I seen a fella that looked just like me. I felt so sorry for him. 
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are you biased against people who don't look like you?
- Thread starter bagend12
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Genghis Kush
Active member
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/body-odor-is-less-repulsive-when-it-comes-from-one-of-us/
"Body Odor Is Less Repulsive When It Comes from "One of Us"
New research shows that our feelings of disgust depend on group membership"
It’s no secret that when traveling abroad, people often find local residents’ body odor particularly offensive. And mothers tend to believe that other infants smell far less appealing than their own. Now, in a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of researchers has shown that the degree of disgust people find in others’ sweat may vary with group identification. In other words, disgust may depend on whether one considers the person they smell to be a member of their “in-group” or “out-group.”
The researchers performed two sets of experiments: In the first they asked 45 female University of Sussex students to hold and smell a sweaty T-shirt bearing the logo of another university and report how disgusting they found it on a scale of 1 to 7. The students believed they were participating in an experiment measuring their ability to detect pheromones. The researchers then subtly primed the students to think of themselves as members of different groups or no group at all by telling them different versions of the study’s purported goals. In some cases the researchers said they were measuring how well students could detect pheromones—activating the study subjects’ feelings of affiliation with all other students, including those at the university printed on the T-shirt. Other times the researchers said they were testing the detection ability of Sussex students, priming the study participants to think of the T-shirt as having belonged to a member of a rival group. As a control condition, the researchers said they were looking at individual ability.
The researchers found that the students were considerably less disgusted when they considered the T-shirt’s source a member of the same group (a fellow student) compared with a member of a different group (a student at a rival university) or when they were not thinking of groups at all. Because the students felt the same amount of disgust when they perceived the T-shirt as having belonged to an “outsider” and when they were not thinking about groups at all, the researchers concluded that feelings of in-group affiliation reduced feelings of disgust. In other words, regarding someone as an “other” does not necessarily increase revulsion but the idea that he or she is “one of us” may decrease it.
The second experiment involved giving 90 male and female University of Saint Andrew’s students sweaty T-shirts with either a Saint Andrew’s logo, that of a rival university or no logo at all. Then the researchers recorded how quickly the students walked across the room to a hand sanitizer station and how many pumps of sanitizer they used after handling the sweaty shirt. The researchers observed the same patterns as before: When the T-shirt belonged to someone in the same group, the students moved less quickly across the room and used less hand sanitizer.
Scientists have linked the emotion of disgust to an evolutionary instinct to avoid pathogens and protect against infection. As such, disgust is thought to mediate relations between groups—in other words, it plays an important role in keeping people apart from out-groups who might harbor unfamiliar and potentially dangerous germs. The new study adds a new element to that idea, says John Drury, a psychologist at Sussex and one of the study’s authors. “It also helps socially to reduce the level of disgust—in order to work together and do things as a group, since a lot of things in society are achieved in groups.”
Jolanda Jetten, a psychologist at The University of Queensland who was not affiliated with this work, notes previous studies have shown people are very tolerant of unpleasant odors and even waste products when dealing with their children or an intimate partner. This research builds on those findings by demonstrating that not only intimacy but shared identification is important in conditioning disgust. “It shows that even something as basic as smell is regulated by group processes,” she says.
These findings may help social scientists explain how different groups cooperate, extending to research on racism and dehumanization. “This [study] suggests that it is possible to overcome feelings of disgust by changing the relationship between the disgusted and the disgusting,” says Alex Haslam*, also a psychologist at Queensland who did not participate in this study. “I think this is very neat research that makes a very powerful point in an ingenious and compelling way.”
According to Stephen Reicher*, a psychologist at Saint Andrew’s and the study’s lead author, the team plans to continue this research by studying how reduced levels of disgust in an ingroup mediates both physical and mental cooperation, generalizing these findings across larger, real-world settings. The researchers may test different identities, beyond that of “student” and use stimuli other than sweaty T-shirts, perhaps involving taste or even socioeconomic preferences instead of odor. “But we also want to look at some of the paradoxes and downsides of lowered in-group disgust,” Reicher adds. “The lowering of disgust may lead people to lower their guard in practices that contribute to spreading infection—more willingness to share food and drink, to stay near ill people and not turn away if they cough, and so on.” The implications are international in scope. “At the Hajj, for instance, people come from 162 nations, mingle their germs and go back home to spread them further. We are interested in the psychological dimension of this process,” he says.
"Body Odor Is Less Repulsive When It Comes from "One of Us"
New research shows that our feelings of disgust depend on group membership"
It’s no secret that when traveling abroad, people often find local residents’ body odor particularly offensive. And mothers tend to believe that other infants smell far less appealing than their own. Now, in a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of researchers has shown that the degree of disgust people find in others’ sweat may vary with group identification. In other words, disgust may depend on whether one considers the person they smell to be a member of their “in-group” or “out-group.”
