Gina C Torino . Derald Wing Sue
A stereotype is a quality perceived to be associated with particular groups or categories of people. It is a preconceived belief that is rigidly applied to all members of a group regardless of individual variations.
In
our society, for example,
African Americans are seen as good athletes and
musicians but poor scholars and violent people.
Asian Americans are seen as ‘‘model minorities’’
in that they are thought to be good at math/science
but are seen as ineffective communicators. Latino/Hispanic Americans are viewed
as good dancers but are perceived to be lazy and
hot tempered.
Specifically,
Jones (1997) defines a stereotype as a positive or negative belief held by an individual about
the characteristics of a group of people. It varies in
its accuracy, the extent to which it captures
the degree to which the stereotyped group
members possess these traits, and the extent to
which the set of beliefs shared by others.’’ While
various scholars define stereotypes differently, the main attribute of a stereotype involves
an application of an overgeneralization. Thus, the term
stereotyping
refers to the cognitive processes and behaviors involved with the
application of stereotypes to groups of people.
Stereotyping Frameworks
In order to understand the process of stereotyping, psychologists have formulated three distinct conceptual frameworks. The first and most widely used framework is the cognitive framework, which, focuses on cognitive processes that lie beneath stereotyping. This approach highlights the extent to which stereotypes form from one’s attempts to efficiently deal with large amount of information. Many social scientists believe that individuals categorize because they do not have enough processing resources to take in all of the information they are exposed to. By utilizing generalized categories,one can gain cognitive efficiency by making broad differentiations between categories of people and assume similarity within categories (i.e. race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.). Thus, the mind clusters groups into all or none categories in such a way to lighten the cognitive load (i.e. all women are bad drivers or all African Americans are poor) in order to simplify decisions.
A
second framework used to understanding stereotyping is the psychodynamic
approach with roots in Freudian psychology. The psychodynamic framework
believes that people engage in stereotyping to cope
with intrapersonal conflicts. For example, at a
group level, Whites may believe that African
Americans are lazy; thus, in this case, Whites
may be projecting their own feelings of laziness
onto African Americans as a means of coping (or
not coping) with their own feelings of laziness. By projecting onto African Americans in this case, White
people no longer have to deal with feeling lazy as this
attribute is now placed onto another group of people.
The
final framework used to understand stereotyping is the sociocultural
framework. This approach seeks to understand stereotypes as products of sociological forces in conflict. In this instance, stereotypes are considered consensually shared beliefs that justify the
existing order of inter-group relations (i.e. African
Americans live in ghettos; women need to stay at
home to raise children, etc.). It holds that these
beliefs are basic tenets of society which are
maintained and transmitted through various forms
of socialization (i.e. racial, gender, social
class, etc.).
Categorization and Stereotyping
As the cognitive approach to understanding stereotypes suggests, human beings stereotype others in order to categorize them. The question arises, why is categorizing others’ so important? As previously stated, categorizing others leads to higher levels of cognitive efficiency.
In addition, individuals may use group
stereotypes to make inferences about a
particular individual they encounter and
interact with, specifically when other information is not available. While some inferences may be useful to the
extent that the stereotype is accurate to the specific
individual, it may be harmful as well. For example, if
one has a stereotype that all African Americans use a
particular vernacular, one may say, ‘‘hey brother’’ to
an African American man upon meeting him. The
intention of greeting the African American man in this manner is to establish
connection and rapport; however, utilizing this
stereotypical phrase may not reflect the individuals’
manner of speech and could inadvertently alienate
the African American individual.
Differentiation
between groups may also result from a cognitive bias called the distinctive-based
illusory correlation
(Hamilton & Gifford, 1976). This phenomenon posits that
while processing information, individuals are acutely attentive and responsive
to unusual and distinctive
events. In addition, it seems that when two distinct
events co-occur, the infrequency of perceiving these
events may inadvertently bias the observer to associate
the distinctive events with each other. As a result,
distinctive behaviors (e.g. negatively perceived behaviors) carried out by a specific group (e.g. Asians,
Latinos, Blacks, women, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender groups, etc.), have the tendency to become associated with one another and remembered within the context of forming beliefs about groups of people.
Latinos, Blacks, women, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender groups, etc.), have the tendency to become associated with one another and remembered within the context of forming beliefs about groups of people.
Moreover,
individuals tend to categorize as a means to subjectively uplift their own self-concept via their
identification with groups to which they belong (i.e.
in-groups). When individuals feel good about their
respective in-groups, they feel good about themselves.
