When we took a look at the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis in class, I immediately felt a strong connection to this theory. I have recalled multiple times in my life when I found it easier to judge someone who is out of sight out of mind, rather than someone staring you in the face. Not only do I believe it is easier to judge people this way, but it also makes it easier to forget about people. For instance, if you or someone you know isn’t struggling with terminal cancer each day, you aren’t going to think of how it feels to be in their shoes. If and when we are reminded of others struggles, we may take a few moments to consider how hard things may be for them, but after that moment we carry about our daily lives. A good example of this I’m sure everyone has encountered takes place while watching TV. While watching our favorite shows it isn’t until the commercial comes on for abused animals or starving children do we consider those issues.
As I mentioned before, I have judge a group of people prior to meeting them. Before I came to UC I knew nothing about deaf culture. I took an American Sign Language class my sophomore year here to fulfill my foreign language requirement. It wasn’t until that quarter did I realize the struggles and judgment deaf people face. My initial thoughts about deaf people were they couldn’t drive, they weren’t smart, and they made awkward faces for no reason. Like I said, it wasn’t until I took that first class did I feel idiotic for making such unrealistic judgments. I found out deaf people can drive, being deaf doesn’t affect your mental capabilities, and those “awkward” faces are a part of their language. One school year later and here I am a communication and sign language interpreting double major. I have always thought communication was key to any relationship so I decided I wanted to make it my job to help deaf people communicate with the hearing world. I went from judgment the deaf community to centering my career around them. I never would have been able to predict I’d love the language so much. The first time I encountered a deaf person I was blown away by their friendliness. I remember leaving the class room thinking to myself “where did I ever get these crazy assumptions from about deaf people?”
When we started talking about this theory in class I remember watching The OCD Project on TV and watching a woman face a person this fit a stereotype she was terrified of. The woman on the program had OCD, but also a lot of judgment toward people with HIV/AIDS. She was very fearful of germs because she believe you could contract HIV/AIDS from them. Throughout the season she made a lot of outrageous remarks about people with that specific disease. During one of their exposure days, a day when the doctor makes them face their ultimate fears, the woman actually got to meet face to face with a person that had HIV. As soon as the man shared his illness and story with her you could see a lot of her beliefs about him vanished. She explained to him that HE was her exact fear and she felt so stupid for ever thinking people with that disease were harmful to her health. This was a very fitting example proved exactly what the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis says. I don’t always agree with these theories but, this is one I have experienced firsthand and I know the stupidity one feels after their stereotype has been proven wrong.
Here is the link to the episode of The OCD Project I was speaking of. The scene begins at 12:51.
http://www.vh1.com/video/the-ocd-project/full-episodes/extreme-exposures/1642201/playlist.jhtml
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