Stereotypes and Prejudice

Associate Program Material

Stereotypes and Prejudice Worksheet

Please complete the following exercises, remembering that you are in an academic setting and should remain unbiased, considerate, and professional when completing this worksheet.

Part I

Select three of the identity categories below and name or describe at least 3 related stereotypes for each:

• Race • Ethnicity • Religion • Gender • Sexual orientation • Age • Disability

|Category |Stereotype 1 |Stereotype 2 |Stereotype 3 |
|Gender |Not good enough (women) |Too controlling (Men) |Lazy workers (Women) |
|Age |Lacks concentration and focus |Lacks professionalism (younger) |Want more money for less work just|
| |(younger) | |because of their age. (older) |
|Race | Criminals |Lacks education |Doesn’t work hard but gets more |
| | | |money. |

Part II

Answer each question in 50 to 100 words related to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use.

What are the positive aspects of stereotypes, if any? There are a few positive aspects of stereotypes. Positive ones are not the ones that come to our head first. Positive aspects of stereotypes include thoughts of a boss when interviewing a potential candidate for a position. For example, an article by Shelly Barclay on life123.com gives ways that positive aspects are used even though we don’t quite see when we use them. She stated that “Asians are good at math” In my high school days I learned that this was true. I had Asian friends that would help me with my math all the time. This can definitely benefit an Asian for a great job opportunity. (Barclay, 2013)

What are the negative aspects of stereotypes? The negative aspects of stereotypes could affect you because you could be wrong in certain situations. Majority of the time we are. One stereotype for African Americans is that they are all trouble and the black men are mostly criminals. This isn’t true, but it is a popular stereotype for African Americans. We as humans tend to let the words that have been “put into our heads” slowly become facts. Negative stereotypes can cause you to miss out on making a good friend or even a good business decision.

Part III

Answer each question in 50 to 150 words related to those stereotypes. Provide citations for all the sources you use.

Define stereotypes and prejudice. What is the difference between stereotyping and prejudice? Use examples to illustrate the differences. According to the online dictionary, (thefreedictionary.com) prejudice means an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts. An example of the famous quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Being prejudice is having a negative attitude towards an entire group of people according to the text in chapter 2 of the EBook. (Company, 2000) Stereotyping is basically just your personal opinion on someone or something based off just want you believe. This can be towards race, gender, age, ethnicity, and religion. For example, people say “blondes are stupid” this isn’t true. It’s just another way of people separating types of women. Another example for stereotypes is when people say “Americans are friendly” this is a nice stereotype, and then again it’s not a true for all.

What is the relationship between stereotyping and prejudice? The similarities between stereotyping and prejudice is that they are both personal opinions of what you may think of someone by race, religion, age, gender, ethnicity, and even a disability. They are not known facts or proven statements. They are both things that you do or say to judge a person or put them into “groups” in your mind. Being prejudice is just a lot worse than developing a stereotype towards people.

What can be done to prevent prejudice from occurring? I’m not sure if much can be done at all, but just starting to talk differently and keeping personal opinions to ourselves. We need to start by teaching our children the positive ways of life and not to judge people. We should tell teach them to love everyone and pray for our future. Basically, just become a positive example for the younger generation so that they will pick up what’s positive and let go of the entire negative ways slowly, but surely.