As humans, we have a natural tendency to seek information that supports our preconceptions and ignore evidence to the contrary. We also fear what we cannot control because dramatic events are readily available in memory and shape our perception of risk. These readily available memories can be stimulated when a concept related to the dramatic event is remembered. We often form our concept by developing prototypes. Mockups provide a quick and easy way to sort items into categories. Unfortunately, prototypes can also be used against racial discrimination. When we have a prototype of a particular ethnic group we tend to classify the entire ethnic group according to that prototype; even though it may not be true. For example, after the September 11 incident, people started to fear all Muslims and have the concept of terrorist and the best prototype that corresponded to the concept of “terrorist” was Muslim. In this article I will cover three terms; Prototypes, confirmation bias, and belief perseverance. Depending on the situation, prototypes can be used as an advantage or a disadvantage. The advantage of the prototype would be to quickly classify items based on their fit; the disadvantage would be using it to discriminate against certain racial groups or the inability to match a concept to a certain prototype; for example, when penguins do not resemble our prototype bird. The prototype is a mental image or best example of a category (Myers, 2011). For example, in the movie “The Help” ((Columbus, Barnathan, Green, & Taylor, 2011)), Southern white society has a prototype black servant. The social concept of a servant (someone who does all the dirty work) fits their prototype of a black woman perfectly. In the movie, the black waitress is in the... middle of a sheet of paper... classifying objects. For example, when you have symptoms and the symptoms do not match the disease prototype, it is slower to detect the disease (Myers, 2011). On the other hand, confirmation bias allows you to look for answers that support your belief. For example, when a student writes an article, he looks for a response that confirms his belief. And perseverance in belief makes a person reluctant to admit that his initial premise may not be true. This information is important because now you know that arguing is useless because both sides are never wrong and both reject each other's beliefs. Works Cited Myers, D. (2011) Psychology. (10th edition). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Columbus, C., Barnathan, M., Green, B. (producer), and Taylor, T. (director). (2011). The Guide [Moving image]. United States: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.