Planters Mixed Nuts: Stereotype Threat Edition

I hadn't really known about this 'Indian' or 'Native American' stereotype until I read the short stories of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Indian Education by Alexie Sherman. I was aware of racial stereotypes; I myself often fall into one of the categories. However, being a teen who spent half his life in the East and half in the West, I think that I just didn't realize how deep each culture is.

Stereotypes can be a funny joke or a dangerous cause of unfortunate events. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Indian Education is a perfect example. In page 184, Sherman shows himself "goofing" with a 7-11 clerk when he asks for a slushie. The clerk assumes that, since his customer is Native American, he will shoot him when he turned around to make the slushie. While Sherman meant to make fun of the clerk, it could have been a serious misunderstanding if he had not intended the prank.

The word 'stereotype threat' refers to someone being worried about confirming their negative stereotypes. In 1995, Steele and Aronson ran an experiment where they gave english tests to two groups of African American and White students. The first group (threat group) were told that their results will show how intelligent they are; the second (no threat group) were told that it was simple exercise. The diagram on the right are the results.

The two psychologists concluded that this was because of the racial prejudice against African Americans. The stereotypes for African Americans include being 'dumb', and the students were naturally more pressured because they were worried that  they'd confirm this prejudice.

In a bag of mixed nuts, there are a diversity of nuts, including walnuts, pecans, peanuts, and cashew nuts. We look at the types of nuts and then generalize how they all taste. Soon, all the walnuts taste the same and all the peanuts taste the same. However, one walnut might be bigger than the others. One peanut could be more salted than others. People are just the same. Some of the people in the world could be Native Americans, but that doesn't mean that they all get in fights or get drunk everyday. Each one of us are different, so please respect the difference. 

Now the next time you get a bag of mixed nuts, remember to savor each nut, and to appreciate the difference in the amount of sea salt it has.