Comparing specific attributes of one’s in-group (i.e.
intelligence, beauty, etc.) with that of the out-group
can lead to the development of a healthy self-esteem
and an overall positive self identity.
Consequences of Stereotypes
While individuals may use stereotypes as a means to quickly categorize others’, the act of stereotyping can negatively impact people. For example, if women are thought to be poor in math, teachers may not call on girls as much in math classes during elementary school. Through this message of exclusion from math discussions, girls will slowly internalize the message that they should not be participating in such discussions and that they are not very good in this subject (i.e. math).
Moreover,
while stereotypes can either be positive or negative (e.g. Asians are hard working or Asian men are sexually unattractive; African Americans
are assertive and athletic or they are not
intelligent), they share a commonality in that they are inaccurate
portrayals which are evaluated from a group perspective
(Sue, 2003).
For
example, if a gym teacher believes that tall African American men are good basketball (which may be a positive stereotype), he/she may try to sign
the student up for the school team, however, the
student may not be very adept at basketball and
he/she may not even like to play the game. In
this situation, even a positive stereotype
directed towards a group of people may cause
anxiety and/or shame within the student because
he/she may not live up to the expectations (or stereotype)
of the gym teacher.
In
addition, holding negative
stereotypes about specific groups (i.e. Latinos and African Americans) could
lead to discrimination. For example, if one
holds the stereotype that the aforementioned groups are not intelligent and
violent, then a White employer may not offer
them a job. This could further lead to
unemployment and underemployment for millions of
people based on a negative stereotype.
Another
consequence related to stereotyping is called stereotype threat (Steele,
1997; Steele, et al., 2002),
which is a self-confirming apprehension that one
will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. Steven Spencer, Claude Steele, and Diane Quinn (1999) gave equally capable men and women a difficult math test. When participants were led to believe there were
gender differences on the test, women scored lower than
men. When the threat of confirming the stereotype was
removed (when gender differences were not expected),
women scored equal to men on the test. Steele &
Aronson
(1995) found that racial stereotypes may be similarly self-fulfilling. For example, when Whites and African Americans were given difficult verbal ability tests, African Americans underperformed Whites under conditions high in stereotype threat. In a sense, a negative stereotype can create a self-fulfilling prophecy which is a false belief that leads to its own fulfillment (Merton, 1948).
(1995) found that racial stereotypes may be similarly self-fulfilling. For example, when Whites and African Americans were given difficult verbal ability tests, African Americans underperformed Whites under conditions high in stereotype threat. In a sense, a negative stereotype can create a self-fulfilling prophecy which is a false belief that leads to its own fulfillment (Merton, 1948).
Moreover,
it appears that stereotypes create cognitive distractions. Research findings
have shown that the effort
it takes to dismiss stereotypes increases mental demands and decreases working memory capacity (Croizet, et al., 2004). In addition, worrying about mistakes under stereotype threat can impair a one’s performance through the physiological arousal that accompanies the stereotype threat.
Minimizing
the Harmful Effects of Stereotyping
Through
methods such as critical thinking, parenting, educating, and other methods, it is
possible to prevent or minimize the formation of
stereotypes in oneself and others that occurs
during socialization (e.g. through the media,
parents, etc.). However, whether one wants to
admit it or not, all people hold stereotypes of people from other groups.
One
can begin to change
stereotypes by first becoming aware of them
(Sue, 2003). Becoming aware of one’s stereotypes brings them to consciousness. Once one is conscious of
his/her stereotypes towards other groups, one has
more control over how they impact thoughts, feelings
and behaviors.
One
can become aware of stereotypes and can even minimize the harmful effects of stereotyping through inter group contact.
This line of thought posits that repeated
contact with out-group members that do not
reaffirm stereotypes tends to minimize their
power over people’s stereotype-based expectations.
Suggested Reading
Ben-Zeev, T., Fein, S., & Inzlicht, M. (2004). Arousal and stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 174–181.Hewstone, M. (2000). Contact and categorization: Social psychological interventions to changing intergroup relations. In
C. Stangor (Ed.), Stereotypes and prejudice: Essential readings (pp. 394–418). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Merton, R. K. (1948). The self-fulfilling prophecy. The Antioch Review, 8, 193–210.
Schneider, D. J. (2004). The psychology of stereotyping. New York, NY: Guiliford Press.
References
C. S. Clauss-Ehlers (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School Psychology, DOI
10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9, Springer
Science+Business Media LLC 2010
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