Psychology Discussion: Stereotypes.

I normally wouldn't bother with posting in here my discussion from my school's online forum, but I really wanted to share this bit I wrote today, as I personally feel very strongly against the use of stereotypes. Over the weekend, I will be answering this question as well: 'Take a moment to think about stereotypes that you have formed. When did you form them, was it by someone else informing you or by your own personal experience?', and I'll share my answer to that in here, as well.


What exactly is a stereotype? Why do we form them? Are they ever acceptable?

A stereotype is a commonly held oversimplified, generic image assigned to a group of people related to their race, nationality, age, sexual orientation, interests, etc. - to name a few. Generally speaking, they are not based on objective / verifiable truth, but on prior assumptions and prejudices.

I chalk up the forming of stereotypes to ignorance and fear of the unknown. People fear what they do not understand, and when they feel threatened, they feel a need to become superior somehow; so certain one-dimensional characteristics are noted, and then turned into caricatures / labels that represent an entire group of people. As a result, most stereotypes are derogatory in nature, i.e., racist, sexist, ageist, etc.

There is such a thing as a positive stereotype [i.e., all black people are good athletes], but since stereotypes generally tend to not be based on truth, I disagree with treating them as such. We are all guilty of using stereotypes at some point; often, this is due to never having more than second-hand knowledge of a group of people while growing up. However, once you have added knowledge to the contrary, and you are more aware of the uniqueness and individuality of the group, and yet, you still choose to categorize people in stereotypical ways - you are suggesting that you cannot accept anything positive about that group of people, and you are participating in prejudice. This is when stereotypes especially become damaging and offensive.