THROUGH A STUDENT’ S PSYCHE: RETRACING STEREOTYPE AND PREJUDICE

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Angat, Angel Gabriel S., Cortez, Francis Gilbert O., Igpuara, Nicko S., Mercado, Joseph Mary L.,
Quinto, Jewell B., Alejandria, Hadaza P., Benito, Kimberly J., Brina, Jenna Marisse C., Cabogoy,
Cindy F., De Jesus, Trisha Ann O., Fernando, Kylene Khija P., Galang, Judy Ann R., Ignacio,
Hanzley Q., Pangan, Irish Ashra M., Prado, Ara Celine, N.

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Ms. Abigail Ann Q. Basilio

Grade 12 – HUMSS Student, University of the Assumption – San Fernando, Pampanga

ABSTRACT

The aim of this social experiment is to propose a theory about the factor or basis
of students’ judgment and specifically, this paper intends to identify the perception of
students about the possible characteristics of different group of people and individuals
based on their physical attribute. This social experiment employed grounded theory and
a mixed method in nature. The results of this experiment indicated that most of the
students recognized Muslim people as terrorists, Visayan people as talkative in nature,
Ilocano as people who do not want to spent money, Kapampangan is good in cooking,
gays are good-humored, politicians who are negatively labelled as corrupt, foreigner as
somebody who is well-off, teenager as wild generation, Chinese as business-minded,
and Indians who have unpleasant body odor. In addition, majority of the students said
that those girls who wore more jewelries are rich, persons who had tattoo in their body
are bad boys, persons who wore eye glasses are smart, tall men are into sports, and
persons who loved black are emotional.

In conclusion, it appears that students have a lot of perceptions about the

possible characteristics of ten groups of people presented to them and five individuals
with different physical attributes but the leading responses are mentioned above.
Moreover, it also shows that most of the participants involved in the social experiment
said that their way on how they define and describe other people is actually based on
what they hear from their friends, family, classmates and even the media. For this
reason, the experimenters had come up a theory about this and it was branded as
“Cochleatic Interpretation” theory. The theory was derived from a scientific term
“Cochlea” which is one of the main parts of the ear (responsible for hearing) that
receives and translates vibration into sound.

This paper recommends that students may have to be careful enough on judging
and describing others based on the groups they belong and how they look physically
because stereotyping and prejudices are both biases that may affect someone’ life.

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Students are also recommended to be mindful in the information they hear from others
especially if there is no enough evidence or further studies.

Keywords: (attribute, perception, prejudices, stereotyping)

INTRODUCTION

Ever since different civilizations came into existence, people during that time
were living in the system of group. These people in a particular group often shared the
same characteristics, values, beliefs, and even race. During the older periods, they were
already practicing this way of living where people who have similarity must be in the
same group, and those who are different must form another group. This simply shows
that even before, the culture of grouping was already a form of traditional living and
automatically this can lead to a form of judgment such as prejudices and stereotype
because of the practice in terms of grouping people with the same characteristics.

Stereotype and prejudices are either biases or prejudgments that indirectly

contribute to social inequality and hindrance to community progression. People often
confused about the difference of these form of judgment. According to Tormsen (2015),
stereotype is usually a community belief about a certain group of people which
sometimes based on race, gender, religion, generation, nationality and socio-economic
status. On the other hand, prejudice is a form of defined opinion usually negative or
unfair assumption about a particular member of a certain group, this can be based on
characteristics, belief, values, religion, practice or even physical attribute (Carlos, 2018).
To simplify this comparison, stereotype is a widely fixed opinion about the group of
people which often reflect that every member of it has the same characteristics, while
prejudice is also a form of judgment or unfair attitude to certain individual or member of
a group.

Stereotyping is somehow connected to social categorization or simply

generalization of people because here they assume that all members of a group are the
same in terms of physical, belief, practice and behavior. Almost every group or culture in
the world has their own stereotype such as, people living in Asia are certified math
genius, this can actually see mostly in different films in America where they show that

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Asian people are good in numerical analysis (Tan, 2016). People who have black skin
color often associated to music which according to Silva (2018), these black people,
probably most of them, are actually good singers of the world, they have unique voice
quality which is definitely different from other people. Lastly are the women in Saudi
Arabia and in some area of Muslim places, where they consider girls as weak, prohibited
from driving and they should only be working at home and serve their husband. These
forms of stereotype are example of social categorization where it is believed that those
person with the same characteristics are just the same.

