aocommonbookplaceassignment

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Reflection

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian woman who is known for her writing and her concept of the danger of a single story. The danger of a single story essentially reasons why only having one idea or story about someone or a culture can lead to misconceptions and inaccurate perceptions of a group overall.  In order to form educated opinions it is important for one to widen their horizon. To widen the horizon, it is important to read, to research, to experience, and to accept. There are two biases that are closely related to the concept of the danger of a story. The first is the availability heuristic which is the tendency to estimate the probability of something happening based on how many examples readily come to mind. The effects of availability heuristic  are similar to the effects of the danger of the single story in which a person only has one  idea available in their mind and so it is the only thing they know and can pull from when in a situation of judgement. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk about the danger of a single story she talks about how her college roommate assumed that since she was from Nigeria, she did not know how to use a stove. She only had one idea of what Africa was like in her head because she had an availability bias which is very closely the same to a single story. The information available in one’s mind to pull from may not always be accurate or a good representation of the topic as a whole. This is why it is important to educate oneself by reading different material, researching the topic, and asking questions, even if the topic can seem uncomfortable. It is always better to ask than assume. To combat this bias is to have more information available. The second bias is the halo effect. The halo effect is the tendency for an initial impression of a person to influence what we think of them overall. Some examples are believing that someone who is attractive automatically has a nice personality or that a blonde girl is intelligent. There are also examples such as assuming that since someone is Asian they are good at math or that since someone wears a hijab they are dangerous. This example can also connect to how the media portrays people based on looks/race/religion. It is important to be aware of the halo effect so one can remind themself that just because a person looks a certain way does not mean they are certain attributes whether they be positive or negative. One cannot judge another by their appearance as it is not an accurate reflection of who they are as a person. . Single stories and biases like these are detrimental to an inclusive society. The solution is to be open to differences and to educate before diminishing others.

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Reading books about other cultures is so important. Reading stories about others helps us create a deeper understanding of what life is like for people who are different than us. Do not fall subject to the danger of a single story, educate yourself and have understanding for cultures that are different.

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The link attached explains why cultural intelligence is essential, especially for graduates entering the work place.

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Beauty comes in all different forms and there never should be an instance in which someone is thought less of based off looks. This post connects with the halo effect post because having a bias based off of a first-impression look of someone is dangerous and inaccurate just like it is dangerous to only have one single story or idea of something.

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The halo effect is another type of bias in which a tendency for an initial impression of a person to influence what we think of them overall occurs. This relates to the theme of this blog because this happens a lot with women or people of color. An example: a woman is viewed as less intelligent or strong because of her looks. Another example: a person of color is viewed as dangerous because of their skin and how the media has portrayed them. These types of biases are considered the halo effect. This is something to be more aware of through day-to-day life and remind yourself that these biases are often inaccurate because they are solely based off looks during the first impression.

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Availability heuristic is a type of bias in which there is a tendency to estimate the probability of something happening based on how many examples readily come to mind. This bias is very relevant to the concept of the danger of a single story. Both of these concepts highlight the risks of having very little knowledge about something making your perception skewed, and skewed inaccurately at times.

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Never apologize for your femininity. Ever. Every woman deserves to be respected and treated as an equal whole.

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Writing is a powerful form of expression. Writing gives one a voice. It is so important to write and to express so that other’s can hear one out and hear more than one story.

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A white person can never fully understand the impact of racism because they have not experienced it first hand but there are still many ways they can do their part. Linked here is eight simple ways to help end racism:

https://nnedv.org/latest_update/8-everyday-ways-to-fight-racism/

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“Racism should have never happened so you don’t get a cookie for reducing it” -Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah is a novel about a Nigerian woman who immigrates to America for a college education. This quote is from the novel and emphasizes the fact that racism should never have happened and so doing one’s part to help fix the problem should not be praised, it should be the norm.

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian author who is known for many concepts, one being the danger of a single story. She explains the danger of single story in her TEDTalk linked within this post. Essentially the danger of a single story is about how misconceptions we form about certain cultures or groups people can be due to only hearing one story and no others to form deeper and more rounded understandings.