Thursday, October 17, 2013

Malcolm Gladwell Response

    
 

 
      In this chapter, the author writes about a man named Warren Harding.  He is described as a good looking man.  Everyone that he knew wanted him to run for office to become the president of the United States because they thought that he looked right for the job compared to everyone else.  Later, when Harding was elected, they realized that he was actually a terrible president.  After reading this, I realized that I should not judge people by their appearances but look closer into them to see what they are really like.  The people saw Harding as a man that dressed for the job, although they did not realize that he knew nothing about politics and he had no clue what he was doing as the president.  I need to stop judging books by their covers.
     We can easily tie this into our conversation about leadership.  When choosing a leader, you must look at their physical abilities and their mental abilities.  Most people look at the person who is physically the strongest and make them their leader.  You need to look inside and see who the person really is and ask yourself if you really want them to be your leader.  I think if we try our hardest to stay away from our unconscious biases then we can handle it.  If people start to think before they act and talk, then they can control their biases with things in the world.  Besides physical attractiveness, in order to find a good leader, we have to look for a person that is brave, smart, and caring.  They need to pick someone who always is able to take charge, a person that knows what is best for the group, and a man that never leaves a man behind.
     I took two of the IAT tests in class.  The first test I took was the Flower v.s. Insects test.  My results showed that I had a strong automatic preference for flowers compared to insects.  When I saw this I was not surprised at all.  I dislike bugs very much because of the sounds they make and how they look.  I never really remember all of the things that bugs do for us though.  They pollinate flowers, make honey, and they can eat other insects that are bad for the environment.  I judged them on their appearances not on their actual characteristics.  The other test I took was the African American Children v.s. the European American children.  I was very happy with the results that I got because I only had a moderate automatic preference for African American children compared to Euro. American children.  I do not consider myself as someone who is racists and I am so glad my test results did not prove me wrong. 

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