In-Group Stereotypes

Stereotypes are widespread beliefs about individuals that are formed just because they belong to a certain group, “regardless of their individual characteristics” (OpenStax, 2014, p. 434). Often these stereotypes prove to be harmful and lead to prejudice mindsets and discriminatory actions. While some stereotypes may be based on physiological characteristics, they are taught, not inherited, and therefore this is a social phenomenon. Social psychologists seek to understand how individuals interact with one another and the impact of their interactions, and in this case how stereotypes are formed and their effect on society. The phenomenon of stereotypes is best explained by three different aspects of social psychology; self-fulfilling prophecy,
Stereotypes are a way of recognizing and enforcing those differences and participators of in-group bias tend to dwell on them. The reasoning behind this is perhaps because those within the in-group want to prove that they are the superior group so they act upon those stereotypes to try and suppress the out-group. When problems occur within the in-group, they typically seek to blame the out-group for the issue, which is known as scapegoating (OpenStax, 2014). For example, a group of boys start a game of kickball at recess. They believe that males are the superior gender when it comes to sports and take pride in that assumption. When girls try to join the game, they turn them down thinking they would only slow the game down and ruin the fun. Some of the girls were actually very talented athletes but the boys never got to know this because they acted upon their in-group bias. Say the teachers forced the boys to allow the girls to play kickball with them. After a few innings, the ball begins to deflate due to a hole and they are no longer able to play. The boys immediately blame the girls as the cause, thus making them their