Insider-outsider Bias

Do you sense a beauty or a danger?

Photograph by John Stanmeyer
Mount Merapi on the island of Java in Indonesia is nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) tall and is one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes. Merapi means "fire mountain" in Indonesian (from Here)

Several American Caucasian friends married Indonesian girls of Java. The Javanese girls were middle or high school graduates and had darker skins; they had casual appearance and hair do, or clumsy by comparison of today’s high school girls. When one of the American was asked about her crush on her, he said that he found her beautiful and exotic. “Look at how she smiles, especially if you see her from her side. Her smile is gorgeous.” My wife and I looked at each other about his answer. We did not find her smile any gorgeous nor she was at all beautiful. Being curious if it was our misleading perception, we asked a few other friends about their opinions. They all confirmed what we saw and thought of her.

The next day, as I sat down enjoying my tea in my porch, I kept thinking about that discussion. Being an insider of the Javanese culture may have desensitized my senses to what is beautiful, exotic, and gorgeous. As I was born and grew up in that culture, my perception of beauty has been influenced by and filtered with the measurement and norms of my surrounding community. As a result, I cannot see what my American Caucasian friends saw. On the contrary, my American friends possess a fresh standpoint as a novice into the Javanese culture and community. They are sensitive to features of appearance and culture that are new to them. They are fascinated by particular elements that are invisible by insiders—an insider-outsider bias. This kind of bias is probably similar to gender bias in the sense that a woman may find one man handsome, while that women’s male partner thinks differently about what she thinks a handsome man. Similarly, my wife may disagree when I comment that the girl crossing the street is interestingly beautiful.

This insider-outsider bias opens up a gateway to the saying that “the neighbor’s garden is greener.” An adventurous insider will seek out the excitement of variations. They expect different sauce for their spaghetti. They want difference spices for the day.

A local market in Semarang-Central Java, Indonesia (taken from Here)

I wonder if the above  outsider-insider bias  also happens some where else!