In his book Overcoming Unintentional Racism in Counseling and Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide to Intentional Intervention, Charles R. Ridley states “It is impossible to eliminate racism without first acknowledging all of its perpetrators.” Leading up to this quote Ridley mentions that skin color should not be a factor when deciding whether or not an individual is racist, and that minorities can be racists. I associate Ridley’s sentiments with the class’s final lecture and the discussion that ensued after watching clips from Crash. One example that became prevalent in my mind was when Rashad, a peer of mine, gave an account of a frightened woman hurrying to her car after noticing him. Taking into account his race and his stature, he assumed…show more content… 103). Seeing as there are varying opinions in every situation, the behavior of an individual may not be a function of their attitudes but a function of the circumstance. One way to identify if a behavior is that of an external attribution or internal attribution is to use the three factors involved in Kelley’s theory of attributions (1973). We can explain behavior by answering questions regarding: how consistent the behavior is, whether the behavior is distinct to the situation, and if others behave similarly in the identical…show more content… 113).” The Berscheid 1977 study, where male students were given the picture of an attractive or unattractive woman and then spoke on the telephone with the woman in the photo. Berscheid analyzed the way the women responded when the man thought that they were attractive or unattractive and the study found that when men perceived the woman to be beautiful they elicited flirtatious and warm responses. Therefore, the woman on the other-end fulfilled the man’s stereotype. While the women were not told whether the man believed them to be attractive or unattractive, they picked up on the subtle ques the men were giving. Although Abel wasn’t given subtle ques, as he and his friends heard the word “terrorist” being said, I still believe that he confirmed the behavioral expectation that the in-group set upon
