Black Eye

This happened to a classmate.

A few days ago she went to the 3rd level student services centre, and had approached M to ask her about some issue. This classmate had a ‘black eye’. There was quite a big bruise around her right eye, especially below the eye.

Some background information first. This classmate had been with JCU for a few trimesters already. M, being a staff of JCU, knows her, given the efficiency of processes in JCU. M herself, is quite a nice lady, efficient and helpful. Most of us have to approach her and she does make dealing with the JCU admin issues a little smoother.

So my classmate was approaching M to talk to her. She had barely started before M quickly interrupted.
“It’s ok! You don’t have to tell me what happened! Just fill in this form and do this and that and….”

What’s happening here?
M had obviously seen the ‘black eye’, and her automatic mental process took over and she made a judgment based on her schemas, instead of using any information that she could have obtained just by asking and activating a controlled mental process.
Her schemas had helped her arrive at the conclusion that my classmate was the victim of abuse, had gotten beat up, and thus the ‘black eye’.
She was probably uncomfortable about it and so didn’t want to know anything more.
M’s attitude towards this is quite obvious. She doesn’t want to know or talk about it. This is an example of an implicit attitude, which is also automatic.

Food for thought:
Would you have made the same judgment if you had seen my classmate, since most of us would have the same kind of schemas? Or would you have asked?
On the other hand, given the nature of physical abuse, would you have felt comfortable bringing it up when you suspect that person was a victim of abuse?
What is your own attitude towards victims of family violence? Avoidance? Concern?

So what really happened to my classmate?
She didn’t get beaten up by a husband or a boyfriend. She had fainted and fell on her face, resulting in a huge bump on her forehead, from which the blood had flowed to below her eye, and settled there, forming a bruise. Something like that, and simple as that. :-)

I thought that this story was hilarious, the part about M of course, not about my classmate having a fall. :-p