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Pros And Cons Of Stereotypes

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Stereotypes

A stereotype is a fixed, overgeneralized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996). We do this to protect ourselves, it is in our nature to associate what we have seen or heard and apply it to new situations. One advantage of a stereotype is that it enables us to respond rapidly to situations because we may have had a similar experience before.
One disadvantage is that it makes us ignore differences between individuals; therefore we think things about people that might not be true (i.e. make generalizations). In my high school there was about two thousand kids, despite these mass numbers there was little diversity. It was rare that there would be a student of minority descent in any of my classes. Let me paint a better picture for you: during our graduation week we had this award ceremony, where they would recognize all of the scholarships the students received. It was so boring until they had some people come up to give out the “African American Achievement Award.” The kid sitting next to me and I started looking around and there were only three African Americans attending the program. So they explained what it was for and why they got it, then they started calling the three students up on stage. They called out one name and a black girl stood up and received the award, and then the same thing happened for another girl. Then they called out the third name and it was given to a white girl, me and the kid couldn’t believe it: our

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