Psych/535 Psychological Impact Research Paper

Psychological Impact
Gaga
Psych/535
May 13, 2013

Psychological Impact Racism and sexism along with related things, like ageism and discrimination against religions are just specific sorts of stereotyping. Both racism and sexism have been around for ages and both continue to appear in our society, although as some may argue, not nearly as often and widespread as in times past. Both of these things cause great harm to those who are victims of them.
Stereotyping
A stereotype is a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people. (Cardwell,1996). According to the “Small Business Chron” it is normal for people to categorize things, events and people because it helps them mentally organize and make sense of
the world around them. It also highlights differences between categories or groups of people. People use stereotypes to make decisions about coworkers, managers and customers with little or no information about the person. Stereotypes are used because it is so difficult to take in all of the complicated information about other people in the world. It’s difficult to spend the amount of time necessary to understand why or in what different ways people behave. So instead, we learn early in our lives to accept stereotypes of groups, or individuals and we develop stereotypes not just for large cultures, but smaller ones; such as police officers, Mexican Americans, women, or executive males. A stereotyped person is not seen for who he or she is and what he or she can contribute to the business (Chinn, 2013). This is a disadvantage of a stereotype because if it makes us ignore differences between individuals; therefore we think things about people that might not be true. By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes take away the challenges of understanding people who are different from us. Stereotypes supposedly give us a general overview of whole groups of people so we know what to expect and how to act. Unfortunately, so many stereotypes are inaccurate and are used as a method of scapegoat, or to separate "their" behavior from "my" behavior. We as individuals don’t always agree with, or like the way another culture behaves because it is different, and we therefore can perceive it as wrong behavior, and develop negative or ugly descriptions of the individual or group. When we have problems with someone of a different group, we tend to identify the problem as having to do with the group, rather than ourselves or the specific person. So stereotypes do get in the way of how we think and feel. It makes us very judgmental about others and unfortunately often erroneously so. People attach negative stereotypes to people they don’t want to identify with. Stereotypes make it even more difficult to challenge and approach the different people around us, but more and more people are beginning to challenge stereotypes.

Racism Racism is an individual’s discriminatory behavior and prejudicial attitude toward people of a certain race or institutional practices whether motivated by prejudice or not that lessen a certain race’s people (Myers, 1993).
The glass ceiling effect describes the invisible differences in appraisal, salary and position between men and women. Racism may also be seen in the myths that certain races may be better or worse in certain abilities. Because of a lack of familiarity with other races, people are more likely to unconsciously discriminate against others (Sherman, 2000). Racism has had serious damaging effects on the United States culture and society. These effects are expressed through language, ideas, schools, language policies, economic stratification social segregation, housing markets, hiring and promotional schemas, minority members’ psychological issues and minority access to a variety of social services and opportunities. Racism is prevalent in American society and remains a silent code that systematically closes the doors of opportunity to young and old individuals. Visibly identifiable members of racial and ethnic oppressed groups continue to struggle for equal access and opportunity, particularly during times of harsh economics, dwindling natural resources, inflation, widespread unemployment and underemployment, and conservative judicial opinions that are precursors to greater deprivation. Unless curbed, these conditions invariably lead to greater ethnic and
racial rivalry and to greater political, social, and economic oppression. The development of racism, though ominous, can be seen as a positive development from the perspective of the regression of the more obvious forms of racism.
However, the lack of knowledge or the denial of the more subtle forms of racism can be extremely detrimental to both majority and minority group members. Racism can have a significant impact on an individual’s self-esteem and self-confidence. It can also affect their sense of connection and belonging to the broader community. Racism threatens personal and cultural identity and it can be related to psychological distress, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and anger, and in some extreme cases, attempted suicide. Furthermore, racism can have an impact on education, employment and
housing.
Sexism
According to “The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language” (2000) discrimination is based on gender, especially discrimination against women, it is the attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender. Sexism can be expressed through many different ways such as, lower pay for women or the failure of women to advance in the workplace, all things being equal. Although there are laws against sexism, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1963, sexism continues to be apart of the workplace and society. In many cases, it is not obvious, but sexism can also be expressed through speech. Sexist language includes terms that refer to female body parts in a derogatory manner or commenting on the intelligence of women based on their hair color (John, 2013). In the workplace the use of sexist language, can become a distressing influence in many ways. When sexist words are used to attack and demean a female employee, all women can feel devalued and not part of the team. That demoralization will in turn lessen their output and commitment to tasks. According to research sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, sexism also creates an environment where women fear that their performance will confirm the stereotypes against women that are believed by their male peers. This fear, known as a stereotype threat, can cause women to under-perform and, as a consequence, prevent female employees from succeeding and advancing in the workplace (John, 2013).Sexism also has the potential to shape how women think, feel and behave towards men in general. Stereotypes are oversimplified ideas about groups of people. Racism refers to the belief that one race is inherently superior or inferior to other races. Sexism is discrimination that is based on gender. References
Cardwell, M. (1996). Dictionary of Psychology. Chicago IL: Fitzroy Dearborn.

Chinn, D. (2013). Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-cultural-

stereotype-workplace-19193.html

John, S. (2013). Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/sexist-words-affect-

attitudes-behavior-workplace-18256.html

Myers, D. G. (1993). Social psychology (4th ed). Columbus, OH : McGraw-Hill

Sherman, R. (2000). Tutorial for Psy 324, advanced social psychology, Retrieved from

http://www.units.muohio.edu/psybersite/workplace/modernweb.shtml

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, (2000) 4th., by Houghton Mifflin

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