2. Social behavior is the tendency to interpret information in a way that confirms one’s
beliefs, which leads to social cognition, which is the way we store and process
information. The picture that I’ve chosen shows an old beggar and a high school
student walking by while smirking.
Perseverance effect is shown in the boy’s facial expressions and body language as he
interprets what he sees in a biased way. He does not care about the beggar and even
worse, he seems to be mocking him indirectly. The contrast between his face and the
beggar’s helpless face is quite hurtful to witness.
Representative heuristic can be seen from the other citizens. They are uncertain
about how they should react to the beggar and take judgmental shortcuts by
neglecting him. This is because heuristic is effortless and simplifies decision-making.
Also, people think that he is different and belongs to the lower stratum of the society.
This results in judgmental thoughts.
Moreover, as people expect beggars to be dirty and disrespectable, they would
choose to walk away, rather than giving help. This is self-fulfilling prophecy, in
which their behavior is influenced by their expectations. It is also because of their
stereotyped views of general beggars by average citizens, most of the people would
want to be far from them.
To sum up, we should not assume one’s demeanor by one’s outward appearance, as
we do not understand their backgrounds. We should face life situations in a fair and
logical manner, by keeping personal opinions to ourselves and not express it to others
as it might cause conflicts.
(264 words)
