Paul Bloom, psychologist. January 2014. (16:20)
I. Pre-watching task.
Working in pairs support the statement you agree with:
● Prejudice is the child of ignorance.
● Prejudice and bias are natural, they’re often rational, and they’re often even moral.
II. Identify the topic of the talk given by Paul Bloom.
III. For questions a-d decide whether the statements are true, false (if false, explain why) or not given:
a) Our ability to stereotype people is an arbitrary quirk of the mind.
b) Ethnicity and nationality should hold no moral sway.
c) For the most part, we make good guesses both in the social domain and the
non-social domain; otherwise we wouldn’t survive.
d) The most effective avenue to combat stereotype and bias is to appeal to
people’s emotional responses, their empathy, quite often through stories.
IV. Expand on the following:
in-group versus out-group
the principle of impartiality
V. Answer the questions:
1) What is the root of stereotype and bias according to the speaker?
2) How can we combat stereotype and bias?
VI. Identify the thesis of the talk.
VII. Give the gist/summary of the talk.
VIII. First expand on the statement, then agree or disagree, give your reasons.
● I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the major catalyst in America for moral change has been a situation comedy.
● We are but one of the multitude, in no respect better than any other in it.