The Influence Of Stereotypes

Stereotypes have great impacts on people all over the world. One of the reasons why people believe stereotypes blindly is that they know less about the objects. In order to decline the uncertainty of this new object, people choose to believe the stereotypes to feel safer. For the purpose of understanding the world more objectively, we ought to treat stereotypes critically and at least not be convinced of stereotypes blindly anymore.

Furthermore, stereotypes are used to increase an individual’s self-esteem and strengthen their social identity. Social identity theory contributes largely to the formation of stereotypes, as it states that a person’s social identity is formed from being part of a group. To justify one’s own group, they often pick out real or imaginary differences and flaws in other groups and compare those to their own group (Ford & Tonander, 1998). This led Ford

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

The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing, we have to do when we meet a new person.

Stereotyping is a normal part of every one’s life. Humans, by nature, classify things. We name animals and classify them by common characteristics but stereotyping can have negative repercussions, and everyone does it. In a recent study it was proven that everyone has an unconscious need to stereotype (Paul). In Junteenth and The Invisible man, Ralph Ellison argues that stereotyping can cause mayhem by making the people become something they are not.

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

Researcher Joseph Kenneth wrote a book arguing that stereotypes are a key factor in the theory of “Constructualism” (296). The theory of Constructualism is “the process by which people interact, exchange information, and consequently learn” (295). Constructualism argues that individual learning takes place on two levels. First, social interaction brings forth new knowledge that represents cultural customs over time. Second, as people share and receive knowledge with others, a perception of what is expected for them to know becomes apparent. “Paired with the assumption of homophily (Lazarsfeld & Merton, 1954; McPherson, Lovin, & Cook, 2001), that people tend to interact with others similar to them, constructuralism explains how social relationships evolve via interaction”(296). Joseph Kenneth wrote that while people may hold perceptions of other smaller groups, cognitive limitations prevent them from understanding people’s specific qualities. Rather, they use their perceptions by incorporating what they learn about others into generalized beliefs of what people are likely to know. Perceptions are based on past experiences and similarities, such as race or gender. These perceptions are the basis for stereotypes. Stereotypes can be useful because they help people navigate through the world to find others with common interests, but they are not necessarily true

What Are Stereotypes Have you ever judged anybody without getting to knowing them. According to google dictionary A stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. We treat people the way we do because of stereotypes. In the article Holocaust and Human Behavior it talks about why we use stereotypes.

According to many, “stereotypes” are outdated. As Americans, “everyone is equal and everything is fair”. However, digging deeper into the construction of society shows that this is a blatant lie: stereotypes are alive and well in modern-day life. Stereotypes appear in every aspect of society-from one’s gender to their sexual orientation to the color of their skin. The list is never-ending.

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

However, many of the group-based stereotypes are incorrect and generalizing and it promotes further misunderstandings and prejudice. Prejudice is having a false attitude toward an out-group in comparison to one’s in-group. Prejudiced individuals are prejudging without knowing any information about the “Others” (Rogers and Steinfatt).

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.

Stereotypes are known to be a form of person schemas, which ultimately leads to bias and prejudicial behaviors. Also, like schemas, stereotypes can cause a person to misrecall or misinterpret events. The information is misled so that it is consistent with assumptions of the stereotype. Schemas help us develop an understanding of people and situations with the organization of the knowledge we have or will acquire. Most schemas are related to one another and are organized hierarchically; including scripts, which tells us what behavior to expect of ourselves and of others in a given situation. Both help to fill in the gaps as we classify something observed, thus enabling us to interpret what it is, how it will behave, and how we will behave or act towards it.

Stereotypes: “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996). Stereotypes create an unconscious perception on a group of people. Generalization ignores differences between individuals; therefore we pass assumptions towards others that may not be accurate. Stereotypes enables us to respond quickly to situations because we may have had similar experiences before. The use of stereotypes is an involuntary way we simplify our social world; they reduce the amount of processing when we meet a new person. By stereotyping we assume that a person has similar characteristics and abilities that we presume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to prejudice attitudes, such as in-group and outgroup bias. We all use stereotypes, all the time, without even realizing it.

Furthermore, these processes are potentially subject to bias due to “the assimilative effects of existing knowledge on information processing” (Macrae, Stangor & Hewstone, 1996). It is essential to comprehend these concepts before delving into the importance of stereotypes when forming impressions of others. In the initial stage of developing schemas, they allow the individual to ignore what is perceived to be unimportant or unnecessary details of a situation, thus reducing the complexity of the information (Macrae, Stangor & Hewstone, 1996). Indeed, schemas guide behaviour and allow a platform for individuals to make mental shortcuts and damaging stereotypes, they can also simplify life and are useful in every day situations (Macrae, Stangor & Hewstone, 1996). For example, if one had an existing stereotype that guns are dangerous and hastily decided to move to the other side of the street after noticing a man with a gun – this would be an extremely useful and possibly life-saving use of a stereotype. However, whether stereotypes are considered to be beneficial or unconstructive – they are undeniably important when forming impressions of other