In 1935 J. R. Stroop wrote a dissertation that has since spawned hundreds of studies on the Stroop effect by experimental psychologists. Simply put: Stroop tested the brain’s ability to read the names of colors written in colors inconsistent with the name and then name the colors. Red, for example, appears in blue ink; blue, in red ink.
Now, you just had no difficulty reading the last sentence in black ink. You would probably have no difficulty reading the words if they were written in inconsistent colors, also. But if you tried to name the colors you saw in the context of words for other colors, you might find your brain struggling a bit. Not to worry. Many people have difficulty with the task that involves a highly practiced skill like reading and a background knowledge of colors.
Let’s use the Stroop effect with regard to social and political identities. I propose this in light of the commonly displayed maps of states deemed “Republican” and “Democrat.” Red states are the former; blue states, the latter.
Apparently—to me anyway—a number of TV pundits and newspaper editorialists can’t wrap their heads around “blue leanings” in red states and vice versa. Like reading, a practiced skill that conflicts with naming an inconsistent color, the commentators’ brains balk when social and political realities conflict with their entrenched thinking. And as a result, they have difficulty with behaviors and opinions that run contrary to either color designations. Thus, a Midwestern Caucasian kid recently found not guilty of murdering two Caucasian men has been labeled in a number of press outlets as a white racist. An African-American adult who allegedly drove an SUV through a parade, killing and injuring numerous people, has become de-personified as “a red SUV” that killed the people; to say otherwise, to personalize the man as an African-American, means reading “blue” written in red ink.
We don’t live in strange times, however. The Stroop effect that describes a confused brain is a human phenomenon that probably goes back to pre-literate times. No doubt one could run other experiments to demonstrate the brain’s difficulty reconciling well-practiced tasks analogous to reading and its attempts to identify inconsistent properties or uses, maybe a hand axe used as a spoon or a fork used as a writing instrument. I’ll leave the experimenting to the experimental psychologists and the interpreting to the cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists. But in these times, reading blue as only blue and red as only red can be a costly error. Nicholas Sandman, the teen who attended a pro-life rally in D. C. and who was vilified by the Washington Post, CNN, and other news outlets, won a hefty civil suit against the Post and CNN and sill has, as of this writing, other suits pending. No doubt, at the time of this writing in December, 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse also has pending civil suits.
I’ll simply note that almost all of us are burdened by contradictory and inconsistent phenomena. That media pundits have difficulty seeing tints in a spectrum of life’s colors is not unusual; in fact, given the animosity of our age, one should probably expect the color blindness. But before we condemn the pundits, we should all note that almost all of us have difficulty with the complex thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others that we see from practiced and over-learned perspectives. Those settlements by major new outlets should provide all of us with a lesson about the social and political Stroop effect. All stereotypes contain unseen inconsistencies. Before you read “red state” or "blue state,” check the actual color of the ink.
Now, you just had no difficulty reading the last sentence in black ink. You would probably have no difficulty reading the words if they were written in inconsistent colors, also. But if you tried to name the colors you saw in the context of words for other colors, you might find your brain struggling a bit. Not to worry. Many people have difficulty with the task that involves a highly practiced skill like reading and a background knowledge of colors.
Let’s use the Stroop effect with regard to social and political identities. I propose this in light of the commonly displayed maps of states deemed “Republican” and “Democrat.” Red states are the former; blue states, the latter.
Apparently—to me anyway—a number of TV pundits and newspaper editorialists can’t wrap their heads around “blue leanings” in red states and vice versa. Like reading, a practiced skill that conflicts with naming an inconsistent color, the commentators’ brains balk when social and political realities conflict with their entrenched thinking. And as a result, they have difficulty with behaviors and opinions that run contrary to either color designations. Thus, a Midwestern Caucasian kid recently found not guilty of murdering two Caucasian men has been labeled in a number of press outlets as a white racist. An African-American adult who allegedly drove an SUV through a parade, killing and injuring numerous people, has become de-personified as “a red SUV” that killed the people; to say otherwise, to personalize the man as an African-American, means reading “blue” written in red ink.
We don’t live in strange times, however. The Stroop effect that describes a confused brain is a human phenomenon that probably goes back to pre-literate times. No doubt one could run other experiments to demonstrate the brain’s difficulty reconciling well-practiced tasks analogous to reading and its attempts to identify inconsistent properties or uses, maybe a hand axe used as a spoon or a fork used as a writing instrument. I’ll leave the experimenting to the experimental psychologists and the interpreting to the cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists. But in these times, reading blue as only blue and red as only red can be a costly error. Nicholas Sandman, the teen who attended a pro-life rally in D. C. and who was vilified by the Washington Post, CNN, and other news outlets, won a hefty civil suit against the Post and CNN and sill has, as of this writing, other suits pending. No doubt, at the time of this writing in December, 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse also has pending civil suits.
I’ll simply note that almost all of us are burdened by contradictory and inconsistent phenomena. That media pundits have difficulty seeing tints in a spectrum of life’s colors is not unusual; in fact, given the animosity of our age, one should probably expect the color blindness. But before we condemn the pundits, we should all note that almost all of us have difficulty with the complex thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others that we see from practiced and over-learned perspectives. Those settlements by major new outlets should provide all of us with a lesson about the social and political Stroop effect. All stereotypes contain unseen inconsistencies. Before you read “red state” or "blue state,” check the actual color of the ink.
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