Stereotypes Influence On Behaviour

Certainly, stereotypes have the power to become self-fulfilling prophecies for behaviour. These behaviours can be good or bad, constructive or destructive. In hindsight, my experience with stereotypes has been quite rewarding.
I got glasses at a very young age. In elementary and middle school I was one of the very few children who had glasses. Among children of that age the stereotype is that people with glasses are just bookworms and nerds who study a lot and do nothing else. This stereotype shaped my classmates’ behaviour towards me which in turn influenced my behaviour.
My classmates used to tease me a lot about my glasses. They would call me a nerd and a bookworm. They teased me when I did not know something in class since I was supposed
to be the all-knowing nerd. But, I was not a nerd. Their remarks made me feel really bad about the fact that I had to wear glasses.
After a few months of putting up with this embarrassment, I was fed up. I could not take it anymore. I decided to make sure that I did not give them any opportunity to embarrass me ever again. I was going to know everything there was to know. It was a naively ambitious goal. But as a child that’s the only solution I could think of.
I started to read a lot of books. Discovery channel became my favourite channel. I became the guy who would read science books when everyone read novels, the guy who watched documentaries when everyone watched sports, the guy who had neither seen the latest movie nor played the latest video game. I had turned into a very proud nerd. In the end the stereotype that people who wear glasses are nerds turned me into the proud nerd I am today.