What does stereotype mean?

It’s a generalization of a group of people, such as a race or a nationality. For example, some common sterotypes are that all Americans are cowboys, all Mexicans are border-hoppers, things like that. Stereotypes stem from people’s ignorance for people that are different than them.

What Does Stereotype Mean

An assumption or generalization of a person based on misinformation. Similar to a prejudices, that a decision or assumption is formed prior to the collections of individual fact about a specific subject. Usually personality charactoristics such as gender, ethnic background, religious affiliation and sociology is stereotyped.

For example,

“She lives in the projects so she must be ghetto.”

“Illegal alliens are uneducated law breakers.”

“Portoricans steal cars.”

“All black men are in gangs.”

The idea of a stereotype is that everyone from that specific

group must fit the profile of the assumption.

A stereotype is a popularly held belief about a type of person or a group of people which does not take into account individual differences.

It is people trying to group people together. They say that since a set number of people that have something in common do something… if you have that same thing in common, then you are likely to behave in the same way.

What a load of you-know-what.

To look at a person, situation, etc. in the way most people look at it, without looking at it in an honest way for yourself.

stereotypes is a group of people there!

Stereotypes are assumed characteristics based on a large group of individuals whose beliefs, habits, and actions are similar.

Stereotype production can be based on:

Historical factors

Simplification

Generalization

Exaggeration

Presentation of cultural attributes as being ‘natural’

Racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination

Guilt by association

Stereotypes are seen by many as undesirable beliefs imposed to justify the acts of discrimination and oppression. It is thought that education and/or familiarization can change these incorrect beliefs. Other negative effects are:

justification of ill-founded prejudices or ignorance

unwillingness to rethink one’s attitudes and behavior towards stereotyped group

self-fulfilling prophecy for both stereotyping and stereotyped group (white people treat black people in a more hostile way because they are afraid of them; black people accordingly react more aggressively, thus confirming the stereotype…)

preventing some people of stereotyped groups of succeeding in activities or fields (i.e. white people who are trying to get into the hip hop industry; gay men who are trying to be in the NBA; black people trying to get a bachelors degree, and Asian men who try to marry white women).

Unhealthy stereotypes can be negative or positive, even for the same group: Black men are generally supposed to be good musicians and basketball players, but at the same time seen as aggressive, prone to lives of crime, and likely to be on drugs. The effects of stereotypes can have positive and negative effects: Students who were implicitly made aware of their gender behaved as the stereotype suggested:

Asian-American women performed better in math tests when being aware of being Asian, and did worse when being reminded of being women.[1]

Stereotyping can also be created by the media, showing an incorrect judgment of a culture or place.

Often the terms stereotype and prejudice are confused:

Stereotypes are a generalization of characteristics; they reduce complexity, provide stability, and offer opportunities to identify oneself with others.

Prejudices are either an abstract-general preconception or an attitude towards individuals

Stereotypes are ideas held about members of particular groups, based primarily on membership in that group. They may be positive or negative prejudicial, and may be used to justify certain discriminatory behaviors. Some people consider all stereotypes to be negative. Stereotypes are rarely completely accurate, based on some kernel of truth, or completely fabricated. Different disciplines give different accounts of how stereotypes develop: Psychologists focus on how experience with groups, patterns of communication about the groups, and intergroup conflict. Sociologists focus on the relations among groups and position of different groups in a social structure. Psychoanalytically-oriented humanists have argued (e.g., Sander Gilman) that stereotypes, by definition, are never accurate representations, but a projection of an individual’s fears onto others, regardless of the reality of others.

Prejudices are usually based on general Stereotypical conceptions of our everyday “reality” (including persons [even ourselves], objects processes, facts, value-norms, rules etc.).

However, they need to be converted into “attitudes”, in order to be considered as “prejudices”, and they usually carry a negative connotation.

D. Mallios

[edit] Stereotypes of groups

Common stereotypes include a variety of allegations about groups based on age, ethnicity, gender, nationality, disability, profession, sexual orientation, race, religious belief, size, species, physical appearance, and social class (see social stereotype). Stereotypes can also be based on individual impairments.

[edit] Stereotypes in culture

Stereotypes are common in the world of drama, where the term is often used as a form of dramatic shorthand for “stock character”. Increasingly the active use of stereotypes in drama is a prerequisite for an audience accepting them as legitimate. The unwitting use of stereotypes appears hackneyed to a postmodern audience who refuses to tolerate the representation of individuals as simply the stereotype. Examples of active use are found in the work of Brecht and other dramatic styles which allow the actor to demonstrate a character with a degree of role distance, thus showing the active use. The Italian commedia Dell’arte was known for its stock characters and stock situations, which could be considered drama stereotypes. Retrospectively these stock characters have been illuminated by the work of Brecht, Dario Fo and Jacques Lecoq, and revealed to be far from simple stereotypes in their current evolution, despite their original reference to local Italian stereotypes in their early genesis. Importantly in drama the actor does not create a stereotype rather their characterisation may be simple in that they represent an uncritical reflection of the stereotype, and it is this simplicity which aggravates a postmodern audience. A subtle and detailed characterisation, especially of the commedia Dell’arte stock characters, results in a unique and immediate performance that will be enjoyed by an audience due to the clear active use of the characters by the actor.

In literature and art, stereotypes are clichéd or predictable characters or situations. For example, the stereotypical devil is a red, impish character with horns, bifurcated tail, and a trident, whilst the stereotypical salesman is a slickly-dressed, fast-talking individual who cannot usually be trusted. Throughout history, storytellers have drawn from stereotypical characters and situations, in order to quickly connect the audience with new tales. Sometimes such stereotypes can be very complex and sophisticated, such as Shakespeare’s Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

The instantly recognisable nature of stereotypes mean that they are very useful in producing effective advertising and situation comedy. Media stereotypes change and evolve over time – for instance, we now instantly recognize only a few of the stereotyped characters shown to us in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. The teen sitcom, Saved By The Bell features a typical group of high school stereotypes such as a class clown (Zack Morris), a jock (A.C. Slater), a nerd (Samuel “Screech” Powers), a cheerleader (Kelly Kapowski), a feminist (Jessie Spano), and a superficial fashion plate (Lisa Turtle). Some observed the sitcom, like many teen sitcoms of that time, in addition to stereotyping people, stereotyping an institution itself, that of high school. TV stereotypes of high schools have often promoted a “typical American school” as football games, fashion styles, skirt chasing, and not much devotion to academics or studying.

[edit] 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. American journalist Walter Lippmann coined the metaphor, calling a stereotype a “picture in our heads” saying “Whether right or wrong, …imagination is shaped by the pictures seen… Consequently, they lead to stereotypes that are hard to shake.” (Public Opinion, 1922, 95-156). To note, cliché and stereotype were both originally printers’ words, and in their literal printers’ meanings were synonymous. Specifically, cliché was a French word for the printing surface for a stereotype.[2]

The first reference to “stereotype”, in it’s modern, English use was in 1850, in the noun, meaning “image perpetuated without change”.[1]

[edit] Ethology

In ethology, stereotyped behavior or fixed action pattern is an innate, pre-programed response that is repeated when an animal is exposed to an environmental innate releasing mechanism.