Why Do Stereotypes Exist

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 generalizations about a group of people whereby we attribute a defined set of characteristics to this group. These classifications can be positive or negative, such as when various nationalities are stereotyped as friendly or unfriendly.

Stereotypes are present in everyday life and they affect how were perceive other groups or individuals. As most individuals are a member of one societal group or another, it would be beneficial to examine why stereotypes form, and why some are more common than others. The purpose of this study is to identify circumstances in which an illusory correlation will be formed and how that may lead to the formation of stereotypes. An illusory correlation is the existence of a relationship, when no relationship actually exists.

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

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.

The dictionary defines stereotypes as “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.” Our world today is run by an infinite amount of stereotypes. They affect every aspect of people's’ lives. Members of society let others’ opinions affect their own, and people who go against stereotypes are frowned upon. Some stereotypes include those surrounding African Americans, people of Asian descent, and transgendered people. Most people look at an African American male and either get scared of him, assume he raps, our plays sports. However not every single black male in the world partakes in those activities. Some people look at Asians and assume they are all smart, and good at every subject in school, but that

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.

All most everyone in there lifetime has stereotyped others are have been a victim of stereotypes. A stereotype is the belief about another culture, race or a person that has no logic or evidence to support there negative thoughts. Many people believe that when a person stereotypes another it is the lack of information or ignorance

Picture being in a group where it may be known as one of the most negative stereotypes and everyone around is just judging and gossiping because a couple people decided to ruin that image for the rest of the group. Everyone has heard the saying don’t judge a book by its cover, but this world has been revolved around stereotypes that it has become a habit for most people. Throughout generations, stereotypes have kept its same meaning and purpose. Stereotypes are any thoughts that are widely adopted about a specific type of individuals or certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group. Misconceptions can often be created from having stereotypes.

Stereotypes occur everyday among all individuals. According to the Oxford dictionaries, stereotype is “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” (“Stereotypes,” n.d). Stereotypes are often negative and has been an issue within the American society. There have been a lot of stereotypical words used against a lot of races and culture especially through the media. The Media is seen as a very powerful source of information for people all over the world.

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.

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

The reason why stereotypes exist is because it is a way to categorize people that all have similar traits or characteristics. It is much easier to judge someone if there is a set of characteristics that a person’s group has rather than

. As people grow older and realize their racial, religious, and cultural groups, they tend to differentiate themselves from other groups. The main reason we develop stereotypes is because it is just human nature for us to categorize people. Stereotypes are a way to simplify groups of people and establish identities, especially when one doesn’t know much about the group (“Overcoming Stereotypes”).

How do people develop stereotypes? If asked this question, one might respond in pointing out the influences of parents or other significant figures and the impact of public media which are not unreasonable answers: