The Effects Of Stereotyping

Have you ever heard someone say all Asians are smart, or all women are bad drivers, or all men are messy and unclean? These are all examples of common stereotypes. Stereotypes are preconceived notions about a group of people that are accepted as fact without question. Stereotyping is a part of everyday life and everyone has been stereotyped at some point in their life whether they’ve been conscious to it or not. Whether good or bad, stereotyping can lead to many prejudices and people prejudging a certain group without knowing anything about them. These stereotypes can have negative and positive effects on society and the way we look at certain groups of people. Per UFL.edu, “There are three key factors that explain why stereotypes persist.”
The first reason is stereotypes are functional. Basically, this means at birth and throughout life we are taught to stereotype. We hear an abundance of information about individuals and its more than we can process. Without knowledge, we take what we already know or don’t know and push it out of our mind causing us to believe what we heard rather than accepting true facts. “Our tendency is to reduce complexity to simplicity. We trade-off for simplification, which can lead to inaccuracy and we are often unaware of this deduction.” (UFL.edu) The second reason is stereotypes are results of selectivity in social perception. Once our mind creates these stereotypes and generalizations of people we often tend to try to make every person we meet fit into those characteristics we believe to be true. As a society, even if that person doesn’t fit into the stereotype against them, we will still place them in a category with others. “By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have.” (SimplyPsychology.org) Stereotyping has positive and negative effects on society.
An example of a positive stereotype is all Asians are smart. Although this is a compliment it can also be offensive and very pressuring to a person of the Asian descent. It will make them feel like they must live up to this standard and if they are anything less than what people expect of them they will feel like they aren’t good enough, and it can also make them feel depersonalized. Positive stereotypes don’t always have a positive impact. In a study conducted by Art Markman Ph.D. a white and Asian student were both given a packet of math problems to complete. The white student gave his packet to the Asian student assuming the Asian student would be better fit to complete it. “How about you take this packet… I know all Asians are good at math, how about you take the math packet…” (Markman). The results of this study were the Asian student did worse on the packet than the white student. This alone goes to show that even positive stereotypes aren’t
true. An example of negative stereotypes is all Hispanics are illegal immigrants. Due to this stereotype, Hispanics find it very difficult to live a normal life in the United States. According to statistics from Census.gov, 64% of the 55 million Hispanics in the U.S. were born in the United States making them citizens. Due to this stereotype, other stereotypes are put on Hispanics such as all Hispanics are either gardeners, busboys, or maids. “Maid, gardener and busboy are not the only jobs we can hold down. Look around and you’ll notice many of us are in advertising, publishing, medicine and law. Name the field, and you'll spot some Latinos.” (Latina.com) These negative stereotypes can have a lasting effect on society and individuals. Even if a person were to meet a Hispanic family that was born in the U.S. and worked as doctors and lawyers in the back of their mind people will still believe stereotypes. Overall, stereotyping plays a big part in our society.
It shows how we view different groups of people without having any knowledge or understanding. Society views stereotyping as something that is taught at a young age and is difficult to unlearn. Stereotyping has positive and negative effects on one’s life but sometimes the impact of these generalizations can make an individual feel depersonalized. No, all Asians aren’t smart. They are human and have the same academic abilities as academic scholars of other races. Also, all Hispanics are illegal immigrants or trying to obtain a visa. They want to be looked at as regular people just like they rest of us. Hispanics aren’t limited to the amount of jobs they can attain. They can pursue any career option they desire and they are working towards a better life just like most U.S. citizens. The next time you stereotype a certain race or teach your kids these generalizations, think about the many stereotypes society has against you and think about how they make you feel whether they be positive or negative. Remember no one wants to generalized or
depersonalized.