In addition, stereotype frequently consider as negative prejudgment but

according to Leigh (2017), stereotype can actually be positive and negative like in the
case of Chinese, these people often consider as a business-minded, they assumed that
all people who have Chinese blood are actually good in managing business and handling
money. This stereotype is an example of positive opinion because most of the business
owners in Asia are looking for a Chinese corporate partner. On the other hand, Muslim
people have the negative impression to other people. Many people mostly in western
countries and in some part in South East Asia presumed that Muslim people are war-
seeker or simply terrorist. This is because of their aggressive behavior and also one of
the factors why people consider them as terrorist is because their location itself, their
place particularly in western part of Asia has the highest number of war cases recorded
in the world.

Prejudice is often used to refer as uncomplimentary attitude and feeling towards

a member of a group. In most cases, prejudice comes first before stereotype. Prejudice
is partly different from discrimination; the former is someone’s attitude towards a person
and the latter is when there is an action involved. Thus, prejudice is an undesirable
attitude and discrimination is a bad behavior. Same with stereotype, prejudice often
relates to negative, in most cases this is applicable but this can also be in the form of
positive which is rare. One of the most common prejudiced individuals in the world
according to McLeod (2015), is a man wearing thick black eye glasses which people
often consider this type of people as genius, and same goes with a person carrying a
book while walking. This is a perfect example of a positive prejudice while for negative,
a person who is wearing black is currently experiencing depression.

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 According to Weiver and Vescio (2018), these forms of judgment are
unavoidable, and these are normally considered to be distinct characteristics of human
because of the high intellectual ability of a person. This simply proves that humans are
judgmental in nature even without having prior knowledge or experience to something.
One of the best examples of stereotype and prejudice is gender profiling. Gender is
generally the social-structured roles of man and woman. These are the examples of
stereotyping and prejudices based on gender; Men are stronger than women, good at
sports, and messy while women are smarter that man, good in cooking, and organized.

According to Williams (2016), there are five most common forms of stereotype
and prejudices in the world:

First is religion, these are behaviors that often linked to a certain religion such as
Muslim people are known to be terrorist, while Jews are known for being greedy and will
bring catastrophe to humankind. Second is gender, these are predetermined belief of
what a certain gender should act like in a society for example, women should be in the
kitchen and serve her husband, while men are allowed to do many things that women
cannot do. Third is nationality, these are characteristics that are based on the country
that a person belongs to, and best example of this are the women living in Venezuela, it
is assumed that they are born to be beauty queen because of great number of crowns
that this country brought home. Lastly is the race or the skin color, this is the best
representation of prejudice where black people are often being ignored and white
people are being prioritized.

In the Philippines, there is also one research conducted by Ramos (2014) which
concerns about the different forms of stereotypes and prejudices that are common to
Filipinos. Muslim group, people in Visayas, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Gays, Politicians,
Foreigner, teenager, Chinese, and Indians are the most common stereotyped group of
people. Person wearing black shirts and black make-up, girls with heavy make-up, girls
wearing jewelries, person wearing eye glasses, man with tattoos, person with black skin,
person with blonde hair, and tall man are the most prejudiced persons based on
physical attribute. These common stereotypes and prejudices will be using in conducting
this social experiment.

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 The scope of this social experiment is to determine if University of the
Assumption students are aware of the most common stereotyped group of people and
most common prejudiced person based on physical attribute. This also wants to identify
the significant factors affecting students’ way of judgement.

The delimitation of this study is it does not cover the Grade School department
of the University of the Assumption and does not include other types of stereotype and
prejudice as this psychological study is based on the research conducted by Ramos
(2014).

The benefits of this research are to provide information about the awareness of
University of the Assumption students about the prejudice and stereotype in the
Philippines and the reasons affecting students’ way of judgment. This paper also
formulated a theory about the basis of students of their judgments that will serve as an
aid for the future researchers.

