FRIEND OR ENEMY?

BEFORE READING

1. Do you belong to any groups? What are these groups based on? Sports? Music?

2. Do you know what the word stereotype means?

In the days of cavemen and hunting, being able to tell a friend from an enemy quickly was probably the most efficient way to stay alive. If you took an enemy for a friend by mistake, you could be killed because you didn’t get away in time. If your friends mistook you for an enemy, they could accidentally harm you. Therefore, it was important to show other people which group you belonged to and to recognise both your own group and others quickly. As humans are herd animals, we also needed to find and belong to a larger group to feel happy and safe. Consequently, our brain developed the skill of quickly scanning and categorising people.

Group identity

Today, our brain still puts people we meet into different groups or categories. Even if millions of years have passed and we don’t risk being killed, we want to find people who are like us, and we want to know how to act and react when we meet others. That is why we continue to send out signals as to which group we belong to. Maybe we wear certain clothes or maybe we have tattoos to show our group identity. Maybe we talk or walk in a certain way. This is simply a result of our history and the way our prehistoric brain works.

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Negative consequences

There are negative consequences of categorising people, though. Imagine you are afraid of dogs. One day you meet a dog owner who shouts at you when you ask her to hold her dog in as you pass. The next time you meet a dog owner, you might be afraid that the same thing will happen again.You might think that all dog owners are angry people because of your previous bad experience and start avoiding them. It could be a good strategy that would save you from being shouted at again, but could your assumption about all dog owners really be true? You cannot just give everyone within a specific group the same features.

Stereotypes

Have you heard that all pale, freckly and red-headed people must be from Scotland or Ireland? Or that short, brown-haired people that move their hands when they talk are from Italy? Another similar belief is that all people from Scandinavian countries are tall, blond and blueeyed. Do you think these ideas are true? Of course they aren’t true – they are examples of stereotypes. A stereotype is a widely spread and fixed idea about a whole group of people based on what is only true about some of the people in that group. It’s another way to categorise people that will often mislead you.

So, the next time you jump to a quick conclusion about somebody or hear something about another group of people just remember how your prehistoric brain works.

Reading comprehension

1. Why was it important to identify another person quickly in the days of cavemen and hunting?

2. Why do we still categorise people today?

3. How do we show what group we belong to now?

4. What negative consequences are there if you are quick to categorise someone?

5. What is a stereotype?

6. How can a stereotype mislead you?

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