Spontaneous Stereotyping and Storytelling

I rode in the 2007 Providence Bridge Pedal in Portland Oregon along with my husband and 20,000 other people. There were three groups, those in blue vests who rode across 6 bridges (14 miles) , those in green vests who rode 8 bridges (24 miles) , and those in red vests who rode across 10 bridges (36 miles).

We started out with our people in green vests. It took me all of 10 minutes to start forming opinions as the red vests starting merging with our green vest people.

The red vests were different types of people than the green vests. The red vests wanted to ride fast, had the skinny tires on street bikes, and they looked like they belonged in bike clothing. They complained when the groups backed up at the start of one bridge, always seemed impatient, made distinctive clicking noises as they started and clipped their shoes to the bike pedals. If someone was weaving in front of people, they were most often wearing a red vest. The one crash we saw occurred when one red vest cut in front of another while going really fast around the corner. They started yelling at one another. The other red vests joined in. If someone was riding outside of the official path, it was usually a red vest. They had rock hard calves.

Now the green vests were a different sort. Many of them were wearing bike clothes, but they were less likely to match and bike clothes weren’t necessarily made to flatter them—no, they were made for the red vest types. Green vests had a bit more trouble on the hills. Some were confused about how to use the gears to help them, but it didn’t matter because they would just walk if needed. They rode at a comfortable pace where they could look around and enjoy. Lots more of them had hybrid bikes or mountain bikes with chunky tires and cushy seats. Like me.

The blue vests had lots of kids with them. You had to be careful around them because they didn’t always ride in a straight line. They were slower. Used their brakes going downhill. Rode cruisers and old bikes. Wore t-shirts and shorts.

What was I doing, and how did it serve me?

Making up stories in my head. There was some truth to my observations, but as the story developed, my attention was drawn to things that reinforced it. The story in my head reached epic proportions as we struggled up the big hill to the tallest bridge. The red vests became demons powering up the hill at high speed just to make the rest of us feel bad. It was a great excuse to get out of their way by walking up the sidewalk.

Truth be told, just being in public in spandex was enough to make me look for any excuse to distract me from my discomfort.

And my story did help me stay safer on the course. The red vests were riding faster bikes, and they did tend to be more serious riders. It was important to try not to get in their way. As is was important to take a wide berth around the less experienced riders.

Stephanie West Allen, JD offers insight into the science behind this behavior in her posts Birds and feathers: The role of homophily in conflict and Brains of a feather: What brains do when thinking of someone in the ingroup versus the outgroup.

And if that isn’t enough, Wade Medeth lists 26 types of cognitve bias we create in 26 Reasons What You Think is Right is Wrong.

What’s the problem?

This same stereotyping behavior creates all sorts of biases about people for reasons way beyond the color of vest they are wearing on a bike ride. I know better, yet it comes naturally and effortlessly. Not stereotyping and making snap judgment is hard. Identifying and interrupting the behavior takes the effort.

What can we do about it?

Recognize it when it’s happening. Really now, did all the red vests behave this way? Did they all look like buff bikers? No. Some of them did, but were any of the ways I interpreted their behavior accurate? It depends on perspective. I suspect those red vests thought the green vests were getting in the way. I know it was much harder to climb the hills with slower people in front of you.

Learn what it looks like from the other side. I suspect my husband is really a red vest at heart. He rode in green to be with me, and laughed with me about the silly story I was constructing. He also knew how frustrating it is to ride with someone slower and could help me understand it.

Make an effort to see new things. LifeHacker.org has some insights in the post, Success Tips: Why you should broaden your patterns of thought

People’s thought patterns focus naturally on the areas where they have learned most, gathered most experience, and feel most at home. They act like blinders or mental filters, presenting you with a neat picture of the world, tuned to your biases and assumptions. What you see as the truth is only what they let you see. What you do as a result may therefore be seriously flawed, as well as limited.

Relying on patterns of thought that have become too narrow involves high risks. Like animals and birds that become over-specialized, fitting too closely into a single niche can lead to disaster when times and circumstances change. To be able to prosper in the widest possible range of environments, you need to become more adaptable—which means adding to your ways of collecting information and reaching conclusions. The wider the kinds of thinking in which you can you can operate with reasonable success, the more successful you are likely to be.

Do you use the stories you make up in your head to create openness or build barriers?