Problem Objectives

This paper aims to achieve the general objective of the social experiment which
is to propose a theory about the basis of students about the characteristics and
perception towards individual’s physical attribute and different groups of people.
Specifically, this paper wants to determine the following objectives: 1.) The possible
characteristics of different groups of people 2.) The possible characteristics of different
individuals based on physical attribute, and 3.) significant factors affecting students’ way
of judgement.

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Conceptual Framework

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

- The possible - Selection of - Propose a theory

characteristics of
different groups of
people
- The possible
characteristics of
different individuals
based on physical
attribute.
- Significant factors
affecting students’
way of judgement.
prospective about the perception
participants of students toward
physical attribute and
- Game proper different groups of
people
- Observed and asked
follow up questions.
- Data collection and
analysis through
theming and coding
and descriptive
statistics (mixed).

Figure 1

This conceptual framework generally explains that,

This research aims to specifically determine the three objectives: The possible
characteristics of the most common stereotype based on groups of people and
prejudices based on person’s physical attribute. Also, this aims to identify the factors
affecting student’s way of judgement. These objectives are successfully achieved
through a thorough selection of participants, distribution of survey questionnaire and
collection and analyzation of data through theming and coding for the follow up
questions and descriptive statistics for the answers in survey questionnaire. Lastly, the

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researcher aims to propose theory regarding student’s perception on person’s physical
attributes and different group of people.

Assumptions

The study entitled “THROUGH A STUDENT’S PSYCHE: STANCES ON

STEREOTYPE AND PREJUDICE” has the following assumptions:

1. The researchers are able to determine the perception of students with regards to
the possible characteristics of the most common stereotypes of different groups.
2. The researchers are able to determine the perception of students with regards to
the possible characteristics of the most common prejudices based on physical
attributes.
3. This research is able to identify the factors affecting students’ way of judgement.
4. The researchers are able to propose a theory which explains the perception of
students (Stereotype and Prejudice)

METHOD

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Research Design

According to Kowalczyk (2019), social experiment is defined as an orchestrated

circumstance made to show how people react, respond, or behave in a given social
issue or to uncover the outcome of the unique situation. Thus, it is conducted to
observe the effects of researcher-controlled social intervention to the dealings of certain
groups of people and how the reactions differ from that of the uncontrolled population.
It usually tried to study and investigate different aspects of the world such as politics,
values, norms, economic, and education. This research design is appropriate in this
research because it dealt with human subjects and existed in real situation. The social
experiment is mixed method in nature which combines quantitative and qualitative
approach, instrument, and analysis (Donne, 2015). This research design was used in
this social experiment because the goal of this paper is to determine the students’
perception about the most common form of prejudices based on physical attributes and
stereotype based on different groups of people. Besides, this paper aimed to formulate a
theory about this social issue which can be used to describe the topics mentioned
earlier. In addition, this paper also applied sequential explanatory, one of the designs
under mixed method in which the experimenters will gather quantitative data then
followed by the phase of qualitative collection and analysis. The qualitative results will
be used to explain and interpret the findings of quantitative data.

In addition to the selected research design (social experiment), according to

Charmaz (2018), grounded “refers to a set of systematic inductive methods for
conducting qualitative research aimed toward theory development.” Thus, since one of
the objectives of this social experiment is to propose a theory based on inquiry and data
analysis, the concept of grounded theory may also be applied.

Participants of the Study

The students of the University of the Assumption are the selected participants of
this social experiment and it is conducted in the year 2018-2019 in the said University.
The selection of possible participants in the Senior High School is done to help the
researchers achieve the goals of the social experiment in more favorable and convenient
way. This social experiment used convenience sampling which according to Bhat (2017),

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is a particular type of non-probability testing strategy that depends on information
gathering from individuals who are advantageously accessible to take part in the study.
Facebook surveys and peers can be referenced as a well-known case for convenience
sampling. Convenience sampling is a kind of examining where the most available and
accessible essential information source will be utilized for the exploration without extra
prerequisites. As such, this sampling design includes getting members wherever you can
discover them and commonly wherever is helpful. In convenience sampling no
incorporation criteria recognized before the choice of subjects. All subjects are welcome
to take part.

