Psychological Effects

Origin of Stereotypes

Behind the actions of stereotyping, there is a psychological explanation for it. It is called "implicit bias".

By definition, it means that “despite our best intentions and without our awareness, racial stereotypes and assumptions creep into our minds and affect our actions” (Desmond-Harris).


"Well, if you have a stereotype about Asian people that labels them as "foreign," implicit bias means you might have trouble associating even Asian-American people with speaking fluent English or being American citizens." (Desmond-Harris)


“If you've picked up on cultural cues that women are homemakers, it means you might have a harder time connecting women to powerful roles in business despite your conscious belief in gender equality.” (Desmond-Harris)

“if you live in America, you can probably make an educated guess about some of the ways it tends to play out: among other things, there's a widespread preference for light-skinned over dark-skinned and white over black.” ( Desmond-Harris)


Implicit biases are called the 'blind spots' in our judgement system.

Implicit bias behaviors often correlate with current social hierarchy, thus a lot of stereotypes happen around minority races and gender with lesser power.

Implicit bias could be taught by the parents or the environment a person lives/lived in. And those implicit biases in the adult could be influenced by the environment the person grew up in.

Consequences

Implicit bias is in the criminal justice , education, medical, housing and also job system.

  • “ research has shown that it can affect health care: in one study, despite self-reporting very little explicit bias, two out of three clinicians were found to harbor implicit bias against blacks and Latinos.” (Desmond-Harris)


  • “ It's also been connected to racial discrimination in hiring, performance evaluations, housing discrimination, and even perceptions of neighborhood crime." (Desmond-Harris)


  • “Studies have shown that a person's level of implicit racial bias predicts the amount of shooter bias — meaning, how much easier it is to shoot African Americans compared with white people in a video game situation.” (Desmond-Harris)


  • “Implicit biases are pervasive. Researchers say everyone possesses them, even people like judges, who have avowed commitments to impartiality." (Desmond-Harris)


  • “ And when researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and California State University Northridge reviewed a decade of empirical evidence about cops and implicit bias in 2012, they found police officers seem to possess implicit bias that might make them more likely to shoot black suspects than white ones.” (Desmond-Harris)


A lot of people had to live with stereotypes every single day. Sometimes, they take a toll on your body and your mind. And some of the stereotypes and implicit biases makes those who affected live a lot harder than others. Especially minority races and gender. In a society that they are supposed to be equal to their white friends, they are not 'equal'. A lot of the minority faces discrimination in work places, worse housing and neighborhoods, worse treatments by the law enforcement,etc. Those stereotypes do not just exists as words. Mind shapes reality. Those thoughts become action. And based on the examples above, I hope you readers are aware of the scale of stereotyping people. Long time stereotypes can affect the law and world we live in.