"Yeah, Remember that One Time…?"

“How can people be so simple to think that all people of a race, generation, or culture are exactly the same?” Funny thing is that this is a situation even early adolescents are intelligent enough to realize and bold enough to ask. Yet, older counterparts who have met many people in their lives and witnessed numerous phenomena tend to quickly and quasi-accurately (FYI: “quasi” = “somewhat”) judge people and situations based on their demographic (e.g. location, ethnicity, age, etc.). This pretty much sums up the actions of Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri’s poorly educated Twitter critics and attackers of a dear friend, Zach Paluch (see this link for details). As quickly as people will call themselves unique, they will claim the next person is another statistic—and feel justified in it. Pero cómo?

Nationally esteemed and published professor of psychology Frank T. McAndrew (one of my undergraduate advisors; you mad?) has done research on a concept called the “power of the particular.” It is the usage of facts and traits of a significant individual or experience to figure the predictability of behaviors in people and events similar to the exemplar. Prof. McAndrew states, “For better or worse, this [power of the particular] is the mental equipment that we must rely on to navigate our way through a modern world filled with technology and strangers.” Essentially, it’s a type of top-down processing: you have a belief about how something should happen and then judge instances on how much they agree with your beliefs. Not that it is fair or even reliable, but CLEARLY it is human nature.

Pertaining to adolescents, this is a crucial conflict for multiple reasons. One being that in finding one’s identity—the sole psychosocial conflict of this age group—he or she tends to find someone to idolize and mimic only to find that the grass is not always greener on the other side…especially when you have to mow it! (Get in touch with an “80’s baby” if that went over your head.) Just as well, adolescents are learning to mentally map situations and people, creating files and folders and bookmarks about who and what is significant. Making these connections, however, are difficult as teens have yet to experience everything needed to make solid judgments. Moreover, snap judgments are made even as adults, especially if your cultural capital (remember that?) and network are limited. That said, diversify your circle of friends, explore places unknown, and rely not on Twitter/Instagram/Vine to do either.

- Brandon Avery