People-Watching as an Art for Authors – Pt.12 (and Final)

People-Watching as an Art for Authors – Pt.12

Part Twelve: The Principle of Salience and the Other Side of Stereotypy

Principle of Salience. The observer should also be aware of the mind's tendency to fill in the inevitable blanks in observation to form complete portraits of other people. He must attempt to tolerate ambiguity, incompleteness and doubt. He must also understand the principle of salience, that is, certain personality characteristics stand out and predominate more than others. Traits that are projected strongly may or may not reflect the true underlying personality. These traits should be noted, but judgment should be held in abeyance until the more elusive-- and sometimes more significant-- factors of personality can be observed.

Unfortunately, it will be impossible to record observations on the spot, and the observer should not attempt to do so for the sake of being discrete. Such action might come across to others in the vicinity as creepy and wind up breaking his cover. This being the case, he must use his own system of mental cues to retain pertinent facts. His memory will tend to eliminate those thoughts that for some personal reason he finds unpleasant or counter to his own feelings of how the key individual should behave.

For example, if he is prejudiced against the Japanese, he is likely not to remember behavior that reflects credit upon the Japanese, or on the other hand, if he favors the Japanese he will tend to make an exception of the adverse personality characteristics and make the target more like an American, i.e., attribute excessively favorable characteristics to him. Again, by becoming aware of this tendency to distort, the observer may be helped in some measure in checking or preventing its occurrence.

The Other Side of Stereotypy. As the observer moves outside his own culture, he will almost certainly be the object of someone else's stereotypes and prejudices. He should realize that the people he meets and with whom he talks generally have a stereotyped impression of him and that their actions and reactions will in part be governed by this impression.

If he participates with a target personality as an “egotistical American,” a “know-it-all,” a “withdrawn idealist,” or some other “American” role, he will elicit certain unique behavior in consonance with his proejcted image.

Stereotyping may lead to certain disadvantages, but the astute observer can often turn these to his advantage. Once hs is aware of the image he presents, he should be able to modify it as necessary to evoke different types of behavior in target personalities. It is important, therefore, that the observer have insight into the types of image, or stereotypes, he intends to project, and through such knowledge achieve maximum flexibility of action. Naturally, his basic purpose is to present himself most effectively in order to elicit information and gain confidence of his target.

END OF SERIES