Stereotyping Research Paper

Stereotyping occurs when someone forms a judgment of select members of a group and overgeneralizes it to the group as a whole. This happens as a result of the natural human tendency to reason inductively by recognizing patterns from experience and extrapolating them to reach conclusions about things not experienced. Although this approach works reasonably well for crafting scientific and mathematical rules from a small number of data points, it fails miserably when it comes to judging humans. Stereotypes do not offer an accurate or fair representation of people within stereotyped groups because the limited information gained from the brief encounters of everyday life cannot even begin to account for the vast complexity of human beings and their …show more content…
African-American New York Times editorial writer Brent Staples recalls multiple incidents when his skin color has prompted nighttime pedestrians to avoid him on city streets despite his actual gentle disposition. Moreover, he states that “being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself. I only needed to turn a corner into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed person in a foyer somewhere, or make an errant move after being pulled over by a policeman. Where fear and weapons meet—and they often do in urban America—there is always the possibility of death.” Other stereotypes also result in very real harmful effects. For example, Alia Dastagir reports that a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health has shown that conforming to gender stereotypes causes “depression”, “child marriage”, “leaving school early”, and “exposure to violence” in girls. Consequences for boys include “engaging in physical violence to a much greater extent than girls”, “dying more frequently from unintentional injuries”, “being more prone to substance abuse and suicide”, and “having a shorter life expectancy than women”. Even stereotypes that depict groups in a more positive light, like Asians as skilled in math or women as nurturing, can negatively impact people by depersonalizing them and frustrating their efforts to present their individuality apart from their group identity, according to Art

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