Stereotypes and Prejudice

Stereotypes and Prejudice

Stereotypes and Prejudice

Stereotypes and Prejudice

Cognitive schemas can result in stereotypes and contribute to prejudice.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are beliefs about people based on their
membership in a particular group. Stereotypes can be positive, negative, or
neutral. Stereotypes based on gender, ethnicity, or occupation are common in
many societies.

Examples: People may stereotype women as nurturing or used car
salespeople as dishonest.

The Stability of Stereotypes

Stereotypes are not easily changed, for the following reasons:

When people encounter instances that disconfirm their stereotypes
of a particular group, they tend to assume that those instances are
atypical subtypes of the group.

Example: Ben stereotypes gay men as being unathletic. When
he meets Al, an athletic gay man, he assumes that Al is not
a typical representative of gay people.

People’s perceptions are influenced by their
expectations.

Example: Liz has a stereotype of elderly people as mentally
unstable. When she sees an elderly woman sitting on a park
bench alone, talking out loud, she thinks that the woman is
talking to herself because she is unstable. Liz fails to
notice that the woman is actually talking on a cell
phone.