Stereotypes 19-11-08 20:17

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Explanations > Theories > Stereotypes
Description | Example | So What? | See also | References

Description
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.
"Go beyond It is easier to create stereotypes when there is a
the site" clearly visible and consistent attribute that can easily
be recognized. This is why people of color, police and
Add/share/save women are so easily stereotyped.
this page: People from stereotyped groups can find this very
disturbing as they experience an apprehension
(stereotype threat) of being treated unfairly.
We change our stereotypes infrequently. Even in the
face of disconfirming evidence, we often cling to our
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obviously-wrong beliefs. When we do change the
Attitudes stereotypes, we do so in one of three ways:
Stereotype
Erd Diagram Bookkeeping model: As we learn new
Psychology contradictory information, we incrementally adjust
the stereotype to adapt to the new information.
We usually need quite a lot of repeated
information for each incremental change.
Individual evidence is taken as the exception that
proves the rule.
Conversion model: We throw away the old
stereotype and start again. This is often used
when there is significant disconfirming evidence.
Subtyping model: We create a new stereotype Abfatsucks.com
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that is a sub-classification of the existing
stereotype, particularly when we can draw a
boundary around the sub-class. Thus if we have a
stereotype for Americans, a visit to New York
may result in us having a ‘New Yorkers are
different’ sub-type.

We often store stereotypes in two parts. First there is

the generalized descriptions and attributes. To this we
may add exemplars to prove the case, such as 'the
policeman next door'. We may also store them
hierarchically, such as 'black people', 'Africans',
'Ugandans', 'Ugandan military', etc., with each lower
order inheriting the characteristics of the higher order,
with additional characteristics added.
Stereotyping can go around in circles. Men stereotype
women and women stereotype men. In certain
societies this is intensified as the stereotyping of
women pushes them together more and they create
men as more of an out-group. The same thing happens
with different racial groups, such as 'white/black' (an
artificial system of opposites, which in origin seems to
be more like 'European/non-European').
Stereotyping can be subconscious, where it subtly
biases our decisions and actions, even in people who

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Stereotypes 19-11-08 20:17

consciously do not want to be biased.

Stereotyping often happens not so much because of
aggressive or unkind thoughts. It is more often a
simplification to speed conversation on what is not
considered to be an important topic.

Example
Stereotyping goes way beyond race and gender.
Consider conversations you have had about people
from the next town, another department in your
company, supporters of other football teams, and so
on.

So what?
Using it
Find how others stereotype you (if possible, getting
them to stereotype you positively). They will have a
blind spot to non-stereotyped behaviors, so you can do
these and they will often ignore it. Thus if you are
stereotyped as a ‘kind old man’, you can do moderately
unkind things which may be ignored.
Defending
To change a person’s view of your stereotype, be
consistently different from it. Beware of your own
stereotyping blinding you to the true nature of other
individuals.
Stereotyping can be reduced by bringing people
together. When they discover the other people are not
as the stereotype, the immediate evidence creates
dissonance that leads to improved thoughts about the
other group.

See also
Contact Hypothesis, Dilution Effect, Out-Group
Homogeneity, Representativeness Heuristic, Schema,
Ultimate Attribution Error

References
Lippmann (1922), Allport (1954)
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