The sample size of this social experiment will depend on the availability of the
participants or the number of participants who will join. The social experiment was done
in three trials or until it reaches the appropriate number of participants.

Instrument of the Study

The social experiment used researcher-completed instrument to gain data and

information about stereotyping and prejudices particularly tally sheets and interview
guide. This is appropriate in conducting this social experiment, because the aim of this
experiment is to not give hint or idea the participants about the objective of this paper.
Tally sheets and interview guides are perfect for this where in the former will be used to
collect the data and to be able to put the information in a most organized way and the
latter will be used as a guide sample for the experimenters.

According to Haley (2016), a tally sheet is a table with count imprints to

demonstrate an important informational index. It is one of the instruments for gathering
information with count marks. Count marks are frequencies, events, or absolute
numbers being estimated for an explicit classification in an informational index. This will
be used in this social experiment to count the number of answers each question and to
determine the most frequent answers in a certain question. On the other hand,
interview guide will also be used by the researcher especially the game master.
According to Ramos (2018), an interview guide is an instrument made for the researcher
which contains a set of questions or topic areas related to a particular study, and is
usually not to be read verbatim. This instrument is the most well-known in terms of

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gathering information and is most appropriate in mixed methods researches as this
helps the experimenters be guided in the process and will be able to accomplish a task.

This instrument comprises of three parts. The first part of the instrument is
about the most common stereotypes in the Philippines through which the experimenters
used pictures showing different well known cultural and social groups. Same process
and style with the second part which covers the most common form of prejudices based
on physical attributes. The last part will be in the form of questionnaire in which it
composes different reasons why people form prejudgment.

For the validity and reliability of this instrument, the experimenters will be
conducting a pilot testing to 10 selected participants. This is done to reduce errors and
provide more accurate answers during actual data gathering procedure.

Other Instruments

1. Pictures- these are showed to participants which they need to describe or

define.
2. Hidden Camera- these are used to review the expressions of the students.
3. Voice Recorder- these are used to record the answer of the participants.

Data Gathering Procedures

1. The experimenters formulated a social experiment instrument (tally sheets

and interview guide) that were used to collect information.

2. Instrument was validated by either a research teacher or a consultant then

tested through pilot testing.

3. Experimenters determined the possible participants to be involved in the social

experiment.

4. The experimenters were divided into two groups to collect more data.

5. Each group of experimenters prepared all the needed instruments for the data
gathering procedure and set the tools to be used.

6. Sample size of participants was selected by a series of trials.

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 7. The participants were given a white paper and a pen or a white board and a
marker in answering the activities.

8. The selected participants were given only 20 seconds to answer each item.

9. The goal of the activity was to provide the characteristics of a certain group
of people and persons’ physical attribute.

10. Used an audio recorder and hidden cameras while the experimenters were
having their one-on-one conversation with the participants about the reasons of their
prejudice and stereotype.

11. The experimenters reviewed all the responses of the participants and
interpreted them through statistical and data analysis.

12. The collected and analyzed information were used to give an explanation to
the objective.

Data and Statistical Analysis

This social experiment used descriptive statistics particularly frequency and

percentage for the statistical treatment. Descriptive statistics was used to describe,
analyze, and interpret data or provide information about the pattern, behavior, or level
of the variable. This tried to reach the conclusions that summarized all the important
information. This is commonly used in Quantitative research particularly in studying and
describing the profile and behavior of the participants (Carlos, 2018). This is appropriate
in conducting this social experiment because this aimed to describe the two social
issues, prejudices and stereotypes.

Frequency and percentage will be used in the first and second part of the
instrument to identify the most dominant answers or responses.

The non-statistical treatment to be used in this paper are theming and coding. Theming
is one of the most important process in completing a research and the most well-known
types of describing collected data. This qualitative process is used by the researchers to
determine the most common answers and to set possible codes for a specific response
to create a pattern. These patterns are determined through thorough processing

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information (Xander, 2016). On the other hand, coding is an important procedure of
systematizing and arranging the information collected by the researchers which enabled
them to make summary or synthesis (Williams, 2015). This data analysis tools are
appropriate in this social experiment as this aims to identify the perception of students
about prejudices and stereotypes and to develop a theory about this issue.

