Living with Stereotypes

What Are Stereotypes?

A stereotype, by definition, is "a socially shared set of beliefs about traits that are characteristic of members of a social category." They are categories of people, where they are as similar to each other as possible, thus pushing different people into boxes they may not fit into based on one shared characteristic.

Stereotypes have been taught to everyone, beginning at a young age, and are constantly pushed upon people their entire lives. Boys are constantly told they need to “man up” and girls are constantly asked about their plans for marriage and children. We have ideas ingrained in our minds about how people of different races should act, dress, and talk. Gay men are thought to be outgoing and feminine, while gay women are thought to be tougher and more aggressive. There’s the common ideology that poor people are lazy and rich people work the hardest.

Stereotypes are generalizations made about groups of people based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. They have been around for a very long time, and in the more recent years, people are becoming more aware of them and trying to break out of the ideas ingrained in their minds. Breaking out of these stereotypes allows more room for acceptance and diversity in our lives, and more opportunities for those previously affected by them. They have the power to generalize groups of people, and they can potentially lead to acts of discrimination and/or dehumanization. These negative ideas stereotypes cause are created out of ignorance.

Formation of Stereotypes

Many times, stereotypes are taught to children at young ages (although they can be taught at any age). Parents have a huge play in children's beliefs as they grow up. If you constantly heard your parents talking about how women can't be as strong as men, you would grow up believing that men tend to be the stronger gender.

Stereotypes can also be learned through intergroup relationships. One prime example of this would be high school clubs. If all members of the debate club told you the white students were stronger debaters than the black students, that idea would soon become engrained in your mind and you could potentially learn to believe that.

There is also some evidence that stereotypes such as xeneophobia (racism) could potentially have genetic roots. Some evolutionary psychologists believe that people respond positivily to those similar to them, and negativly to those genetically different.

Effects of Stereotyping

Stereotyping most often leads to discrimination. Stereotypes cause others to judge entire groups based on these ideas placed on them. Many stereotypes are not positive, and cause these stereotyped groups to be discriminated against based on traist they may not even identify with. This is directly related to something called the Appearence Bias. This is the tendency for positive characteristics to be associated with other positive characteristics, such as physical attractiveness being directly associated with being a good person.

Attributional ambiguity is one of the most common effects of stereotyping. This is the "uncertainty of stereotyped individuals to interpret the cause of others' behavior toward them." For example, if a teacher is known to be sensitive and want to spare students feelings, positive feedback could be either true positive, or just an attempt to make students seem happy rather than disapointed in their work.

There is also the idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy, where someone's inaccurate expection of themselves prompts stereotype-consistant behaviors. If a women goes into a job interview, constantly worrying that she will lose to a man because she is more emotional, it is more likely that this will occur, thus showing stereotype-consistant behavior. This idea is very similar to self-stereotyping, where a stereotypes placed on a person affect their ability to accuratly evaluate themselves.

Overcoming Stereotypes

There are many different ways to overcome the stereotypes that have been engrained into our minds essentially our entire lives. Unlearning can be a long, difficult process, but at the end of the day, it will have a positive outcome. It will create a world without bias and judgement, where everyone can truly be equal.

Blinding: blinding is the idea of ignoring stereotypes altogether. You would provide no cues at all to a social category/stereotype that could make someone possibly a victim of discrimination, thus making everyone "the same" in your eyes.

Empathy: looking at the world through a group of stereotyped poepls eyes can reduce bias within groups and stereotype accessibility. Empathy allows you to better understand their feeling, and be less likely to impose these stereotypes upon other people.

Education: educating yourself on the world you live in is one of the easiest ways to unlearn the bias of stereotypes. Taking courses about stereotyping or researching other cultures causes biases to decrease and understanding and acceptance to increase.

Counter-stereotype imagery: one simple way to help yourself unlearn these stereotypes is to simply use your imagination. To understand that men and women can be just as strong as each other, imagine both a man and a woman doing the same, difficult tasks. This acts as a way to "train your brain" against stereotypes and biases.