The Psychology of Prejudice and Sara Blakely

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FORBES AUGUST 7, 2012 | READ THE ORIGINAL POST

When I was in college I took a class that turned out to be one of my favorites. It was called “The Psychology of Prejudice” and taught us all about why we stereotype. The lessons behind the psychology of prejudice have stayed with me and I have often applied the concepts to my daily life. I just had a meeting with a woman who told me that a writer she knows will not put her picture on her articles because she thinks people will not take her seriously. In the same hour, I came across an article with a picture of a very young woman who is an angel investor and I caught myself thinking “she is an angel investor?”

I know that part of the reason I had the reaction that I did to the face of the young angel investor is that I know from previous experience that the majority of  Angel Investors I have met are generally much older than this woman so it was a generalization. Just as the writer knows from her past experience that people do not find her as credible when they know that she is a young woman. The psychology of prejudice teaches that the reactions that we all naturally have to certain scenarios are based on our minds trying to keep us safe. The same reason that you might think that an alley looks a little sketchy and choose to not walk down is the same foundational thought processes that leads us to make assumptions about people.

I recently read an article on Sara Blakely’s startup experience and realized that she was faced with many of the same barriers that most of us face when first starting out and trying to create credibility but she is a fabulous example of what can happen when someone takes a chance on you. [Sara reached out to slews of manufacturers and lawyers to help her patent her idea and create a successful prototype. In every conversation she had with potential manufacturers, she was asked three questions: 1) Who are you? 2) Who are you with? 3) and Who is backing you?  When the answers to these three questions remained, ‘Sara Blakely’, no one wanted to take a chance on her, until one manufacturer called her back and said “OK.”  Why? Because he had gone home and told his daughters about the idea, and they said, “It’s brilliant!”] (Click here to read more from 10 Lessons I learned from Sara Blakely that You Won’t Hear in Business School.)

We have mechanisms for protecting ourselves and we have intuition – both of which are extremely important to pay attention to. I urge you the next time you make a stereotype about someone to think about the psychology of that prejudice and if it is warranted and in the same light, the next time you have a good feeling about taking a chance – take it. You never know if the person you underestimate based on a stereotype could be the next investor in your company or the next billionaire.