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Explain Why Is The Idea Of Stereotyping So Distasteful

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Chapter 4. Why is the idea of stereotyping so distasteful to people? Are there times when stereotyping is useful? Stereotyping is a process that every person will experience in their lives. It is part of being of a group to be associated with others of the same group. Stereotyping can come in many forms either by judging the whole group by the action of a few, or by judging a single individual by the action of someone else in the same group.”Stereotyping means classifying a person as part of a group, making a generalization to that person”(Floyd, 2012, p. 116). Stereotyping is disliked by so many people because they do not wish to be judged by the actions of others. When you meet new people you often want to make a good impression and show …show more content…

We are pattern recognizing creatures and want to predict what to expect of situations to allow ourselves to be better prepared. If we hear things in the media constantly reinforcing what beliefs we hold it often leads us to judge others before we can know them better. A situation in which I would find stereotyping useful is if you are in the middle of a city late at night, you are not going to assume someone hiding in an alley is your friend because the situation could become disastrous quickly. I believe I have met enough people to know that stereotypes are not true for every single person who belongs to that group. Often who we see in a group is the outlieres and the people who stand out. “We have a tendency to engage in selective memory bias,remembering information that supports our stereotypes but forgetting information that doesn't”(Floyd, 2012, p. 117). People who stand out from the group draw attention. We notice the best of the group and the worst of it and the people in the middle are ignored or not taken into consideration when people create these stereotypes or when they reinforce their own

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