RESULTS AND FINDINGS

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 TABLE 1

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING OF THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

TRIAL PARTICIPANTS
SETTING
NUMBER INVOLVED
University of the
1 Assumption (blue shed and 8 participants
hallway) (Lunch time)
University of the
2 Assumption (blue shed and 8 participants
food court) (Lunch time)
University of the
3 Assumption (blue shed and 7 participants
food court) (Lunch time)
TOTAL: 23 participants

This social experiment is conducted in the University of the Assumption

particularly at college blue shed, SHS hallway, and food courts every lunch time. The
first and second trials comprised of 8 participants each while there are only 7
participants in third trial.

TABLE 2
NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE AN IDEA ABOUT MOST COMMON FORMS OF
STEREOTYPES
Stereotypes F %
Muslim 22 95.65
Bisaya 21 91.30
Ilocano 18 78.86
Kapampangan 23 100.00
Gays 23 100.00
Politician 22 95.65
Foreigner 21 91.30
Teenager 23 100.00
Chinese 23 100.00

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 Indians 22 95.65

Table 2 shows that 100% of the participants can identify the characteristics of
Kapampangan, gays, teenager, and Chinese. Meanwhile, there is only 78.86% of the
participants were recognized the characteristics of Ilocano.

TABLE 3
NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE AN IDEA ABOUT MOST COMMON FORMS OF
PREJUDICES
Prejudices F %
Woman wearing jewelries 23 100.00
Men with tattoo 22 95.65
Men wearing eye glasses 23 100.00
Tall man 17 73.91
Persons wearing black make up 20 86.96
and black shirts

Table 3 shows that 100% of the participants had an idea about the
characteristics of woman wearing jewelries and man wearing eye glasses. On the other
hand, only 73.91% of the participants have an idea about the characteristics of a tall
man.

TABLE 4

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOST COMMON

FORMS OF STEREOTYPE

Percentag
Stereotypes Characteristics Frequency e
Muslim      
Terrorist/Brave 13 56.52
Conservative 4 17.41
Unfaithful 3 13.04
Religious 2 8.69

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 No idea 1 4.34
Total 23 100
Bisaya      
Talkative 13 56.52
Bad accent 5 21.74
Fearless 2 8.69
Hardworking 1 4.34
No idea 2 8.69
Total 23 100
Ilocano      
Cheapskate 15 65.22
Loves cooking 2 8.69
Marcos Family 1 4.34
No idea 5 21.74
Total 23 100
Kapampanga
n      
Chefs 13 56.52
Good-looking 3 13.04
Talkative 3 13.04
Brave 2 8.69
Boastful 2 8.69
Total 23 100
Gays      
Good-humored 13 56.52
Lovable 4 17.41
Talkative 2 8.69
Smart 2 8.69
Friendly 2 8.69
Total 23 100
Politician      
Corrupt 18 78.26
Professional 3 13.04
Popular/Famous 1 4.34
No idea 1 4.34
Total 23 100
Foreigner      
Rich 15 65.22
Lovable 2 8.69
Tall 2 8.69
Pointed nose 1 4.34
Fair Skinned 1 4.34

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 No idea 2 8.69
Total 23 100
Teenager      
Wild 8 34.78
Relationship-
centered 5 21.74
Hardheaded 3 13.04
Liberated 3 13.04
Bipolar 2 8.69
Adventurous 1 4.34
Stylish/trendy 1 4.34
Total 23 100
Chinese      
Business-minded 11 47.83
Rich 10 43.47
Cheapskate 1 4.34
Greedy 1 4.34
Total 23 100
Indians      
Unpleasant odor 13 56.52
Loan shark 8 34.78
Big nose 1 4.34
No idea 1 4.34
  Total 23 100

This table shows the different characteristics of various group of people known in
the Philippines. Based on the result, majority of the participants involved in this social
experiment recognized Muslim as terror or persons who are fearless, Bisaya as talkative
in nature, Ilocano as cheapskate or persons who do not want to spend more money,
Kapampangan as a person who is good in cooking, gays as a good-humored person,
politicians whom negatively considered as corrupt officials, foreigner as rich person or
someone who is well-off, teenager as wild generations, Chinese as persons whose eyes
are always in business and lastly, Indians who have unpleasant body odor.

