Explain the formation of stereotypes and

SC4: Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behaviour.

Stereotypes are often referred to as mental representations (e.g. personalities, attitudes, behaviour) or forms of “social categorization,” which are carried on to categories of individuals. This occurs when individuals encounters experiences with certain individuals of a group, and those experiences are correlated to all the members where that individual belongs, known as the “Illusory correlation.” Taking account of this, stereotypes must derive with some “grain of truth.” Three ways that explains the formation of stereotypes include the social-cognitive theory, the social identity theory and the system-justification theory. The social-cognitive theory explains that, since our world is filled with an abundance of information and the limiting capacity to process all information, social generalizations are rather made to a group of people. The SIT theory is based on the formation of identifying in-groups and out-groups and how the perception of these groups, influence behavior. Moreover, system-justification theory addresses negative self-stereotyping, in which groups in a lower position tend to associate the negative stereotypes to them. Similarly, stereotypes are formed like schemes, in which past experiences are organized into mental representations of individuals of a group, which are taken into account future guiding principles.

The effects of forming generalizations can either be positive, such as Filipinos are bright and friendly people, but also negative and discriminative, such as Filipinos are poor and the majority works as nurses abroad. With that being said, prejudice may be an effect, such that negative attitudes are drawn from unjustified past experiences. An example of this situation is in Darley and Gross’s 1983 experiment on the role of schemas, in which participants saw a video of a girl playing in a poor and rich neighborhood. From there, participants were shown a third video where the girl was taking an intelligent test. Participants who were shown the video in the poor neighborhood saw a dark future for the girl, while participants who were shown the video in rich neighborhood saw a brighter future. The results of the experiment indicate the people have taken presumptions of a poor environment and used this as a guiding principle for the girl’s future. Another effect of stereotypes can be exemplified through Rostenthal and Jacobsen’s 1966 experiment on school, in which teachers were told about the skill level of different elementary school students and their expected outcome. Doing this, teachers were told that they were assigned to a group of talented or just average students, while all long assignment was random. In the end, students who were “more talented” were given higher expectations, and performed significantly higher test scores. In relation, as the teachers were told earlier that they were receiving “more talented” students, the effect of the stereotype was on the behavior of the teacher being more motivated, because the teacher assumed of more academic potential. Therefore, stereotypes can lead to misleading or advantageous assumptions, affecting people’s behavior and the result of outcomes.