Understanding Stereotyping
Lativia Harris
Thomas University
According to textbook Understanding Human Sexuality, a stereotype is a generalization about a group of people (e.g., men) that distinguishes them from others (e.g., women). Stereotypes and biases affect our lives and assumptions can lead to stereotypes and unfair judgments about individuals and groups. As stated by Bos & Stapel, in the textbook Understanding Human Sexuality, (2009) indicated the following:
Social psychologists have uncovered two basic motives for stereotyping (whether gender stereotyping, racial stereotyping, or other kinds of stereotyping): comprehension goals and self-enhancement goals. As for the comprehension goal, when we meet a new person, we tend to fill in a lot of assumed information about that person so that we can understand him or her, until we have more actual information. In contrast, when we stereotyping for self-enhancement purposes, the stereotypes tend to be negative. We make ourselves feel better by denigrating people from another group.
Stereotyping is very prevalent in today's society and has received lots of attention on many studies. There are numerous motives why people stereotyping, I feel that that vast majority is informed by the media. It also has to do with how you were raised to view people of other racial background and religious background. For instances, if your parents expect you to graduate from high school and attend college, you are going to expect the same from everyone else and will look down on others whoever does not fit those expectations.
From my own personal experience, I feel that people who tend to have a positive attitude in life tend to be less judgmental of others. Having a positive attitude will help you connect to people you consider different from you in an open and optimistic way. As maintained by Nelson & Schiffrin,
Engaging in stereotyping may have many negative outcomes, one of which...