TABLE 5

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 STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOST COMMON
FORMS OF PREJUDICE

Percentag
Prejudices Characteristics Frequency e
Girl Wearing Jewelries      
Rich 11 47.83
Beautiful 4 17.41
Social climber 3 13.04
Snobbish 3 13.04
Stylish 2 8.69
Total 23 100
Men with Tattoo      
Bad boy 12 52.17
Addict 6 26.08
Ex-convict 4 17.41
No idea 1 4.34
Total 23 100
Person Wearing Eye
Glasses      
Smart 22 95.66
Poor eyesight 1 4.34
Total 23 100
Tall Man      
Athletically-inclined 17 73.92
No idea 6 26.08
Total 23 100
Persons wearing Black
Make Up      
and Black Shirts      
Emotional 17 73.92
Depressed 3 13.04
Broken hearted 1 4.34
  Total 23 100

Table 5 generally shows the characteristics of persons based on how they look
physically and based on the results, majority of the participants label woman who wears
jewelries as a rich person, man who get tattooed in their body as bad boy, person who

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wears eye glasses as smart student, man whose height is tall as an active player of
basketball and a person who loves black as depressed and emotional person.

TABLE 6

RESPONSES OF STUDENTS ON FACTORS AND BASIS OF JUDGMENTS

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
Based on This is what I It’s what I’ve Based on what Based on what
hearsay. heard to my heard from I usually heard I hear from
friends other people. from others others.
P6 P7 P8 P9 P10
Based on what Based on what Based on what Based on what Based on what
I heard from I hear from I hear. I heard on TV I hear on TV
others other people. and others and such. Like
that.
P11 P12 P13 P14 P15
Based on my This is how Based on what Because that’s Has become
observation society I heard how we see the norm since
observes this them as a it is what is
people person. always said or
heard
P16 P17 P18 P19 P20
This is what I Based on what Based on my Based on what Based on what
say because it’s I see and hear. experience I heard others say
what I hear
P21 P22 P23
I just hear them First impression Based on
but am not sure hearsay.
about some of
them.

Table 6 indicates the different reasons on how students define or describe the
different groups of people and the physical attributes of an individual. Based on the
results, it is apparent that the perception of participants involved in this social

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experiment is primarily based on what they hear from others, friends and even different
media platforms such as television.

DISCUSSION

1. The Perceptions of Students About the Characteristics of Different Groups

of People

In support to the specific objectives of this social experiment, the experimenters

aimed to identify and classify the perception of students about the characteristics of
different groups of people. Based on the results (refer to the table 4), the following are
the leading answers about the characteristics of ten groups of people presented to
them:

Muslim

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 The result shows that most of the participants recognized Muslims as terrors or
brave people. This means that even without proper knowledge about them, Muslims are
deemed terrifying and are thought to be fearless. Likewise, according to Al-Akhiran
(2019), Muslim people are often characterized as fearless people because most cases of
war recorded in the world are usually in western part of Asia, a place where most of the
Muslim countries are located.

Bisaya

It is clear that most of the participants considered Visayan people as talkative in

nature and simply shows that this group of people tends to talk a lot and enjoy having
conversation with other people. It goes with the same perspective with Manansala
(2018), Visayan people specifically those who live near Cebu province are talkative in
nature, this is actually their way to give emphasis on what they want to show to other
people.

Ilocano

Most of the participants agreed that people living in Northern Luzon or the
Ilocanos are “kuripot” or “matipid” and this means that these people are stingy or
someone who does not want or like to spend money because of their condition in life.
This supports by the statement of Angeles (2016), that they are described as being
hardworking, determined and persevering and these people are also called "kuripot," or
cheap, it's generally understood in the Philippines that it is difficult for them to earn a
living in their territories.

Kapampangan

Although the participants of this social experiments are kapampangans, still they
have a lot of perceptions about their characteristics, but the most frequent answer is
good in cooking. This proves that Pampanga is indeed the culinary capital of the
Philippines as kapampangans have great sense of taste. According to Tantinco (2018),
kapampangans can really cook, and Pampanga is really the food capital of the
Philippines unlike other regions which are known for single dishes and desserts;
Pampanga has a whole abundance of culinary delights, from colonial to folk to exotic.

