A discussion with a friend of mine brought up an interesting point in regards to human nature. When presented with new information, the first thing we do is compare it to old information. This applies to everything from gossip to appearance.
I've already made a post about first judgment, and this ties into that in the sense that in order to tackle what we do not understand, we quickly cycle through comparisons between what we see before us, and what we've seen before. In broad and general terms, a comparison between self and other is a good place to start, especially with obvious differences such as race.
In defining something, we immediately take note of the obvious similarities and differences, but doing so often unconsciously brings us to draw conclusions that are not necessarily accurate. This is especially the case in situations where there is third party or faulty/untested information involved that draws a partial connection to the new information(person) we face.
It's better to be openminded. It makes sense to compare the new to what we already know, but we should be careful that we do not place too much stock in what we've heard, especially in regards to absolutes, or single instances of particular behavior.
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