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- For the term used in computing, see stereotype (computing).
- For the term used in its original printing sense, see etymology below.
Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another. They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours. More benignly, they may express sometimes-accurate folk wisdom about social reality.
Often a stereotype is a negative caricature or inversion of some positive characteristic possessed by members of a group, exaggerated to the point where it becomes repulsive or ridiculous.
Stereotype production is based on:
- Simplification
- Exaggeration or distortion
- Generalization
- Presentation of cultural attributes as being 'natural'.
Stereotypes are seen by many as undesirable beliefs which can be changed through education and/or familiarization. However, stereotypes need not be confined to negative characterizations about individuals or groups, and can thus have positive characterizations.
There are also genuinely positive stereotypes about groups. Some groups have, as a deliberate political strategy, tried to evolve new genuine positive stereotypes for themselves.
Stereotypes of groups by other groups
Common stereotypes include a variety of allegations about groups based around: race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, or religious belief; also profession and social class (see social stereotype).
Stereotypes within groups
A variety of stereotypes usually exist within major social groups, and relate to the variety of identified sub-groups that exist within their own group. For instance, western urban lesbian sub-culture has strong sub-group stereotypes about: butch and femme lesbians; bisexuals; granola dykes; and many other sub-groups within the lesbian subculture.
sterotyping is a good thing
Etymology
The word stereotype was invented by Firmin Didot in the world of printing; it was originally a duplicate impression of an original typographical element, used for printing instead of the original. Over time, this became a metaphor for any set of ideas repeated identically, en bloc, with minor changes. In fact, cliché and stereotype were both originally printers' words, and in their literal printers' meanings were synonymous. Specifically, cliché was an onomatopoetic word for the sound that was made during the stereotyping process when the matrix hit molten metal.
See also
- Ethnic stereotype
- Racial profiling
- Archetype
- National stereotypes
- Nurse stereotypes
- Russian stereotypes
- Stock character
- Counterstereotype (antonym)
- Psychology:
Lists
References
- Steele CM, Aronson J. (1994). Stereotype vulnerability and African-American intellectual performance. In E. Aronson (Ed.), Readings About the Social Animal. New York: Freeman & Co.
- Steele CM, Aronson J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African-Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811.
- Steele CM. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape the intellectual identities and performance of women and African Americans. American Psychologist, 52, 613-629.
- Aronson J, Steele CM, Salinas MF, Lustina MJ (1998). The effects of stereotype threat on the standardized test performance of college students. In E. Aronson (Ed.), Readings About the Social Animal (8th Edition). New York: Freeman.
- Steele CM. (1998). Stereotyping and its threat are real. American Psychologist, 53, 680-681.
- Steele CM, Aronson J. (1998). Stereotype threat and the test performance of academically successful African Americans. In C. Jencks & M. Phillips (Eds.), Black-White Test Score Gap. Brookings Institution Press.
- Aronson J, Lustina MJ, Good C, Keough K, Steele CM, Brown J. (1999). When white men can’t do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 29-46.
- Spencer SJ, Steele CM, Quinn DM. (1999). Stereotype threat and women’s math performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 4-28.
- Steele, C. M. & Davies, P. G. Stereotype threat and employment testing: a commentary. (2003) Human Performance, 16, 311-326.