The researchers performed two sets of experiments: In the first they asked 45 female University of Sussex students to hold and smell a sweaty T-shirt bearing the logo of another university and report how disgusting they found it on a scale of 1 to 7. The students believed they were participating in an experiment measuring their ability to detect pheromones. The researchers then subtly primed the students to think of themselves as members of different groups or no group at all by telling them different versions of the study’s purported goals. In some cases the researchers said they were measuring how well students could detect pheromones—activating the study subjects’ feelings of affiliation with all other students, including those at the university printed on the T-shirt. Other times the researchers said they were testing the detection ability of Sussex students, priming the study participants to think of the T-shirt as having belonged to a member of a rival group. As a control condition, the researchers said they were looking at individual ability.
The researchers found that the students were considerably less disgusted when they considered the T-shirt’s source a member of the same group (a fellow student) compared with a member of a different group (a student at a rival university) or when they were not thinking of groups at all. Because the students felt the same amount of disgust when they perceived the T-shirt as having belonged to an “outsider” and when they were not thinking about groups at all, the researchers concluded that feelings of in-group affiliation reduced feelings of disgust. In other words, regarding someone as an “other” does not necessarily increase revulsion but the idea that he or she is “one of us” may decrease it.
The second experiment involved giving 90 male and female University of Saint Andrew’s students sweaty T-shirts with either a Saint Andrew’s logo, that of a rival university or no logo at all. Then the researchers recorded how quickly the students walked across the room to a hand sanitizer station and how many pumps of sanitizer they used after handling the sweaty shirt. The researchers observed the same patterns as before: When the T-shirt belonged to someone in the same group, the students moved less quickly across the room and used less hand sanitizer.
Scientists have linked the emotion of disgust to an evolutionary instinct to avoid pathogens and protect against infection. As such, disgust is thought to mediate relations between groups—in other words, it plays an important role in keeping people apart from out-groups who might harbor unfamiliar and potentially dangerous germs. The new study adds a new element to that idea, says John Drury, a psychologist at Sussex and one of the study’s authors. “It also helps socially to reduce the level of disgust—in order to work together and do things as a group, since a lot of things in society are achieved in groups.”
Jolanda Jetten, a psychologist at The University of Queensland who was not affiliated with this work, notes previous studies have shown people are very tolerant of unpleasant odors and even waste products when dealing with their children or an intimate partner. This research builds on those findings by demonstrating that not only intimacy but shared identification is important in conditioning disgust. “It shows that even something as basic as smell is regulated by group processes,” she says.
These findings may help social scientists explain how different groups cooperate, extending to research on racism and dehumanization. “This [study] suggests that it is possible to overcome feelings of disgust by changing the relationship between the disgusted and the disgusting,” says Alex Haslam*, also a psychologist at Queensland who did not participate in this study. “I think this is very neat research that makes a very powerful point in an ingenious and compelling way.”
According to Stephen Reicher*, a psychologist at Saint Andrew’s and the study’s lead author, the team plans to continue this research by studying how reduced levels of disgust in an ingroup mediates both physical and mental cooperation, generalizing these findings across larger, real-world settings. The researchers may test different identities, beyond that of “student” and use stimuli other than sweaty T-shirts, perhaps involving taste or even socioeconomic preferences instead of odor. “But we also want to look at some of the paradoxes and downsides of lowered in-group disgust,” Reicher adds. “The lowering of disgust may lead people to lower their guard in practices that contribute to spreading infection—more willingness to share food and drink, to stay near ill people and not turn away if they cough, and so on.” The implications are international in scope. “At the Hajj, for instance, people come from 162 nations, mingle their germs and go back home to spread them further. We are interested in the psychological dimension of this process,” he says.
Z
Ziggaro
I'm guilty. I notice when my hair starts getting long I start getting funny looks around here. Old ladies smile at me when I'm cleaned up even with a big beard. I don't associate with many "poor" people even though I'm pretty much poor. I wear nice clothes and shoes and am clean and even though I'm always nice I'm not as likely to talk to dumpy looking people. I grew up poor but you would have never been able to tell without visiting me.. so it all kinda stuck
I look like a drug dealer (I've been told).. but that's how I've always looked. I feel completely isolated from the rest of the world and can't relate to anyone. I probably look poor to other people because I don't spend any money on my appearance or nice things like smartphones and watches etc. but "money likes silence"
And I just realized I probably smell like weed all the time.
And I just realized I probably smell like weed all the time.
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FireIn.TheSky
Active member
I find most people have a bias driven by their own ego.
Cognitive biases abound, I work hard to think outside of those constraints.
Some scholars believe they are unavoidable and most people do not have a choice in the matter. I firmly disagree.
These are the mirrors that people like Alpert had broken through the study of psychedelics at Harvard university. I think some weeds provide a similar vehicle.
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FireIn.TheSky
Active member
I've been reading Ramana, he has some interesting insight when it comes to the ego.
Genghis Kush
Active member
a cognitive bias is different than an ego bias.
"A cognitive bias refers to a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion. Individuals create their own "subjective social reality" from their perception of the input."
I believe that Ramana is talking about the illusion of the "I", or self-identification which constructs the subject-object duality: me and that which I don't perceive as me. Ego bias stands as an obstacle which causes us to view the subject I as disassociated from any thing that is not recognized as the body-brain-mind-ego.
"A cognitive bias refers to a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion. Individuals create their own "subjective social reality" from their perception of the input."
