Dialogue is the greatest cure for prejudice!

Stating that prejudices are decisions that people make automatically without supervision, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "Some people speak very quickly, they speak with automatic thoughts at that speed. Some of them speak one by one, they know where their thoughts will lead, they speak slowly. Such people do not make automatic, quick decisions, but make purposeful choices. It does not fall into the traps of prejudice. Prejudices are traps in our lives."

Prof. Tarhan expressed that "If we want to reduce our prejudices, we will contact people," and Tarhan said that "We will get to know ourselves, change ourselves, correct our mistakes, and move forward. As social contact increases, prejudice decreases. Dialogue is the greatest remedy for prejudice.”

President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan evaluated the issue of prejudice.

"Prejudice is divided into conscious prejudice and unconscious prejudice."

Expressing that prejudice is divided into two as conscious prejudice and unconscious prejudice, Prof. Tarhan stated that "Unconscious prejudice causes us to systematically make mistakes while operating our decision-making mechanisms in our brains. We are not aware that we have made a mistake, we cannot understand the reason for our mistake, we cannot find it. If a person has an unconscious prejudice that 'apologizing is wrong, apologizing is weakness', the person's own truth is in their life as a value judgment."

"If one believes that apologizing is a virtue, not a weakness, a person can correct their mistake"

Stating that both value judgments and prejudices are related to the functioning of the human brain, Prof. Tarhan said that "To make our lives easier, there are prejudices in the working system of our brain since childhood. When a person says 'apologizing is weakness' in their intellectual life, even when one makes a mistake, the person attributes the mistake to an external cause and assigns the mistake to someone else. One’s life passes with these mistakes, and they cannot correct their mistakes or learn. However, if a person says that apologizing is not a weakness, but apologizing is a virtue, a person can correct their mistake. It is a simple unconscious bias."

"It is a conscious prejudice to say that death is not an end, but a new birth, a beginning"

Noting that there is also a conscious prejudice, Prof. Tarhan expressed that "If a person thinks that death is not an end, death is a new birth, a new beginning, a person shapes their life by preparing it there, and this is conscious prejudice."

"Prejudices are decisions that people make automatically without supervision"

Explaining that hyperactive people also act without thinking, Prof. Tarhan said that "These are people who act with their implicit prejudices. Prejudices are decisions that people make automatically without control. Some people speak very quickly, they speak with automatic thoughts at that speed. Some of them speak one by one, they know where their thoughts will lead, they speak slowly. Such people do not make automatic, quick decisions, but make purposeful choices. It is not an easy thing, but it is also about getting wiser. It does not fall into the traps of prejudice. Prejudices are traps in our lives."

"Self-centered people do not question themselves because they see themselves as perfect"

Prof. Tarhan stated that "Stubborn people are people who cannot change their prejudices," and Tarhan continued his remarks as follows: "Self-centered people do not question themselves because they see themselves as perfect and perfect. There is no capacity for introspection and no capacity for self-criticism. Only when they make a big mistake can they be questioned.”

"There are political prejudices in the background of the Gaza events"

Explaining that people saw that the Second World War was actually a war of racism and how bad the struggle for the 'master race' was, but history repeats itself, Prof. Tarhan said that "We are experiencing the same thing again, we are experiencing the Gaza incidents as well. There are political prejudices in the background of this. There is a feeling of 'we are the superior race' and 'we have the right to everything'. Humanity has progressed by paying the price. However, interestingly, thanks to communication, people have mobilized globally in the digital world for the Gaza incident in a way that has never been seen before. This is a good sign for the years to come."

"Traditions are an auto-learned bias"

Stating that prejudices are the first foundations of personality and life scenarios taken from parents, Prof. Tarhan expressed that "Those prejudices settle in our soul that develops in our nuclear family. They are our implicit biases. Like knowing the way, like respecting elders, like tradition, like hospitality... In our culture, these things come through social learning. A child who has received Anatolian education does not cross their legs in front of adults. This is an auto-learned bias. In Western societies, they do not feel the need for such a thing. These are formed through social learning. As soon as they are born, mentally, neuropsychologically, people are born prematurely. A person learns to be human in life."

"Almost all of our automatic biases have the potential to be corrected"

Emphasizing that negativity is generally called prejudice, Prof. Tarhan said that "The general term is stereotypes. Stereotypes are called 'stereotypical'. In a political psychological study conducted in the United States, a white mother walks with her child, a black person comes from the opposite direction, and the mother immediately grabs the child and pulls her child to her. She is not aware of it, she does it without knowing it. Why does she do it? Automatic bias. She does not do the same thing if that person is a famous black person. Almost all of our automatic biases have the potential to be corrected. For this reason, a person should question themselves until the end of their life, 'Where am I going wrong?' Every person is unique, every person is original, we have no right to belittle anyone. If you say you can learn something from everyone, even from children, they can say that you can change your value judgments."

"Purposeful thinking trains the anterior region of the brain"

Noting that the phrase 'do not believe what you hear, believe half of what you see' indicates a situation that reduces prejudices, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the frontal region of the brain can be trained by working and thinking purposefully, and that purposeful thinking will develop the muscles in the anterior lobe region.

"Because of mental blindness, people react incorrectly and the relationship breaks. This results in loneliness."

Stating that prejudiced people are negligent when evaluating other people, Prof. Tarhan said that "They are not aware, they have mental blindness. He misunderstands it because of blindness. He misreads other people's actions, reacts incorrectly, and the relationship breaks. This, in turn, results in loneliness. There is a global epidemic of loneliness. We are doing very well in our society in this regard, but globally there is a lot of isolation, especially among young people."

"The greatest achievement is having peace of mind"

Stating that a social prejudice comes to the fore in this case, Prof. Tarhan continued as follows:

"There is a trend right now called love yourself more. Self-love does not mean self-sanctification. A strong person, a self-confident person, will see their own strengths and weaknesses. One will take precautions for their weaknesses and act according to their strengths. Loving oneself actually means being at peace with oneself. Success in this age have become things like have power, getting rich, having money, having fame, and they have become important. However, the most beautiful, the greatest success is peace of mind. To be able to have inner peace in a person, to be at peace with his family... There is nothing more successful than this. Even Aristotle says that the purpose of life is to be happy. We understand being happy as if you want to do whatever you want. However, to be happy is to be able to enjoy ordinary things... A person who says "Let me be happy, let me be happy" acts with external motivation. It is important to be able to act with internal motivation, to make oneself happy, to be at peace with oneself. And that's very soon about our capacity to change our biases."

"People with prejudices do not want to see it"

Referring to Einstein's quote "It is harder to crack prejudice than an atom.", Prof. Tarhan also reminded the saying "I convinced 40 scholars with one evidence; however, I could not convince an ignorant person with 40 proofs".

Noting that people with prejudices do not want to see, Prof. Tarhan concluded his remarks as follows:

"It is called the deepest ignorance of ignorance. Complicated ignorance... In the old phrase, ignorance is not knowing and not being aware of what you do not know. A person is ignorant, and one does not know that they are ignorant. It is also a virtue to know what you do not know. A person does not know what they do not know. And they believe that they know. These are the people with the highest level of prejudices. You should stay away from them, and you should run away from them. If you encounter such people, you will not be able to fix it. They pay the price. Often the biggest cost of most of them is loneliness.

If we want to reduce our prejudices, we will meet people. When there is a mistake, we will say, 'Where did I go wrong?' We will recognize ourselves, we will change, we will correct our mistakes, we will move forward. As social contact increases, prejudice decreases. Dialogue is the greatest cure for prejudice. It is important not to avoid social situations. “

 

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)