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 easily remembered and shape our perception of risk. These readily available memories can be stimulated when reminded of a concept related to the dramatic event. We often form our concept by developing prototypes. Prototypes provide a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories. Unfortunately, prototypes can also be used for racial discrimination. When we have a prototype of a particular ethnic group, we tend to classify the entire ethnic group into that category; although it may not be a true fact. For example, after the 9/11 incident, people started to fear all Muslims and had the concept of terrorist and the best prototype that fit 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 categorize the elements according to their rhythm; the downside 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 don't look like our bird prototype. 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)), white southern society has a prototype black servant. Society's concept of a handmaid (someone who does all the dirty work) fits perfectly with their prototype of a black woman. In the movie, the black maid is in the middle of a sheet of paper......categorizes objects. For example, when you have symptoms and they do not match a disease prototype, then it is slower to detect the disease (Myers, 2011). On the other hand, confirmation bias allows you to seek answers that support your belief. For example, when a student writes a paper, they are looking for an answer that confirms their belief. And perseverance in belief prevents a person from admitting that their initial premise may not be true. This information is important because you now know that having arguments is pointless because both parties are never wrong and they both reject the 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). Help [Motion picture]. United States: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.