Positive And Negative Stereotypes In Society

The journal article used in reference to stereotyping was retrieved from the The Journal of Experimental Psychology. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how being exposed to social stereotypes can subconsciously affect our behavior. The article explores the theory that if the self is compared to the social stereotype of a perceived out-group, a group with which one does not identify, one will subconsciously behave differently. Therefore, there will be disparities between the similarities

What are stereotypes? How do they form? How can we solve this issue for the greater good? There are many definitions to describe a stereotype, but the one that many people agree with, like psychologists is that stereotypes are prejudgments and gossip about the world. However, one phrase that goes perfectly with this topic will be “Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover”. This goes in hand with this topic, because we make prejudgments about how we see our world without knowing what exactly it’s going on around us. In addition, stereotypes start forming throughout our childhood years, since at that age; we learn to define what is right from wrong in our surroundings. One way to resolve this issue is to accept the world as it is. This means that instead

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.

First of all, what are stereotypes? A stereotype is a quality assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality, and sexual orientation, but there is not only one type of stereotype there are actually two types of stereotypes. There are positive and negative ones. For example, a positive stereotype about asians would be that they are smart and polite. A negative one would be something like asians have small eyes or they’re short. Some people may get offended by these and other people will not care about it at all. These are effects from the stereotypes.

Based upon the lecture it is now my opinion that race is an ideology and should not be considered a physical fact. As presented in the lecture, just because someone appears to be black, does not mean they should be classified as solely “black.” The example given about Barack Obama having a white birth mother and black birth father, and yet he is classified as black. I am curious to know if Obama himself classifies himself as black, or if this is something the public classifies him as. I think most people consider race as a physical fact but should not. An example being when someone appears to be Asian, but in reality they could be a mixture of different ethnicities. Many stereotypes are based upon physical facts, rather than the actual knowledge

Chimamanda Ngozi once said, “The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” (Stereotypes). Many stereotypes effect us. They can also have a negative effect and those affected by it can feel insecure because they may be judged or treated because of that certain stereotype. Stereotypes are labels that are unfairly placed on people, and they affect all of us.

Description Positive attitudes Negative attitudes Strongly Agree (SA) 4.50 - 5 .00 1 Agree (A) 3.50 - 4.49 2 Undecided (U) 2.50 - 3.49 3 Disagree (D) 1.50 - 2.49 4 Strongly Disagree (SD) 1.00 – 1.49 5

Stereotyping is very much a natural and unconscious process – we cannot help it. Stereotypes can come from situations we ourselves may experience, our values and attitudes as well as our perception of certain topics, but typically stereotypes are a result of media portrayals. We engage in stereotyping for a number of reasons – it makes life easier for us as it allows us to remember only certain features or parts of a stereotype, which is much easier than remembering each unique characteristic that makes up a person. We also stereotype because of our need for closure, and in particular our need for cognitive closure. This means that we tend to fill in the missing information

There are three major perspectives on stereotypes: Psychodynamic perspective, sociocultural perspectives and Cognitive perspectives. Psychodynamic perspective argues that stereotypes serve intra-psychic needs - protect self against anxiety (ego defense mechanisms); self-esteem benefits to viewing outgroup negatively. If stereotypes are to change, alternatives must be supplied for protecting against anxiety. Sociocultural argues that stereotypes are made by society and that for stereotypes to change new stereotypes need to be made. Cognitive Perspectives suggest that categorization is fundamental - simplifies, organizes, allows predictability. Stereotypes guide information processing to produce a bias that maintains the status quo. Attend to, notice stereotype-consistent information, make stereotype-consistent inferences, and recall stereotype-consistent information better, and so on.

Research in psychology has revealed that stereotypes, when factual, are an aid to information processing and facilitate accurate judgment and smooth social interaction (1). However, such research has also revealed that, unbeknownst to the perceiver, when the stereotype is invoked it also typically triggers inaccurate beliefs about the social group that ascribes predominantly negative qualities to the group and its members (2).

People stereotype out of fear. If we as people see a threat to who we are we stereotype them. Stereotypes is an emotional, social, and has to do with the mind. We stereotype for a defense mechanism(Inzlicht,King,2010). All three studies purpose a fact that people become their stereotype because of stress. When someone experiences stereotype threat they find it hard to

We have all been stereotyped at a point of our lives because of the “groups” we were born into, like our gender or nationality. People identify Arabian Americans as terrorists because they are middle eastern. Others assume that all Mexicans came to America illegally. It is predetermined that girls can only become nurses, not doctors. We commonly categorize people into groups that society has a popular belief about. Society associates these individuals into groups we think we they should be in. We make judgements about someone, taking their identity away before even meeting them. It seems as though stereotypes are used so we can justify our racist behaviors and attitudes.

It just may be that stereotyping will forever a part of human behavior. Stereotypes affect

Although prejudice and stereotype seem similar, they actually have two different meanings. While stereotyping involves the generalization of a group of people, prejudice involves negative feelings when “they” are in the presence of or even think about members of the group. “Prejudice comes from direct intergroup conflict, social learning, social categorization and other cognitive sources” (Ferguson). Not all stereotypes are negative; there are also positive and neutral stereotypes. Some stereotypes do not slander a race, culture, gender, or religion, but nonetheless generalize a group of people that may or may not be true. For example, some people say that all Asians are smart or good at math. Though people of Asian descent may often be more studious, not all Asians do equally well in school (Floyd, 62). Another common example of a positive stereotype is that all black people are good athletes, dancers, and singers. Though these are positive stereotypes, when people believe them, they don’t take into account that every person is an individual and different. A neutral stereotype

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.