Now, after the video of ...[Susan B0yle's] performance went viral, a flurry of commentary has focused on how we stereotype people into categories, how we fall victim to the prejudices of ageism or look-ism, and how we should learn, once and for all, not to judge books by their covers.

But many social scientists and others who study the science of stereotyping say there are reasons we quickly size people up based on how they look. Snap judgments about people are crucial to the way we function, they say — even when those judgments are very wrong.

They would even agree with Ms. Boyle herself, who said after her performance that while society is too quick to judge people by appearance, “There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are.”

i cited this article this morning in an adult Sunday School class on James 2. Read it all--KSH.

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1. libraryjim wrote: Another fact is that the way we judge appearance changes with time and social circumstance.  Mrs. Boyle would not have been so quickly judged as out of the ordinary when Ethel Merman and Kate Smith were the two most popular singers in the world. April 26, 10:03 pm | [comment link]

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