Stereotypes Of Person Perception

In the modern age, person perception can be formed in a variety of different ways and be created over an extended amount of time or done in a second. Person perception does not just include forming these perceptions but involves conclusions that we make based off of these impressions. This process can be both beneficial from a survival point of view but can also be incredibly harmful because these impressions can develop into stereotypes and biases that can percolate through societies view of the individual.These impressions can be made through a series of vocalic and kinesics tests and individuals proxemic, and haptic boundaries. Additionally, the individual's past experiences and views on gender and ethnicity play a significant role in
Social categorization involves mentally categorizing people that have shared qualities or characteristics and can be done both consciously and unconsciously. This categorization consists of assessing people on a variety of different codes be it vocalic tendencies to kinesics displays that can signify cultural and personal qualities. “Codes are organized message systems consisting of a set of symbols and rules (Knapp & Hall, 2002).” This mental categorization extends to fields such as sexuality, gender, class, and race. This shortcut nevertheless has some benefits for the simple fact we don’t have enough time to befriend every person we come in contact with, and this categorization is fundamentally used to assess threats. Nevertheless, it comes with its flaws and can lead to biases, stereotypes, and even in some cases
There are two spots left one is next to a petite Caucasian girl in a blazer, and the other is next to a six-foot-tall African male in a black torn sweatshirt. Based off of social categorization and some stereotyping you naturally sit next to the girl. As you come back home, you realize that your wallet is gone and was pickpocketed from you by the girl. Through judgments and stereotypes, you assumed that the girl was harmless and the man was threatening which ultimately lead to the loss of your wallet. In this interaction stereotyping of gender roles in perceived threat values took place and a fair amount of bias took place in there perceived class level (blazer vs torn sweatshirt) and possibly judgments based off of race. “Associations between the color black and evil is not strictly an American or Western phenomenon, because college students in Germany, Denmark, Hong Kong and India report that the color black connotes evil and death (M.Frank and T. Gilovich, 1988).” The example that was given above not only exemplifies the faulty nature of stereotyping and placing judgments on others but also show the harmful effects that they can have on