Stereotyping : An Epidemic Of Sorts

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

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).

Schemas are mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world (Akert, Aronson, & Wilson, 2010). The accessibility of schemas makes them easier to retrieve in social situations. Priming is also relevant in how people apply schemas. Researchers in Germany pursued the idea that stereotypes organize as multiple, context-specific schemas that activate only by a combination of category and context information

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

The concept of stereotype is defined as “a belief that associates a group of people with certain traits” (Kassin, Fein, & Markus et al., 2008, p. 133), which can influence a person’s thinking process and perception of others as well as the world. Stereotypes are related to other concepts, such as prejudice and discrimination, which strengthen the distortion of people’s reality. Another component of a stereotype includes the concept of outgroup homogeneity effect which is the “tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than among members of ingroups” (Kassin et al., 2008, p. 135). The concept of outgroup homogeneity effect refers to a misconception of others caused

Negative stereotypes could lead to many negative consequences. Fiske (2014), a professor of University of Massachuse refer that stereotypes are automatic responses, which have an impact on individuals’ decision

It is explained that “almost any stereotype is true in some way” (73). They can be another form of a mindbug, which can lead one to judge or treat others in a way that they might not have if there was no stereotype associated with them in the first place. When people assume that all stereotypes are true, they begin to judge others based off of those stereotypes. For example, the stereotypes “Old people are forgetful” or “Women are nurturing” or “Asians are good at math” lead people to associate those thoughts with all elderly, all Asians, and all women which can drive our judgement of one another. The human mind tends to group traits together into categories which then affects our behavior. For example, when an individual is sick they go to a clinic, and they can place the doctors and nurses into a category as someone to trust and someone who is going to help them based on their clothing and behavior. This behavior then affects how the patient acts in that

Perceptions and stereotypes are very important aspects of human socialization. They help us decide what is and isn’t appropriate to say, do, or otherwise bring up with others. In the TED Radio Hour,“Playing with Perceptions”, Paul Bloom explains that the problem is not stereotyping itself, it’s how it can be applied. Having preconceived notions about groups of people can often help one navigate life, but while our subconscious’ intentions may be good, often we apply these stereotypes in a rude and offensive manner.

When social psychologist Claude Steele began writing about the problem of stereotype threats in the 1990s, many other researchers began to do the same thing. Steele offered that when members of certain groups can be stereotyped in a negative way, they will be seen “through the lens of diminishing stereotypes and low expectations” (1999, p.44). According to Kassin, Fein, and Markus, stereotype threat is defined as “The experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about one’s group.” Steele concluded that stereotype threat can be achieved in two ways: reactions to “threat in the

Social Priming looks at how prompts that call to mind particular social situations or associations can subtly influence people’s responses even when they do not consciously connect these signals to their current thoughts and actions (Bargh and Chartrand, 1999). Priming with stereotypes is not new in the world of psychological research and many studies have been conducted regarding this

Summary: The article was mainly about the effects priming can have on an individual. The article thoroughly explains how thinking about a behavior, primes a person to engage in the same behavior they were just thinking about. The author describes this as an automatic effect, claiming we conduct certain behaviors unintentionally, using experiments to convey that behavior and attitude are automatic. The example used in the article to back up the author’s claim is stereotyping. The author believes individuals naturally stereotype, which ultimately has an effect on their behavior.

The stereotype has been defined as a fixed cognition about a group or class of people (Cardwell, 1996). Though stereotype has advantages, for instance, the stereotype may help people having quicker responds in some occasions, it is noticeable that most stereotypes may include negative impressions (McLeod, 2008), and it would cause a stereotype threat that appears to be at the risk of making a negative stereotype about a group (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Social psychologist Joshua Aronson and his colleague Steele (1995) have conducted a study among African American and white college students, and they found that students’ performance is harmed by awareness of racial stereotypes, which suggested that negative stereotype can have a bad influence on a person’s performance. Implicit stereotype toward social objects may also affect people’s social behaviors (Greenwald & Banaji,

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.

In the text “Cultural Stereotypes and the Self: A Closer Examination of Implicit Self-Stereotyping, the authors show research which attempts to show that individuals may unknowingly associate in-group stereotypes with themselves as well as unknowingly associating themselves with group stereotypes. Two experiments were conducted to help support this theory. Experiment one was conducted with all women, while experiment two was conducted with both men and women; all white and all using a sequential subliminal priming task to capture the results. Both experiments showed that “women and White Americans implicitly self-stereotype on both positive and negative traits” (Cogburn, Lun, Sinclair, 2009, page 125). However, they did not find a consistent

The overall study of these experiments was to experiment if priming would influence a participants’ behavior on social perception. The researchers inferred that behavioral responses to stereotypes and attitudes should be capable of automatically activating if there are stimuli that can activate it. Experiments 2a and 2b hypothesized that participants who had been primed with the elderly stereotype would walk more slowly compared to participants who had not been primed with stereotype-relevant stimuli due to their mood being effected.