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Gays

The result shows that these members of LGBT are really optimistic and
humorous. This means that gays have positive outlook in life and a feeling of success
and happiness. According to Lehmiller (2018), that these people are positive-thinkers,
most of them know how to convert negativities into something humorous that is why
most of the people really love being friends with them.

Politicians

Based on the results, politicians are negatively recognized by most of the

participants as corrupt officials, this means that they are often associated with doing
things that are dishonest and illegal in order to make money. Same as with Santiago
(2018), do not be surprised if someone often define politician as corrupt people, this is
because most of the government officials in the Philippines use their power by or their
network contacts for illegitimate private gain like in the case of three senators who are
accused of having money private transaction.

Foreigner

It is apparent based on the results that participants often say that all foreigners
are rich, this means that these people live in a lavish lifestyle and possess a lot of
money. Same as with study of Rodriguez Jr. (2018), that It is one of the most common
stereotyped people in the Philippines because Filipinos thought that these people who
are based in the Philippines are all rich.

Teenager

The most frequent answer grounded on the table is the teenagers are a wild
generation. Since this is the stage when they acquire freedom, they can do whatever
they want. According by Vera (2015), she explains teens are maturing and preparing
themselves to enter the adult world. They understand they cannot rely on their parents
forever. The result is a teen who is more autonomous and emphasizes his own ability to
make decisions and his right to privacy.

Chinese

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 The result shows that most of the participants assumed that Chinese are
business-minded people. With this in mind, most people expect that Chinese nationals
can manage and develop a business successfully. Similarly, according to Harolds (2016),
Chinese are generally a business-minded person because as part of their culture and
belief that everyone has to be hardworking if success is wanted to achieve. Chinese are
also a type of people whose eyes are always focused on development.

Indians

Based on the majority of the participants, Indians have a not-so-good body

smell, this simply shows that most people, whenever they hear Indians, they often think
that most of them have disagreeable odor. According to Khurana (2018), he clarifies
that Indian cuisine is one of the unique foods in the world because Indians eat
extremely spicy foods and countries with hotter climates used spices more frequently
than countries with cooler climates and according to some studies that spicy foods
somehow affects the odor of the person.

2. The Perceptions of Students About the Characteristics of Different People

Based on their Physical Attributes.

For the second objective, the experimenters want to determine the perceptions
of UA students about the characteristics of individuals based on their physical attributes.
Referring to the table 5, the following are the most common answers of participants
about the characteristics of five individuals showed to them:

Girl wearing jewelries

Majority of the participants said those women who wear a lot of jewelries are
rich and this means that whenever they see girls wearing ornaments, they immediately
think that they belong in a wealthy family. According to Weinberg (2015), that it is part
of women’s tradition to wear jewelries and sometimes this symbolizes the state of their
living but in broader sense women wear these jewelries because of such an important
impact on a person’s attitude and outlook in life.

Man with tattoo

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 Based on the results, most of the participants said that man inked with tattoo are
bad boys and this suggests that whenever they see people like them, they thought that
they are notorious people. According to Staff (2015), he elucidates that one of the
biggest reasons why people get inked or tattooed is because it often symbolizes
braveness especially for men but in some cases, people often think that these people
are addict and bad boy due to their aggressive behavior.

Man wearing eye glasses

The result shows that those who wear eye glasses are often branded as clever
people. This means that students defined these people as very intelligent and great
academic performers. According to Engle (2016), one of the reasons why eyes are being
damaged is overusing of them like reading a book even at night time and this makes
people think that those who wear eye glasses are smart and bookworm.

Tall man

Majority of the responses labeled tall men as someone who is into sports and
this means that tall men are repeatedly linked to physical activities, specifically
basketball. According to Joshua (2013), basketball players are tall because the rulebook
puts the basket ten feet high and the goal is to put the ball in the basket and taller
players achieve the goal better that is why it was generalized that tall man should be in
the field of sports.

Person wearing black make up and shirts

“Emo” this is what most of the participants described persons who loves wearing
black and it was generalized that whoever wears black is currently experiencing
sadness. Psychologically speaking, according to Cherry (2018), Every color has its own
representation and this is the reason why a man who wears black often recognized as
depressed or emotional because black is associated with death and mourning in many
cultures. It is also associated with unhappiness, sexuality, formality, and sophistication.

