Stereotyping is a biased and usually unreasonable attitude towards people, nations, objects or phenomena. The stereotypes can be based on some correct facts but often they are not true of the subject matter. Stereotyping emerges due to the process of overgeneralization. For example, if a person knows several women who are bad at driving car, the overgeneralization may lead this person to believing that all women cannot drive. There are many types of stereotyping, such as gender, racial, religious and others. Our society is more tolerant and diverse than it used to be ever before, but stereotyping still exists and plays a great negative role in it. This paper will discuss causes and effects of stereotyping.
There are many reasons why people create and believe in stereotypes. For example, people tend to reach simplicity in understanding all the things around and pin labels on them. It is generally a positive process that helps individuals process a huge amount of information about environment. However, sometimes, the tendency to oversimplify things may lead to inaccurate evaluations. Another reason is prejudice. It is natural for every person to be subjective. However, prejudice creates expectations, so that people often see what they expect to see.
One of the most negative effects of stereotyping is that it is harmful to people that experience it. According to Macintosh, people who are subjected to stereotyping perform worse. Studies showed that stereotypes have significant effects on people who complete tasks directly related to cognitive abilities. Even after an individual no longer experiences stereotypes, he or she still has to cope with its effects. Among the negative effects of this experience are aggression, lack of self-control, problems with making good, rational decisions, and abuse of unhealthy food.
In his research, Inzlicht and his colleagues studied the effects that stereotypes have on women who take a math test. The first group of females was given instructions that included subtle stereotypes about women having worse math abilities than men. The control group had to take the same test but the instructions did not have any mentioning of women and math abilities. Afterwards, women completed the test aimed at assessing their eating impulses and aggression. The results showed that the females who experience stereotyping ate more than the females in the control group. In addition, they felt more hostile and performed worse. Thus, the research proves that stereotyping has many negative effects on an individual.
In addition, it has been proven that even a short-term stereotyping can have a long-lasting effect on individuals. Even if a person who had experienced some form of discrimination or stereotyping appears in a similar but neutral situation, he or she still feels its negative effects. The researchers claim that even memories of past experiences can have this adverse effect. Another research conducted by Inzlicht and his colleagues proved this idea. In this research, students were asked to recall and describe a situation when they had felt being subjected to prejudice or stereotyping. Afterwards, they took a logic test and showed poorer results than the control group that took only the logic test.
Therefore, stereotyping others is a serious social issue. Despite the obvious unpleasant feelings of being insulted, a person who is a victim of stereotyping can become more aggressive, have problems with self-control, making rational decisions, and generally experience a reduction of cognitive abilities. In order to reduce this negative impact, people should become aware of them and learn not to take stereotypes personally.
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