Stereotypes
Stereotyping is the process in which people generalize people of a certain group to be the same, despite their individual differences. Stereotypes can be positive or negative and can have a profound impact on how you perceive others, and vice versa. Some examples of stereotyping could be that ‘all Asians are smart’ or that ‘all popular kids are assholes’. These are assumptions made based on the group they are in, that people may make before getting to know a person
These generalizations are sometimes based on truth but are never the full truth. As already stated, they are generalizations, where you assume that if one person is one way, everyone else in the group is the same. This is never fully true, as humans are all unique. But if that’s the case, why do people come up with these stereotypes? How do come about?
In-groups and out-groups
One of the more common ways psychologists like to explain stereotypes is using the terms in-group and out-group. These stem from the idea of social categorization. This belief states that people will tend to create stereotypes and act prejudiced towards people who are not part of their social group, part of the ‘out-group’. In line with a theory created by Tajfel called the social identity theory, it outlines how, in order to create discrimination between two groups, you only need to create separate groups. While discrimination is not the same as stereotyping, this theory still outlines how people of different social groups will act differently towards the other group and have different thoughts about them.
Experiments have been carried out in which teacher have split a classroom into two groups, and asked the students to state some differences between the other group and their own. While these comments start friendly at first, they tend to escalate into larger comments as time goes on, resulting in a large divide within the class. This is commonly exemplified by the Jane Elliot case study, in which she split the class into two groups, blue-eyed and brown-eyed. This case study very clearly shows how easy it is to create stereotyping and discrimination in a group of kids previously unfamiliar with the idea of it. At the basic level, stereotypes form because people like to categorize others. This is why there will be many stereotypes about other groups, but within their own group, people will not tend to stereotype as much
The Grain of Truth
The ‘grain of truth’ hypothesis is a theory which outlines how the initial stereotype comes about. It speculates that within every stereotype, there is some element of truth to it, there is some sort of pattern at play. For example, there is some truth that a lot of Asians are good at math. However, it isn’t the whole truth. This pattern does not apply to every Asian out there, and is therefore only a stereotype. Through this form of pattern recognition is how many stereotypes get started. It starts with one person seeing a pattern between different members of the same social group. The more times they see it, it will affirm stereotype they have, and it will turn into a belief.
Illusory Correlations
An illusory correlation is as the name suggests. It is a correlation that appears to be there but isn’t really. This occurs when a person sees another of any other social group doing something or acting in a certain way. From this, the person watching may think ‘all people of this social group must do the same’. From this, a stereotype can be created, in which this person will see this action much more easily within that group of people. For example, someone may see an elderly man smoking. From this, they may think ‘smoking must be common for elderly people’. When walking around further, this person may find more elderly men that smoke, confirming this belief they have that elderly people smoke. However, they may not have noticed all the elderly men that do not smoke, which would most like have easily outnumbered the ones that did. This phenomenon is called correlation bias, and it aids in the creation of stereotypes, resulting in an illusory correlation to be created within social groups.
Gatekeepers
Once a stereotype has been formed, a gatekeeper is someone who tells you that it is true, or spreads it among others. This is why many stereotypes become well-known public ones. A stereotype can be created by one person, but when everyone starts to know about it, gatekeepers start being a problem. The most common gatekeeper is the media, in which a lot of information is spread around about different groups of people, enhancing stereotypes and essentially adding fuel to the flames. Because of gatekeepers, stereotypes spread very quickly throughout society and do not go away as easily.
While it’s not pleasant, stereotypes do very commonly exist in today’s society. Stereotypes can often lead to prejudice and even discrimination. It is important to consider when you yourself do these things, and through this awareness, consider whether it’s worthwhile.