3. The Most Significant Factor or Basis of Students’ Way of Judgment.

23
 To complete the objective of this social experiment, the experimenters seek to
gather information about the significant factors or their basis of stereotypes and
prejudices. Based on the table 6, most of them said that the basis or reason of their
judgement are based on what they hear from others, friends, and media platform. This
means that they define people as how others described them and whatever others say
about them which automatically changes their perception. According to Mcneill (2015),
the use of stereotypes and prejudices are a major way in which we simplify social world
and primarily the reason why there is generalization is because people often depend on
what they hear or how others define them even without proper knowledge about them.

General objective

The overall objective of this social experiment is to form a theory about the basis
and sources of students’ way of judging towards different group of people and A
persons’ physical attributes. Most of them said it is based on what they heard from
others and this suggests that whatever they hear somehow true and later resulted to
generalizations. And so, the experimenters can now come up a theory based on their
answers and this will be called “Cochleatic Interpretation” theory. This is based on term
“cochlea” which is a part of the ear that receives and interprets vibrations.

Conclusions

1. There are lots of perceptions about the characteristics of different groups of people
but after conducting this social experiment, it was concluded that:

 Muslims are terrors

 Visayans are talkative
 Ilocanos are miser
 Kapampangan people are good in cooking
 Gays are good-humored
 Politicians are mostly corrupt
 Foreigners are rich
 Teenagers are wild
 Chinese are business-minded
 Indians have unpleasant odor

24
2. There are different perceptions about the characteristics of persons based on their
appearance but this experiment concluded that:

 Girls who wear jewelries are rich

 Men who have tattoo are “bad boys”
 People who wear eye glasses are smart
 Tall men are into sports
 People who love the color black are “emo”

3. The factor why there are stereotyping and prejudices is because people often depend
on the information they have heard from others, even without gaining prior knowledge.

4. “Cochleatic Interpretation” theory simply means that whatever you heard from others
will be your basis on how you define other people. This is based on term “cochlea”
which is a part of the ear that receives and interprets vibrations.

Recommendation

Based on the results and conclusions, the following are recommended:

1. Stereotyping either positive or negative is an unfair belief which explains that all
members in a group are just the same and for this reason, students may have to be
careful enough on describing others especially if it is not true or do not have prior
knowledge about it.

2. Prejudice is also a form of judgement that is not reasonable or logical and likewise,
students may have to be careful enough in terms of judging others based on how they
look.

3. Students may have to be mindful on the information that they hear from friends,
others and social media.

4. For the future experimenters, they may conduct the same study but they may also
improve it for them to produce more credible information.

25
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APPENDIX B – Research Instruments

Tally Sheet

A. Possible Characteristics of different groups of people

1. Muslim

 Terrorists –
 Conservative –
 Polygamy –

Others ____________

2. Visaya

 Talkative-
 Brave –

Others ____________

3. Ilocano

 Miser -
 Good in cooking -

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 Others ___________

4. Kapampangan

 Good in cooking -
 Talkative -

Others ___________

5. Gays

 Good-humored -
 Lovable -

Others ___________

6. Politicians

 Corrupt -
 Professional -

Others ___________

7. Foreigner

 Rich –
 English speaking –
 Fair skinned –

Others ___________

8. Teenager

 Liberated -
 Hardheaded -
 Stylish –

Others ___________

9. Chinese

 Business-minded -
 Rich –

Others ___________

10. Indians

31
  Loan shark -
 Unpleasant odor –

Others ___________

B. Possible characteristics of individuals based on their physical attribute

1. Girls wearing jewelries

 Rich -
 Snobbish –

Others ___________

2 Men with tattoo

 Bad boy -
 Addict -

Others __________

3. Persons wearing eye glasses

 Smart -

Others __________

4. Tall men

 Sporty -

Others __________

5. Persons wearing black make up and shirts

 Depressed -
 Emotional -
 Weird -

Others __________

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Interview Guide

Question: What is the factor that affects your judgment or your basis of your perception about
their possible characteristics?

32