SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Racial stereotypes and expectations can impact the way we communicate and understand others, according to UBC research. The new study, published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, highlights how non-verbal "social cues" - such as photographs of Chinese Canadians - can affect how we comprehend speech.
"This research brings to light our internal biases, and the role of experience and stereotypes, in how we listen to and hear each other," says Molly Babel, the paper's lead author and an assistant professor with UBC's Department of Linguistics.
One of the study's tasks involved participants from the UBC community transcribing pre-recorded sentences amid background static. The sentences were recorded by 12 native speakers of Canadian English. Half of the speakers self-identified as White, and the other half self-identified as Chinese. All speakers were born and raised in Richmond, B.C., which is south of Vancouver.
The pre-recorded sentences were accompanied by either black and white photos of the speakers, or by an image of three crosses. Overall, listeners found the Chinese Canadians more difficult to understand than the White Canadians - but only when they were made aware that the speaker was Chinese Canadian due to the photo prompt.
Participants were also asked to rate the strength of the accents of the speakers. They were asked to listen to two sentences from each speaker - one accompanied by the speaker's photo, the other by an image of crosses. "Once participants were aware that they were listening to a White Canadian, suddenly the candidate was perceived as having less of a foreign accent and sounding more like a native speaker of Canadian English," says Babel.
"It tells us as listeners that we need to be sensitive about the stereotypes that we carry," notes Jamie Russell, the study's co-author who was an undergraduate honours student in UBC's Department of Linguistics during the project.
http://phys.org/news/2015-05-racial-stereotypes-impact.html
[Abstract]: http://scitation.aip.org/content/asa/journal/jasa/137/5/10.1121/1.4919317
[Source]: http://news.ubc.ca/2015/05/26/how-racial-stereotypes-impact-the-way-we-communicate/
[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]
(Score: 2, Troll) by aristarchus on Friday May 29 2015, @06:47AM
I have no doubt that some will fall prey to racial stereotypes. Such is the lack of cognitive ability among some. But I have to point out, that in the extreme, anyone is capable of the same cognitive abilities as anyone else, given proper training, or more appropriately, education. So we are not all that different. It is only that some of us are not given the same opportunities as others. And of course, and even worse, if those opportunities are not given at an early enough age, the damage may be permanent, and the victim could be condemned to a life in a cognitively limited bubble. Racism is one such bubble. The problem is, that once this has taken hold, there is no way to remove it. Well, there is one way, but that is what they do.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @07:18AM
Your rants are becoming less coherent but more technically wrong. I do not know if a drug intervention or congratulations are in order.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @07:25AM
The glans, or "head" of the penis, is shaped like a mushroom such that on the withdrawing stroke during vaginal intercourse, the penis of the male scrapes residual semen from the interior walls of the female vagina, thus decreasing the likelihood that sperm from a rival male will impregnate the female.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @08:06AM
Racist! Probably a purple racist!
(Score: 2, Disagree) by t-3 on Friday May 29 2015, @07:46AM
I think this is more a symptom of segregation and lack of diversity than anything to do with "cognitive abilities". Most people when exposed and held in close contact to other cultures, find that we're all the same and racism disappears rather quickly.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by mojo chan on Friday May 29 2015, @09:24AM
It's not a lack of cognitive ability, it's mostly a subconscious reaction issue. For example, someone I know was talking about a potential new hire at work and someone mentioned he was wearing a pink shirt, to which he exclaimed "oh God, he's not gay is he?" I know this guy isn't homophobic really, but the reaction is deeply ingrained. It's called a microagression.
I think it is partly due to the way English conversations work. People don't really listen too closely, they just wait for their turn to speak and jump in as soon as possible. Thus the speaker has to think fast and keep talking or someone else will interrupt them. In other cultures that isn't the case, so microagressions are less of an issue (but of course concious discrimination can still be a huge problem).
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @02:03PM
microagression
No. Get that garbage out of here.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tibman on Friday May 29 2015, @02:48PM
This probably shouldn't be modded troll. He's just saying that racism is a form stupidity, lack of education, or delusion. Which is semi-backed-up by the article. If you can understand someone perfectly until you realize they are Chinese and suddenly they can't speak as well then you have projected your perception onto them. The Chinese person didn't suddenly start speaking worse English. You just think they can't speak as well because of your internal preconceptions. If you tore down those preconceptions then you'd realize that this particular Chinese person can speak English well.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday May 29 2015, @03:12PM
I don't agree that there is no way to remove it. If when kids become adults they isolate themselves against interacting with anyone that isnt like them... yeah, they are going to be just as racist as their parents.
But if someone opens their horizons and interacts with people, even old racists assholes can break free.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @04:19PM
Unfortunately its not that easy. I despise racists and the concepts behind bigotry, but even I still find myself having semi-bigoted thoughts, like finding homosexuals gross or not really associating with blacks (and worse). Conceptually I don't have a problem with them, and I don't think those groups should be deprived of their rights, their freedom, or their lives because I don't necessarily like them, but I can't stop those prejudiced thoughts from creeping in no matter how much I correct myself after I have them. I wasn't raised around racists, just in a town with few minorities; if even I have trouble, I can imagine how difficult it would be for somebody who was raised in bigotry to grow up and stop being bigoted.
(Score: 2) by Hawkwind on Friday May 29 2015, @06:25PM