Saturday, February 12, 2011
One of Us
The other day in class, Sal separated everybody into two groups. These groups were decided by whether we were wearing a colored or a black shirt that day. Even though this separation was completely meaningless when asked to analyze the other group, all us "black shirt" people felt united in a way. For some bizarre reason, we were right and they were wrong. Sal explained that this was because of the effects of Ingroups and Outgroups. Even if it was a meaningless group...it was my meaningless group. Each group that you can align yourself with instantly becomes more important to you than the groups to which you are not a member; the outgroups. In class we also took some time the other day to reflect on what groups we belong to. Between my family, my school friends, my camp friends, etc. I began to realize that I belonged to a lot more groups than even I thought. It is important not to get too caught up in "your" groups. When I think about everything I'm involved in it's quite easy for me to see my groups as the right way to be. Why would I want to think that something I'm a part of is wrong. However, in a world with so many different groups, it is crucial that we can recognize the merit outgroups have to offer.
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I completely agree with you that although they were meaningless groups "they were our meaningless groups." When we have an ingroup, we bond with them and are able to associate with them more easily/defend them more easily. I was in the black shirt group, as well, and there were several characteristics we created for the colored group that were negative. With each characteristic, we bonded more as an ingroup, but also created an outgroup for the colored shirts.
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point about not getting too caught up in your in-groups. We need to realize that your groups aren't the only 'right' groups and others are 'wrong'. We need to realize that out-groups are just different and they can be very helpful in many different ways.
ReplyDelete"It was my meaningless group" haha, funny and true.
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