Hereotypes

I was wrong. It appears that I have been wrong on this particular for my entire life.

I have always believed in hero worship. Heroes are models for our aspirations and help us to achieve our personal goals and imitation is the beginning of learning. Well, all that may still be true, but only to a point.

I recently learned of an experiment in which subjects were taken down a corridor to the testing area where they were asked to form sentences from words. All of the words had some association with the stereotype of the aged: grey, slow, wrinkled, bingo, etc. The results showed that the students walked slower when returning to the waiting room. Similarly, when exposed to images of athletes the subject's athletic performance improved or images and words associated with professors increased test performances. However, when exposed to a singular person, such as Einstein, then the scores were lower. Look here for the full article.

The explanation for why Einstein did not improve test scores is because he was seen as unique, separate, and individual. The stereotype of professors had more power to influence behaviour than the man personifying genius. Perhaps he even intimidated the students.

Here's a short video on the subject of stereotyping

If you have read the article and watched the video then you will have a better understanding of the possibilities. If you haven't, please read and watch now.

Consider for a moment the negative stereotype of the sad and miserable Goth. I never bought into this one but a lot of people have, including self-professed Goths that I have known.

When you look at the Gothic idiom you find two distinct strains. One can be traced back to Edgar Allan Poe whose loved ones all died of consumption, no wonder fear and sorrow were dominant themes. The other is from Lord Byron which emphasises power and fierce individualism. I preferred the Byronic model to that of Poe, the woe is me life is shit approach.

Take a moment and consider a few concepts that you associate with Goth. Maybe even write them down. I'll wait.

Here are my stream of consciousness associations with Goths: Intelligent, Artistic, Well-mannered, Stylish, Dark, and Individualistic. Look at your list. Now back to mine. Are yours ultimately positive or are they negative? If you are of a Gothic persuasion, what qualities do you want people to also associate with you?

As someone from the Byronic school, I saw Goth as being about power, and yet Goths were among the least powerful of subcultures. Even the hippies had more social influence. Even the rappers had more credibility.

Many of the Goth girls I knew had major issues and some even had one-upmanship discussions over who was more fucked-up. This is not what I would call positive, but the negative stereotypes promoted in music and society may have contributed.

During the late fad of the Noughties my preconceptions were challenged as "Goth" became little more than a subset of rock or punk thanks to Marilyn Manson and the hosts that followed in his wake. This was when I eventual abandoned the Goth tag in favour of the more appropriate "romantic". I found that my associations were different from the most vocal of voices in popular culture despite the fact that they had no idea of what they were talking about in terms of cultural history. They were simply children following the pied pipers of rock.

There was a common view that no real Goth would admit to being one. The word Goth was always seen as an outsider's label not to mention that no one wanted to be branded according to some stereotype. I understand that. We are more than a stereotype. We are more than just part of a group. We are individuals.

And yet the stereotype has incredible power to influence both our behaviours and their quality – more so than focusing on a single hero. So does it not stand to reason that we should create our own stereotypes based on the heroic ideals to which we aspire – our hereotypes.

We are encouraged to look after our bodies through our eating habits. We are made aware of the affects of drugs. We are told to eat consciously, being aware of what we eat and how our diet affects us. And yet we do not look after our psycho-emotional health by looking after what we put into our souls.

This diet enters not from the mouth but through the eyes and ears. We live in an age of mass media where our senses are bombarded with messages telling us what to believe and how to live. Most of these are received subliminally.

I read an interesting theory a few months ago. Desire is the imagined gaining of a value. Advertising works by stimulating desire and associating that desire with the product. In other words, "sex sells". Of course there is the old bait and switch. Lynx deodorant won't make women chase you. So the desire remains unfulfilled. What are the psychological affects of a perpetual state of unfulfilled desire?

I can only guess. Nathaniel Brandon, an authority on the topic of self-esteem, concluded that one of the keys to healthy self-esteem is a sense of efficacy. We must belief that we are worthy of existence by being able to achieve our values. But what if those desires meant to drive us to attaining our values are an illusion that cannot be achieved?

Fear is the imagined loss of a value. That includes the loss of an imagined value, a desire. The results range from anger to frustration, worry, numbness, and a low self-esteem. It seems the modern multi-media world is against us. What is the solution? Make your own world.

There is no way to screen all the messages pouring into our brains. It's difficult to control your diet when someone is secretly force feeding you Twinkies. However, there are things we can choose.

I cannot remember the exact study, but I recall an article that mentioned a study on how films affect people. After watching a Romantic Comedy couples felt more inclined towards their relationship. After watching Action films, men felt more ambitious and ready to take on the world. When I left the film Dorien Gray, I felt just dandy – literally. I was in my space and proud of it.

This little essay is about my new pet theory which I intend to explore much further. Hereotyping is reinforcing your values (and therefore your goals) by consciously choosing the messages that you receive from positive group stereotyping, group self-association, and mass media, including music and film.

We live in the real world and exist in the realm of our perception. Each of us has the power to create our own pocket universe that reinforces our values. We can either choose to create a universe that supports us or we can just accept what is handed to us through society and the mass media. The choice is yours.

Here's a little exercise. Imagine the ideal you and then make a list of this person's qualities. Then think of stereotypes that share these qualities. Use this as a template when choosing your mental diet. Maybe watch films featuring these types, or the music you associate with them, and maybe stick a picture on the wall. You don't need to think about them, or meditate on them, or try to be like them. Just have them around and let your unconscious do the rest. Likewise, remove anything that undermines your values and perhaps takes you away from where you want to be.

Make no mistake. There is a war on for your mind and we all need to learn how the game is played and how to take back control.

I'll leave you with this clip from Derren Brown on the affects of subliminal messages. I'm afraid embedding has been disabled, so here is the link. Enjoy.