I believe that Ramana is talking about the illusion of the "I", or self-identification which constructs the subject-object duality: me and that which I don't perceive as me. Ego bias stands as an obstacle which causes us to view the subject I as disassociated from any thing that is not recognized as the body-brain-mind-ego.
MileHighGlass
Senior Member
I tend to look down on a "man" if his hands don't feel like 100 grit sandpaper. 
FireIn.TheSky
Active member
You another thing I find really annoying is when someone thinks they are hot shit and don't realize they suck at something. Kind of like the fools on American Idol that don't know they can't sing for shit.
FireIn.TheSky
Active member
^ oops wrong thread. Not being able to edit is quite annoying.
mrS0ul
Meatball in Residence
"I hate Illinois Nazi's"
"I hate Illinois Nazi's"
I loathe phonies and couples named Muffy & Chip. Conservative types who think they know best. Folks who feel it is their spiritual quest in life to push their 'moral code'. I can also blend right in with them..
Holden Caulfield was right.
Worst of all are the ones who believe in their heart they are genuine. Rampant in America from my view.
I can also don 'camouflage' on cue. I have traveled extensively and when in Rome. Reminds me of the Mark Twain quote. Regardless their is always common ground if you look for it and like Rodney King said. "Can't we all get along?"
Probably not.
Truth [what ever that means to you] is important and being genuine is paramount.
But sliding into a $1000 Brooks Brothers Suit and being a closer is a good skill to be proficient at.
Like it or not the goddamn coffee's for closer's!
And in America we bail out the 'winners' not the losers.
I said fuck it anyway.
Oh... and I despise fascists of any stripe.
and Illinois Nazi's.
I hate Illinois Nazi's
Beats rule.
~S0ul
"I hate Illinois Nazi's"
I loathe phonies and couples named Muffy & Chip. Conservative types who think they know best. Folks who feel it is their spiritual quest in life to push their 'moral code'. I can also blend right in with them..
Holden Caulfield was right.
Worst of all are the ones who believe in their heart they are genuine. Rampant in America from my view.
I can also don 'camouflage' on cue. I have traveled extensively and when in Rome. Reminds me of the Mark Twain quote. Regardless their is always common ground if you look for it and like Rodney King said. "Can't we all get along?"
Probably not.
Truth [what ever that means to you] is important and being genuine is paramount.
But sliding into a $1000 Brooks Brothers Suit and being a closer is a good skill to be proficient at.
Like it or not the goddamn coffee's for closer's!
And in America we bail out the 'winners' not the losers.
I said fuck it anyway.
Oh... and I despise fascists of any stripe.
and Illinois Nazi's.
I hate Illinois Nazi's
Beats rule.
~S0ul
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I'm a veteran also, but after 35 or so I just stopped giving a damn. Still shave the head, but I let the beard go. Other than that it's a stupid funny tee, and sandles. Pants too, pants too...
As they say-
In your 20s you worry about what others think of you,
In your 30s you don't care what people think of you....
In your 40s you realise no one was thinking about you anyway.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately as I find myself unconsciously judging a poster and their posts by whether or not their avatar is appealing or at least interesting.
If we wanted to eliminate unconscious bias I'd vote for no avatar or license photo and IRL, everyone covering up with a neutral full-body mask.
Are you a master of your own mind or has your mind mastered you?
the side of the coin we see is on us, commonality versus difference.
I'll give you a real world example. While my consultancy is small, I have several customers from China, Iraq, Pakistan and Northern India (they are growing immigrant populations in NY and offer great revenue potentials). Now when I share this with people in my industry the first comment is "how do you get paid" followed by a laugh. Well I get paid cash, get cash deposits on my work and tipped as well. Did I mention I don't keep a place of business?
I have a bunch of very Jewish customers too. I wonder why so many people suffer the stereotypes of others while I don't? And I have been around certain cultures enough to see the traits of those stereotypes manifested yet I did not suffer the same.
Why?
Same ability to connect to people "on the opposite" side of me has keep me a from being a felon, on more than one occasion.
More than that it has forged some really interesting and valuable friendships. I got friends that people cross the street when they see them that have given me more than my flesh and blood just because I was in need.
Inside of every human is a human, difference is an illusion.
the side of the coin we see is on us, commonality versus difference.
I'll give you a real world example. While my consultancy is small, I have several customers from China, Iraq, Pakistan and Northern India (they are growing immigrant populations in NY and offer great revenue potentials). Now when I share this with people in my industry the first comment is "how do you get paid" followed by a laugh. Well I get paid cash, get cash deposits on my work and tipped as well. Did I mention I don't keep a place of business?
I have a bunch of very Jewish customers too. I wonder why so many people suffer the stereotypes of others while I don't? And I have been around certain cultures enough to see the traits of those stereotypes manifested yet I did not suffer the same.
Why?
Same ability to connect to people "on the opposite" side of me has keep me a from being a felon, on more than one occasion.
More than that it has forged some really interesting and valuable friendships. I got friends that people cross the street when they see them that have given me more than my flesh and blood just because I was in need.
Inside of every human is a human, difference is an illusion.
