Stereotyping Chapter 3

Stereotypes are quick fast and easy and usually wrong

Stereotyping is ....

• Perceived notions about what we expect to find in spite of contrary evidence .

• When we place others in a rigid category with out seeing them as an individual first.

• It’s part of the human condition.

Why do we do it ?• Perceiving others is a natural thing ,we all do it.

• The Implicit personality theory states that we all categorize others so that we can make sense of our world.

• We act on hunches / guesses and past experiences.

• We will take , for example , one positive trait and automatically link it to others ..... ‘’ He comes and interacts in every class ‘’ .... So he must also be “ friendly, bright, and a great student “

• This is a form of stereotyping.

How does it work ? • The Halo and Horn Effect !! ... Simply put we

often place individuals in one of only two categories GOOD or BAD .

• This is where the Quick / Fast and Easy comes into play. With so many stimuli to decode we can become lazy and reckless when perceiving others.

• Stereotyping then becomes habit and can further cloud our values and beliefs .In this way we continue to ‘’ See what we are looking for ’’ .what does this mean ????

Stereotypes

Discuss the common stereotypes found in these images

Ignoring Information

• At times we over look information because we already have ‘’ obvious indicators ‘’ about another person. Even if the indicators are superficial we often will stand our ground !

• Information that is vivid and easily available tends to be processed on first ......such as physical attributes .... Skin colour , body style , eye colour , age , gender and so on .....

• FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE IMPORTANT !!!

First Impressions

Over generalizing

• We tend to treat small amounts of info as if they were substantial in size.

• We do this because we only require small amounts on info to activate our categorization process.

• What we experience is a situation where our quick perception of another person meets head-on in our preconceived notions of what that type of person is all about !

• By now you likely can see how inaccurate all of this can be .

Over Simplifying

• We love simple explanations over complex ones.....we use them as short cuts !

• In fact we gravitate so easily toward the simple explanation that we often continue to jump to conclusions even when we are offered an in-depth and reasonable explanation.

• It’s almost as if we refuse to think out-side the box !!

Over Simplifying

Danica Patrick will be signed as a part time driver in the NASCAR calendar 2011 as she bounces among NASCAR drivers and NASCAR cars of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

All NASCAR drivers are men !

Imposing Consistency

• We over estimate consistency.......being late for work three times in the last week becomes always being late for work.

• We tend to think that if a person acted a certain way on one day that they will continue to behave in the same manner the next time you see them.....the behaviour could be negative or positive.

Focusing on the Negative !

• We tend to focus on negative information more then positive.

• We know this is true because most often we will always act positively when we meet others for the first time.....and they will be expecting us to do so.

* In a social setting negative behaviour can become extremely obvious to everyone....to the point where observers begin to feel awkward .

Kanye West won the award for "Jerk of the Year" when he interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.

Other common barriers to accurate perception .

• Blaming others : We are prone to believe that people are to blame when things go wrong and not that is was beyond their control.

* Fundamental attribution error states that we tend to personalize our problems.....perceiving them to be acted upon by others intentionally..........

* if a car cuts you off it must be on purpose and not because they were avoiding a truck !!!

Continued..........• Avoiding Responsibility : We are likely to save face rather

than admit that we are the cause of the problem.

• This leads to the Self-serving Bias . This is a tendency to see our behaviour as being more ethical then others. ....’’ That cop’s a jerk for giving me a speeding ticket ‘’

• Research shows that when we make mistakes we instinctively have a need to protect our own sense of positive-regard.

30 Days “ Muslims in America “

The End • Please cover this material on

your own in our textbook.