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The Spontaneous Formation of Stereotypes via Cumulative Cultural Evolution (2014).

The article I selected is titled The Spontaneous Formation of Stereotypes via Cumulative Cultural Evolution (2014). Of the articles I read, researching this subject, I found this one particularly interesting because the researchers were investigating the origin of cultural stereotypes. In the experiment the researchers introduced participants to alien attributes and documented how that information was transmitted across a chain of participants. The experiment showed that people routinely discuss the attributes and actions of other people (Martin, Hutchison, Slessor, Urquhart, Cunningham, & Smith, 2014). According to the article, the findings suggest that the process of repeatedly passing social information from person to person may result in the inadvertent formation of cultural stereotypes (Martin, et. al., 2014). As the experiment progresses it appeared that the participants became better at remembering the attributes associated with social targets as the task became increasingly simplified through the loss of attributes and the development of a systematic categorical structure. The systematic categorical structure began as random attributes in a social structure and over time became a culturally passed stereotype.The findings in this article can be applied to the evaluations conducted by a forensic psychologist by helping the psychologist develop an awareness of how stereotypes may be formed socially. A forensic psychologist must be careful to collect the data without tainting it with personal stereotypes. This can be compared to the data collected in my current career. In flight test we have to be careful of assumptions; in forensic psychology we must be careful of stereotypes. As we develop a test to determine the functionality of a particular change, we must keep our assumptions in check so they do not affect the way the test is developed. The test must be designed to log every step, without allowing our assumptions to skip any, so the pilot does not skip any. It is up to the flight test team to develop the test so all data is logged or the data will be useless. My point is, assumptions can be compared to stereotypes; they are present. We all have stereotypes that we apply to daily situations and encounters and we must be careful those stereotypes do not affect the way we conduct evaluations of others.

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