Why stereotype others

In this chapter, we will study the processes by which we develop, maintain, and make use of our stereotypes and our prejudices. We will consider the negative outcomes of those beliefs on the targets of our perceptions, and we will consider ways that we might be able to change those beliefs, or at least help us stop acting upon them. Correll, J. The influence of stereotypes on decisions to shoot.

European Journal of Social Psychology, 37 6 , — Across the thin blue line: Police officers and racial bias in the decision to shoot.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 6 , — Cunningham, G. The LGBT advantage: Examining the relationship among sexual orientation diversity, diversity strategy, and performance. Sport Management Review, 14 4 , Fiske, S. Stereotypes and prejudice create workplace discrimination. Brief Ed. Jackson, L. The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action. Mannix, E. What differences make a difference? The promise and reality of diverse teams in organizations.

Each group has its own talents, as well as its own problems, and by acknowledging both these strengths and weaknesses, we validate the identity of each group and we recognize its existence and its importance to the social fabric.

The results? Participants who read the passage that emphasized group differences were more likely to report beliefs in race essentialism than those who got the individual-oriented message. In other words, focusing on individuals helped the participants see people from different cultures as individuals, rather than as groups with essential characteristics.

However, we need to be aware that this way of thinking does lead to more essentialist beliefs. Many of our social divisions stem from reacting to out-groups—people who do not belong to the social group we psychologically identify with—differently than we respond to our in-groups.

Racial essentialism, for instance, can be driven by the belief that people from different racial groups have essential and categorical differences from us that make our co-existence difficult or impossible.

This reaction against out-groups is not always conscious or intentional. We quickly place people into a group category without even really thinking about it. One neuroscience study performed by Princeton psychologist Susan Fiske found that when white participants saw photos of black faces and had two seconds to judge whether the people in these photographs were over the age of 21, they showed activity in the area of the brain called the amygdala, which indicates a high level of alertness and emotional arousal.

In other words, they saw the face as a threat. But the same study found that there was an easy way to maneuver around this automatic response. In those cases—when they were prompted to see the people as individuals, with their own tastes and preferences—the amygdala activity looked the same as when the participants saw white faces, suggesting that they were able to individuate—see the faces as individuals—rather than quickly group them into a category and see them as a threat.

Fiske explains that people often tend to quickly categorize people into group categories, but that learning more about a person can help you individuate them by thinking about what goes on in their individual mind.

By focusing on the characteristics of individuals, rather than their group identity, we can maneuver around segregating perceptions of out-groups that drive us apart rather than bring us together. McLeod, S. Simply Psychology. Katz, D. Racial stereotypes of one hundred college students. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 28, Shih, M.

Stereotype susceptibility: Identity salience and shifts in quantitative performance. Psychological science, 10 1 , Steele, C. Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans.

Journal of personality and social psychology, 69 5 , Toggle navigation. Saul McLeod , updated In social psychology, a stereotype is a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people. Download this article as a PDF. How to reference this article: How to reference this article: McLeod, S. Two-thirds of the children said they would prefer a White playmate to a Black playmate, and many of them described White people in more positive terms than they described Black people.

The parents answered straightforward, explicit questions e. The speed of our responses to pairs of words or concepts is a good measure of how strongly the two are connected in our minds.

Of course, the same kind of stereotype transmission happens here. We are made such that we notice distinctive things—a single O in a field of Xs, a child in a group of adults, or a small number of women in a group comprised largely of men. What happens when two distinctive things occur simultaneously?

We exaggerate the frequency with which it happens. They get noticed. In addition, most people of any color usually do good things, not bad things, so bad behavior gets more of our attention, too. Put the two distinctive characteristics together, and we pay double attention to people of color doing bad things. The female manager with a prickly personality. The young Black guy who seems to glare at you in the parking lot.

The older White man who is especially clueless about people who are different from him. The cognitive mechanism is complex Ernst, Kuhlmann, and Vogel, , but the bottom line is that a distinctive person doing a distinctive thing captures our attention and influences our subsequent thinking.