern accent. But a month later, I found that Esposito and Spadoni had not, but really not the same coil.
If a Chinese is that all Westerners look alike, it does not prevent a mother recognizes her own twins.
Ten years passed, and by visiting the Canadian Consulate in Marseille, a similar phenomenon was repeated. All Quebecers on the scene had a family resemblance, the same as those of the characters of Gilles Carle, Claude Jutra and other Stone Perrault, who marched on the small screen to the peak of the film club. A je ne sais quoi, eyes wider apart (or shorter) than average, a front bottom (or top), an oblique approach. Difficult to define. But I was then able to distinguish, without fail, within the consulate, Quebec native Marseilles.
Today, I find that Quebecers are similar, because I had time to pursue the matter. The fact remains that my initial prejudice was then a significant source of information and very economical.
Faced with a foreign situation, our brain naturally appeals to prejudice.
You meet a zebra for the first time, and it is careful not to get behind him, lest, as his brother's ass, he suddenly had the crazy idea to send us a kick. Prejudice which may be beneficial, and that does not result.
Design: Rie Mochizuki
We came across a weird thing of wood, three teeth, and say, deep within yourself "oh, it's a fork "Whereas, previously, a fork was a rod of stainless steel with four teeth, slightly smaller. With this bias, in as much is already known on this subject that we did not know from Adam or Eve. It can be used to stir the salad to fish out a bone marrow at the bottom of the pot, to scratch his back or getting an apple on the highest branch.
Before an unknown situation, our brain works willingly with prejudice. It classifies new objects from old baskets. It is not only a fast and economical to obtain information even rude about things unknown, but it is often the only effective short term. No prejudices, no intelligence, no human being. What a paradox!
Our brain is constantly looking to this method, it is somehow conditioned by prejudice, without which we would still be in the process of thinking, without ever having the time to act. It is therefore not surprising that prejudice, whether against forks, donkeys or foreigners come to mind. Everything is to be aware of this process, recognize its limits, and not to establish principles and laws, which is fast and convenient approximation.
It is tempting to contrast the inductive mechanism of prejudice to that, deductive, reason. But it turns out that the induction is the main source of acquiring new information. The deductions are only put in order and in relief, the information we already have. Where X is the son of my father, but it is not my brother, what can be deduced? It simply is none other than me. Knowing that Y was born in Tunisia, and he likes to kitchen, nothing prevents me to believe he knows the recipe for couscous. In the first case, I learned nothing new about X, What I did see more clearly in the information already available to me. In the second case, I already know something about Y, a total stranger, with a probability of being mistaken relatively low.
Notice: Anyone who finds an Adam Air is not a Catholic caught in the act of prejudice.
Design: Rie Mochizuki
induction and deduction are the two mainstays of intelligence. Be wary of induction, and his brother, the bias is to walk on one leg, is simply counterproductive, and even naive. One of the first duties of the person who defines himself as open-minded is to examine the mechanism of prejudice. Shut up prejudice, without further ado, prohibit them by decree, to show a zeal suspect, who combines ignorance and intolerance. Is to commit a bias par excellence.
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