Reflection
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian woman who is known for her writing and her concept of the danger of a single story. The danger of a single story essentially reasons why only having one idea or story about someone or a culture can lead to misconceptions and inaccurate perceptions of a group overall.  In order to form educated opinions it is important for one to widen their horizon. To widen the horizon, it is important to read, to research, to experience, and to accept. There are two biases that are closely related to the concept of the danger of a story. The first is the availability heuristic which is the tendency to estimate the probability of something happening based on how many examples readily come to mind. The effects of availability heuristic  are similar to the effects of the danger of the single story in which a person only has one  idea available in their mind and so it is the only thing they know and can pull from when in a situation of judgement. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk about the danger of a single story she talks about how her college roommate assumed that since she was from Nigeria, she did not know how to use a stove. She only had one idea of what Africa was like in her head because she had an availability bias which is very closely the same to a single story. The information available in one’s mind to pull from may not always be accurate or a good representation of the topic as a whole. This is why it is important to educate oneself by reading different material, researching the topic, and asking questions, even if the topic can seem uncomfortable. It is always better to ask than assume. To combat this bias is to have more information available. The second bias is the halo effect. The halo effect is the tendency for an initial impression of a person to influence what we think of them overall. Some examples are believing that someone who is attractive automatically has a nice personality or that a blonde girl is intelligent. There are also examples such as assuming that since someone is Asian they are good at math or that since someone wears a hijab they are dangerous. This example can also connect to how the media portrays people based on looks/race/religion. It is important to be aware of the halo effect so one can remind themself that just because a person looks a certain way does not mean they are certain attributes whether they be positive or negative. One cannot judge another by their appearance as it is not an accurate reflection of who they are as a person. . Single stories and biases like these are detrimental to an inclusive society. The solution is to be open to differences and to educate before diminishing others.












