Do Not Assume Who I Am By My Appearance Essay

Stereotypes are a form of prejudice everyone will once experience in their lifetime. Stereotypes are centered around an individual's race, gender, social class, religion, and age. They have been known to be elements people use to make judgments and subjectify people to one key feature. As Gordon Allport states, “ To state the matter technically, a noun abstracts from a concrete reality some one features and assembles different concrete realities only with respect to this one feature”(364). Mr.Allport’s words can be summed up to say stereotypes have been used as key fundamentals to associate one feature or aspect of a person with a group that represents it, typically in an unfavorable way.

Stereotypes have been apart of society since the beginning. Stereotypes are often a generalization or assumption of an individual, and can be positive or negative. Stereotypes appear in the workplace, school, and daily life. There are stereotypes on race, gender, religion, sexuality, social class, professions, weight, and schooling. One example of stereotyping is if one sees a white-American female with blonde and blue eyes, one may say she’s “dingy”, “dumb”, and or “typical”. Now that female may be an all honor student, but because of a stereotype she was generalized to be the complete opposite of who she really is. Stereotyping a person based off of their appearance is one of the harmful effects of stereotypes. Stereotypes are harmful and counterproductive

Furthermore, stereotypes are used to increase an individual’s self-esteem and strengthen their social identity. Social identity theory contributes largely to the formation of stereotypes, as it states that a person’s social identity is formed from being part of a group. To justify one’s own group, they often pick out real or imaginary differences and flaws in other groups and compare those to their own group (Ford & Tonander, 1998). This led Ford

By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to social categorisation, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes.

In life, there is a common ground on which most every person can relate. At one time or another, we have all been promoters of or victims of the unremitting nature of stereotypes. According to the Webster’s dictionary, a stereotype is defined as “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.” Most stereotypes take on a negative form and are based on characteristics such as age, gender, race, status, and personal beliefs. Generally speaking, the greatest problem that arises with stereotypes is that they judge group of people by the characteristics and actions of their ancestors, rather than on an individual basis. More often than not, these assumptions will

Julianne Ruane Ms. Mass/ O’Connell English 2 20 September 2014 Stereotypes affect everyone around the world. Whether someone is from New Jersey, or Nigeria, everyone has experienced someone stereotyping them. In Funny in Farsi, by Firoozeh Dumas the main character, Fioozeh is a victim of stereotypes. After moving from Iran to America, she experiences the stereotypes of Americas towards people from other countries. There are many different circumstances why people stereotype other such as ignorance and influenced by the media.

The world is full of stereotypes. Every person has been stereotypes at least once in their lives. There have always been people who walk around and stereotype just be first impressions. Yet, by seeing someone on the streets one can not make a complete perception of that person, for the constant emotions that vary just be a walk by. Stereotypes cause people to have an incomplete picture of others and can damage individuals and groups.

I have experienced many stereotypes myself. When I wear a head cap also known as a du-rag, I am often viewed as a hoodlum or a terrifying young black male. Head caps are often common for young black males to wear. What is the first thing you think when you see a tall black male with a black head cap on his head? The fact that I had a head cap automatically brought negative connation to what I represent as a person. The stereotypes of this certain group impacted everyone who may have similar feature. I was pre-judged just because I had similar feature to another black male with a head cap that may have been a “thug”. My appearance directly impacted what people thought of me before they even knew me, or before they knew the purpose of my

According to Allport, the process of categorization is the basis to develop prejudice and stereotypes. People think in categories and the mind forms groups and classes to guide our daily actions. Dahl also verifies that the predictions we make about “Others” is based on stereotypes and that this is necessary and it is a process that we cannot avoid. If categorization is a natural cognitive process and all categorization leads to generalization, then stereotype is also a natural cognitive process. Categories are necessary to give meaning to our reality and to create structure, however they are flexible and they change. On the other hand stereotypes seem to give us a feeling of order and security but they are inflexible and try to reinforce one particular image over others. Stereotypes still persist even when we know better because they help to create a positive self-image and they are to a large degree attached to ideologies (Christoffanini). Furthermore, we represent Others by using language or images, which allow us to portray Others in ways

Society forms definitions, or stereotypes, of people according to the color of their skin, their economic status, or where they live. Stereotypes define how society believes these people should act and how they should be treated. These stereotypes are, in effect, a pre-made identity.

Stereotypes can be defined as people putting labels on other people or things just because they have a fixed mindset of how they should be represented, and they impact our society in many ways. (Stereotypes). For example, in an interview with Guy Raz from NPR, Jamila Lyiscott says that “You have this lens where you're looking at yourself through the lens of other people the way that they're looking at you.” (Raz, Jamila) This shows the meaning of stereotypes by revealing that Jamila Lyiscott feels that she is being judged in a way she should never be judged just because of the way she speaks. As a society, we must not be so quick to judge people, especially by the way they speak because not everyone is going to speak properly or even use the

Stereotypes can be defined as a set of characteristics that people believe represent a group of people or an object, and they impact our society in many ways (Stereotypes). For example, in an interview with Guy Raz from NPR, Jamila Lyiscott says that “It’s not that you view yourself that way. I think that there's a tension. I think there's a tension with fighting to not internalize some of what people say or what has been placed on you, especially during very important formative years.” This explains how stereotyping affects society because whenever people begin to look at themselves and people groups different it can cause tension within the person and the society. Another example of stereotyping is whenever Guy Raz from NPR interviewed

Stereotypes are able to promote positive imagery as well as negative imagery on all topics. They have more power than one would initially give an idea. Stereotypes can easily influence the opinions of the masses if the proper perspective is not provided. For starters, stereotypes can damage the reputation of a person, place or idea, before in depth analysis can be conducted. For example, today’s media places a negative light of redneck culture and places the stereotype that southern men are radical racists that only wish to bring harm to African Americans. One could see how person of color would be hesitant to vacation in Birmingham Alabama after hearing this information. We know this to be untrue, not every male in that part of the world

. As people grow older and realize their racial, religious, and cultural groups, they tend to differentiate themselves from other groups. The main reason we develop stereotypes is because it is just human nature for us to categorize people. Stereotypes are a way to simplify groups of people and establish identities, especially when one doesn’t know much about the group (“Overcoming Stereotypes”).

The presences of stereotypes are overwhelming and are developed by both the environment a subject is raised in and their family. Stereotypes, which are pervasive throughout different societies, become intertwined in the collective values of the society as justification for all forms of social, economic, and political inequality among groups (Devine and Elliot 2000;Kaplan 2004; Operario and Fiske 2004). As people become more exposed to stereotypes they start to become a permanent part of a person’s life, they begin to stereotype themselves almost always involuntarily.