James is a person of color who is dressed in a business suit and tie. He goes out to eat at a restaurant. While waiting to be seated, another restaurant patron approaches him for service, assuming he is a serve or the maitre d'. This act would be defined as:

Question

James is a person of color who is dressed in a business suit and tie.  He goes out to eat at a restaurant.  While waiting to be seated, another restaurant patron approaches him for service, assuming he is a serve or the maitre d'.  This act would be defined as:

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

When evaluating the scenario, we start by identifying what is being described: a biased assumption about a person’s role in a setting based on their race, which reflects a subtle, everyday form of discrimination.
Option 1: deindividuation. This term refers to a psychological state where individuals in a group lose their sense of personal identity and follow group norms, often leading to uninhibited behavior. The described event is not about anonymity in a crowd or loss of self-identity, so this option doesn't fit.
Option 2: a microaggression. This choice captures the essence of the incident: a subtle, everyday bias expressed through a presumptive judgment about a person’s role (servant or maître d’) based on race. It aligns with common definitions of microaggressions as brief, subtle, and often unintentional discriminatory comments or actions.
Option 3: direct aggression. Direct aggression involves overt, explicit harm or threats toward someone. The scenario does not show overt hostility or physical or verbal aggression, so this label is not appropriate.
Option 4: the bystander effect. The bystander effect describes a phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help a person in need when others are present. The event described is about an initial biased assumption, not about witnessing or failing to intervene in a harmful situation, so this option misfits the scenario.
In summary, the behavior illustrated—an assumption about a person’s role in a service context based on their race—fits the concept of a microaggression because it reflects a subtle, prejudiced cue rather than explicit, overt hostility or a crowd dynamics phenomenon. The other terms describe different social-psychological processes that do not capture the essence of this incident.

Introduction to Psychology Exam #5 (11,13-14, & Appndx B) - Tuesday, 6/3

James is a person of color who is dressed in a business suit and tie. He goes out to eat at a restaurant. While waiting to be seated, another restaurant patron approaches him for service, assuming he is a serve or the maitre d'. This act would be defined as:

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