Pros And Cons Of Stereotypes

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 are this planet’s number one flaw. Not all of them are bad, but what do most people think when they hear that word? When I hear it, my mind jumps to every single negative thing I can think off. Such as our current crisis right now about “Black Lives Matter” or anything racial for that matter. Other examples that pop up in my head are, “He wears black, he must be emo/goth”, “She’s a teen mom, she’s trashy and irresponsible”, or “Women are terrible drivers”. The thing is, science doesn't back up any of these stereotypes; although these may be true in certain cases. There is not just negative things that come out of this, stereotypes can ACTUALLY be good for you.

Stereotypes are socially constructed, over-generalized views regarding a particular group of persons with certain characteristics that are widely accepted, and usually expected, in a society. The dominant group of a certain society, which in this case is probably Caucasians and men, usually creates these social constructions. Claude M. Steele, a researcher from Stanford University, performed multiple research studies on the idea and psychological effects of stereotypes on its victims. In his studies, he coins the term “stereotype threat” as the “social-psychological predicament that can arise from widely-known negative stereotypes about one's group,” which implies that “the existence of such a stereotype means that anything one does or any of one's features that conform to it make the stereotype more plausible as a self-characterization in the eyes of others, and perhaps even in one's own eyes” (Steele 797).

How do you deal with stereotypes towards yourself or others that have experienced them? People are stereotyped by their physical features and by the information we know about a certain group. They are judged by their physical features instead of seeing what they are really capable of doing. Usually not being involved in such a diverse community can cause that because they are accustomed to what's near them. Exploring and learning about others will help shatter stereotypes. We'll explore in Sucheng Chan and Judith Ortiz Cofer essays on how they've been stereotyped and what they've done to shatter the quo.

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.

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

Stereotypes are widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular person or thing. Racial stereotypes are when you mentally exaggerate a racial group that we hold automatically, not as an individual. We develop stereotypes through our cognitive scheme, which we know for categorization, to make the world more predictable. Just like the worldly opposites, there are negative and positive stereotypes for African Americans. Some negative stereotypes are that black people are criminals or affiliated with drugs. And some positive stereotypes are black people are good singers or really great athletes. The victim(s) of the stereotype takes the steps to counter the bias opinion about themselves. In the series of questions asked, the determination of whether one's bias opinion is true and the group own up to that stereotype to make it true. Or one actually creating the stereotype for their group which is pointed out by another group. These questions were asked towards white and black members of Argo Community High School. White Response (WR) and Black Response (BR) is how the determination will be evaluated, to infer a theory as an general answer.

The film does have a very important and very controversial content. The film was violent and showed things as I truly believe the way things were. Yes, it was hard to watch at times, but it was the truth. The film is a really good example on what happens when people live life with hatred in their hearts. A good thing that Derek’s younger brother Danny learned that he wrote on his paper is “hate is baggage, life is too short to be p*ssed off all the time, it’s just not worth it” and I agree with him.

Although stereotypes may not always be negative, stereotypes can lead to prejudice and/or racism through the inaccurate beliefs of some people about the social and cultural beliefs of others (Stuurman, 2004). The tragic consequences of these predisposed assumptions are that

Studies show that in two meta-analyses involving nearly 19,000 students, Walton and Spencer found that when schools and colleges go out of their way to ameliorate stereotype threats, the performance of women and minorities soar. This is just one piece of evidence out of many, proving stereotypes do have an impact on people and usually, not for the better. Stereotyping can have a major affect on people's performance to achieve goals that they have by being dragged down by getting stereotyped daily,weekly or even monthly no matter the amount it still affects people. Notably, stereotyping is a negative trait that we all somehow learned and it's time to put a stop to this bad habit to prevent future stereotyping.

“The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story” ( LaVigne, Kelly). Our society groups people the same way and don’t consider their differences. For example individuals see a girl that’s skinny and automatically assume she’s anorexic or see a tall person and assume they’re good at basketball. Stereotypes effect the way people see the world whether they’re true or untrue. Stereotypes give a fixed mindset on things because humans feel it isn’t always necessary to be open minded and learn the information needed before judging.

Ignorant Chorus Ignorant chorus screaming and chanting, Stadium is trembling, minds close, sealed tight Dividing people, supporters ranting Blaming the Muslims, destroying their right Out of fear, isolating the country “No Mexicans here!” building The Hate Wall “Rapists, killers, thieves,” sneering slurs bluntly People are mad, fighting brawl after brawl

In the text stereotyping is defined as giving someone a label that may or may not be true. Some labels can be positive but most develop negative, preconceived labels and qualities. Stereotyping is usually based on limited or incomplete knowledge about a group, race, gender or religion etcetera . Today in our society we see examples of stereotypes such as; “ all muslims are terrorists,” “ boys have to play with trucks and girls play with dolls “ and says corresponding to “ women can’t do what a man can.” Women have been said to be less capable than men since the beginning of time; therefore, society develops an unconscious bias or perception of women. Stereotyping can not only be hurtful, but it can affect more than just the person or

Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those 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.