Stereotypes; Illusionary Expectations

Written by Logan Parent

Mr. Jackie Burr, Instructor

Every day new people, and ideas are introduced to billions of people across the world.

More often than not, the new people, or ideas are all mentally categorized with similar things.

These categories are called stereotypes. The

mind takes in this new information and finds

that there is very limited knowledge on the

person, or idea. Because of this, the mind

subconsciously starts to fill in the holes of

information with facts pulled from the

generalized category it's grouped with. The

information that was pulled from other

experiences is called stereotypical assumptions

or characteristics. It is lies that the mind tells

itself. While potentially having a positive

impact, stereotyping can prevent many positive

opportunities from occurring because of past lies the mind tells itself. Everyday the human mind

is in part controlled by stereotypes.

Society has been pushing the idea to resent judging books by their covers, but regardless

of opinion and beliefs, most people assess everyone they meet. Peter Ross Notebook in Pub's

gender stereotyping results in The Times conducted a study that consisted of people with

different ethnicities, interests, and backgrounds to all meet each other for five minutes each.

After meeting the other subjects, they each wrote down what they think about each other. The

next couple of weeks then consisted of meetings, and gathering where they all got to know each

other better. They were put through challenges both physical, and mental to push the subjects

stress levels. After getting to know each other, the subjects once again wrote down their opinions

on each other. In comparing the first impressions, and the new opinions they were found very

similar. While commonly seen as a bad thing, humans are very good at accurately judging others

by their cover.

Past studies have shown that people

Stereotypesarefastand
perform poorly in situations where they feel
easy,buttheyarelies,
they are being stereotyped, explains Professor
andthetruthtakesits
Michael Inzlicht of psychology on his website.
time.
What we wanted to do was look at what
-DebCaletti
happens afterwards are there lingering

effects of prejudice? Does being stereotyped have an impact beyond the moment when

stereotyping happens?

In order to determine if negative stereotyping in a particular situation had lasting effects,

Inzlicht enacted several tests. They put participants in situations where they had to do a task with

negative stereotyping pressuring them. After the participants were taken out of the prejudicial

situation, researchers judged their ability to handle their aggression, eat small amounts amounts

of food, make rational decisions, and stay focused. Participants were jumpy, and quick to anger.

When given food they ate more than their average meal, and when given a simple written test of

common sense they showed signs of agitation and had poor results on the test.

Stereotypes can be regional, establishing prejudice based off of where someone lives. The

map above shows the stereotypes the rest of America sees within each area. Cowboys in

Wyoming, cheesemakers in Wisconsin, and many other superficial regional stereotypes.

Riley Prescott is an everyday police officer. He arrests people, writes tickets, and drives a

big police truck. Because of this, many people think of him as a typical police officer. Recently
in places like Chicago, there has been a large struggle with police brutality, and people criticize

Prescott for that. Eating donuts, and not being able to run is not something you can say about

Prescott either. Weighing at 210 pound and six foot five, Riley Prescott is a large athletic man

who hates donuts. When asked what typical stereotype he fits into, Prescott replied: None, and

if someone thinks I am a stereotypical cop, or that I am just like someone else they know then

screw them. Prescott stated: everyone deserves to be an individual, and not have others

classified in the same category as them.

Stereotypes affect our everyday life. They can alter, or defile our opinions of others, and

they can prevent us from getting a lot of positive opportunities in our lives. While they have

some benefits to them, they are mostly a negative thing for both those who fall into stereotypes

and those who believe in them.

 Works Cited

"A quote from The Nature of Jade." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

"J250 Visual Stereotypes." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2017.

Prescott, Riley. "Stereotype Affects." Personal interview. 12 Mar. 2017.

"Pub's gender stereotyping results in confusion; Peter Ross Notebook." Times [London,

England], 13

Mar. 2017, p. 24. Global Issues in Context.Web.15 Mar. 2017.

"Research." Michael Inzlicht. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

"Stereotyping." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Aug. 1997. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.