Perception and Stereotypes in Our Daily Life

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Life is based on a series of different perceptions. Human beings often attach opinions, sentiments and value judgments to every moment or incident in their life and this is mostly done unintentionally. Most of the times, these opinions are fixed and are stored in their minds for a long period of time. They then stay there, unbending and inflexible. Although a common perception is that because a phenomenon exists, it must be grounded in truth and the idea of stereotypes is also based on a similar fallacy, but this is incorrect because stereotypes are overarching theories or generalizations that are detached from reality and only exist because of preconceived notions, social perceptions and common experiences, negating the principle of individualism. There is no logical explanation behind their formation; nor any critical reasoning or thinking that has brought about their existence in the first place.
There are numerous examples of stereotypes that are present within our society today such as blonde women being stupid, African Americans and women being inferior, Asians being intelligent, teenagers being rebellious. What needs to be realized about these examples is that even though there were one or more persons from each category who reflected those particular characteristics that it is being stereotyped for, it does not necessarily follow that everyone else belonging to the same gender, age or race possesses the exact same or somewhat similar traits.
One reason why stereotypes come into being is because of the ideas, opinions or values that are prevalent within societies. These values are extremely important because in many cases, they are the binding force or integrative mechanism that holds the entire society together. So essenti...

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...s. For years, these people were viewed as inferior as a result of the stereotype that had been passed on from generation to generation. When they began to strive for equality, these people were able to convince many to think logically rather than base their ideas on the prevalent stigmas in society. Logic and equality were then realized as the truth replacing the stereotype that had been previously dominant.
It can be concluded that stereotypes are not grounded in truth because truth is something definite and absolute; that which cannot be disproved and that which does not lose its credibility overtime. As stereotypes are manifestations of ideologies and as ideologies are prone to change, stereotypes have no foundation in truth. Instead, they are the result of oversimplifications, exaggerations and generalizations and have no semblance of truth in them whatsoever.

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