I am attempting, to understand why people trust others based on appearance when all the statistics and personal experiences prove otherwise. I'm trying to understand the mindset of race based trust.

The questions are -

1. Do you trust people more if they look like you?


2. In your life experience, who has hurt you more, people who look like you or people who look different from you? example:(People with thin lips being the biggest liars, tall people being more responsible.

3. In your experience, do eugenics, or physical features accurately predict if a person is of loyal or disloyal character?


The reason I do not understand the racist mindset, or the appearance based trust is because, from my experiences in life, most of the people who have harmed me or who were out to harm me, looked like me. Usually the more like me they looked, the less they could be trusted (with exception of biological family members).

How many have had similar experiences? Statistics say that most of the time, when a crime is commited against you, it's by someone who looks like you. The reason for this behavior is, the smart criminals take advantage of appearance based trust, they dress nice, they mirror your body language, they talk in your accent, they blend in so well that they never have to worry about getting caught because they look so average and normal that no one would expect them to be the criminal. Do any of you get nervous around people who seem too normal, and too average?

A common phrase I hear, the bigger the smile, the sharper the knife. What are some other appearance based common phrases in existance? (beyond the racial slurs, but actual appearance based or mannerism based)

1. Do you trust people more if they look like you?


No. But I generally don't trust anyone.
2. In your life experience, who has hurt you more, people who look like you or people who look different from you? example:(People with thin lips being the biggest liars, tall people being more responsible.
People who look different from me, I've never met someone who looked like me. If you mean having similar skin pigment to me, then it's really about even.

3. In your experience, do eugenics, or physical features accurately predict if a person is of loyal or disloyal character?
A person's overall "look" can tell you a lot, but not certain physical features.

The reason I do not understand the racist mindset, or the appearance based trust is because, from my experiences in life, most of the people who have harmed me or who were out to harm me, looked like me. Usually the more like me they looked, the less they could be trusted (with exception of biological family members).
Fuedal wars maybe? Where someone who looked different could be a spy or assassign. No idea.

How many have had similar experiences? Statistics say that most of the time, when a crime is commited against you, it's by someone who looks like you. The reason for this behavior is, the smart criminals take advantage of appearance based trust, they dress nice, they mirror your body language, they talk in your accent, they blend in so well that they never have to worry about getting caught because they look so average and normal that no one would expect them to be the criminal. Do any of you get nervous around people who seem too normal, and too average?
Not nervous, but I'm cautious around anyone I haven't met at least several times before.

Hey your response is somewhat normal. You don't trust anyone you don't know. I'm the same way.

Of course people trust people who look like them. We are a social species, but our social instincts are still those of our Mesolithic ancestors who lived in tribes of perhaps a hundred people--and most of them looked pretty similar because they were related by blood. The next tribe down the river was the enemy. We couldn't trust them because we had to keep them from encroaching on our hunting and gathering territory.

Fraggle Rocker, that was the past when we didn't know any better. People have to move beyond their instincts. If you don't move beyond your instincts, predators will evolve to take advantage of the fact that you can't move beyond your instincts.

Your arguement only makes sense if evolution did not take place, but it did. We now know, that what you see isnt really what you get, and that people are energy. We now know that what you see when you look at a person, is simpy electric impluses, a rough translation, it's not even real. Their energy however is real, and just as you cannot see me, you can still feel me through my words.

That is what is real.

Someone started this thread by asking, "why people trust others based on appearance when all the statistics and personal experiences prove otherwise." I'm merely explaining why. Not everyone has been able to overcome their instincts to the extent you postulate. If they had, racial prejudice would not be nearly so common.