Cognitive Dissonance & Pseudospeciation: Perceptions of Indigenous Americans A brief review

Misconceptions Myths Textbooks portrayed America as “unsettled” frontier Indigenous described as backwards people, as hunter- gatherers Popularly portrayed as “savages” until recently Stayed separate from Europeans Truths Many different groups, hundreds of nations, millions of people inhabited just North America before the Europeans arrived Considerable diversity, just in North America, but also throughout all Indian lands. They made many advancements in technology that have been lost. Most of the pre-Columbian pop. were farmers. Considerable contact btwn groups. Trade, alliances, multi-racial societies

Perception Savages Portrayed in texts In pictures Popularized image Why? Cognitive dissonance: led to pseudospeciation/dehumaniz ation Easier to make them seem like savages/enemies

Cognitive Dissonance: Two steps 1. Dissonance Conflicting ideas in our mind cause discomfort. Example: Columbus brutally enslaved and massacred Taínos. He might feel bad for hurting another person. That bad feeling is the dissonance. 2. Change in attitudes/beliefs Instead of changing the action that causes the dissonance, we change how we view the action itself. The action becomes okay in our minds. E.g.: Instead of treating natives well, Columbus decided that the Taínos were savages, so it was okay to hurt them.

Change in Attitude/Belief: Pseudospeciation Definition The human tendency to “sub- humanize” others, or seeing others as less/different types of humanity. Often a product of cog. dissonance - if you see someone as less human than yourself, it is easier to do evil to that person. E.g.: natives went from being “handsome, intelligent” group to a “naïve” group, or one that “ravage[s], despoil[s,] and terrorize[s]” others. Results First voyage: received help and gifts from natives. Before returning to Spain, Columbus kidnapped slaves as gifts for the king and queen. By the second voyage, he was brutally enslaving the natives, and selling the girls into sex slavery.

More results

Final Thoughts Europeans came to America for riches. They directly caused the extermination and subjugation of tens of millions of indigenous inhabitants. Many Europeans tried to help the natives, but most turned a blind eye. The cognitive dissonance they likely experienced resulted in changed attitudes towards the natives – in the form of pseudospeciation – rather than a change in behavior. Columbus’ treatment of the Native Americans set the stage for the next 400 years of slavery on the North and South American continents. His actions, combined with disease, directly resulted in the deaths of all native inhabitants of Hispaniola within 50 years of his arrival. The narrative of Columbus’ heroism and primitive, bow and arrow-wielding natives lives on in many of today’s histories.