Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes The Mind Analysis

Ethnic stereotypes operate in the same ways for men and women. In the reading “ Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes the Mind,” Ethan Watters mentions how culture shapes the way of thinking and perception. “The most interesting thing about cultures…they mold out most fundamental conscious and unconscious thinking and perception.”(Watters 496). This shows how culture is not just about the materialistic things, but how it influence’s ones thinking and judgment in general. A main source that influences an individuals judgement is the media. It is exactly what happens in the reading “ Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, and Cha Cha Divas,” were Jennifer Pozner mentions how “Other Latina models throughout the series have been called ‘fiery’ as a compliment and ‘hootchie’ as an insult.” (Pozner 361). This quote shows how racial stereotypes work. The show America’s Next Top Model releases these name calling that will later on affect that particular ethnicity. ANTM affects viewers perception of race and ethnicity in modern-day America. The audience never really get to see what is really going on, which causes them to judge the models which will then lead to stereotype. In her essay Pozner mentions an incident between Tyra and Tiffany Richardson and how Tyra humiliated Tiffany turning her into “ANTM’s symbol of the irresponsible

When in reality our culture is what really controls out way of thinking. “Ethnic backgrounds…there are hundreds of cultural differences that individually and in endless combinations…our psychological makeup.”(498). Watters is telling us here that there is an abundance amount of things that influence they way we perceive the world. One of them being our method of judging and decision making. So when we are giving all these stereotypes from ANTM, or from any media, we are letting the media world control our thinking and our judgement. We are letting it become