Stereotypes: Obscuring Lenses in Society

1385 Words3 Pages

Stephen Bonnycastle in his criticism, In Search of Authority, explains stereotypes as, "The system (sometimes known as “the patriarchal order”) that causes the majority of men and women to take on these different roles ... hidden, like the rules of grammar in a language."(10). When a stereotype is introduced into a situation for a extended period of time, it is psychologically proven that it will become an expectation. Stereotypes prove to act as an obscuring lens into which most people view the world. When a person is unaware of a culture, race, gender they mainly use the stereotypes to judge them against. Stereotypes are not just a generalization of a group of people, "stereotypes warrant a closer analysis, because they powerfully shape the reality of gender differences..."(Brody 396). The effects of stereotypes go deeper than just male and female, race against race, "everyone is vulnerable to stereotype threat, at least in some circumstances"(reducingstereotypethreat.org). Stereotypes overall cause negative side effects, some fatal. These side effects are psychological as well as physical. People who …show more content…

As put by Holy Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany 's, "Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot."(Capote). When a positive stereotype is introduced and one lives up to it or works toward it the results can be progressive. Generally positive stereotypes increase and improve performance in individuals when introduced. An interesting experiment showed that when tested, "Each group performed better on the task they believe the opposite gender underperformed on"(Krendl, Gainsburg, Nalini). When the group believed they would do better, they did indeed. Positive stereotypes encourage people to do better and to be better. In this case, stereotypes give confidence instead of taking it away showing that sometimes stereotypes can be

Show More
Related

  • Stereotyping In The Blind Side

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sometimes in life we are quick to judge a book by its cover, but once we begin to read, we sometimes often discover that the book we once judged, was something special after all. This is exactly what was demonstrated in The Blind Side. Many people saw Michael and was so bothered by his appearance that they did not bother to figure out who he truly was. It wasn’t until they were forced to deal with him, that people saw him for who he really was. Michael was not just some bad kid from the hood, he was a child with a lost spirit that came from a broken home and a bad situation that needed someone to guide him and show him the true meaning of love. As Christians we are taught to love our neighbors, but stereotyping often gets in the way of that. Stereotyping can compel negative results on a person’s character, but in this case, it opens ones heart to mother someone who needs mothering.

    Read More

  • White Girl Stereotypes

    507 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are 2 different types of stereotypes, positive and negative. When people are in negative situations for which a negative stereotype about their identity is brought up, that person knows they are probably going to be judged about their identity. Some constrain our behavior down on the ground like having restricted access to a public mall. Others, influence us more subtly by putting threats in the air. There are also positive stereotypes. One example of a positive stereotype for a white girl is snotty rich kid. When you are a white girl, people tend to call you snotty rich and they think that is a compliment or a joke when it really isn’t to you. When people call you those names, it makes you feel like a stuck up, rude, obnoxious person. Positive stereotypes are assumptions made about an entire group or identity that are considered to be good. Positive stereotypes seem to be just as damaging as the negative ones. They can be depressing to individuals who are supposed to possess them, but don’t. You often feel alone, looked down upon, or not good

    Read More

  • Language, Gender, and Culture in Society

    1684 Words  | 4 Pages

    At one point in time, these stereotypes may have been true; however, in today’s modern society, most of these stereotypes are outdated and false, which leads them to turn into misconceptions. Usually, stereotypes are utilized to humiliate and degrade the person or group; they also do not provide any beneficial outcomes. Stereotypes focus on how a particular group acts because of the radical ideas and actions of the few, how a particular group looks, or how that group is physically lacking in some way. These stereotypes often lead to conflicts because the group does not appreciate the way it is perceived. Seldom are the stereotypes placed on a group of people truthful and accurate.

    Read More

  • Stereotyping and Racial Profiling

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stereotypes can be defined as sweeping generalizations about members of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other group. They are made everyday in almost every society. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we develop these ideas about people who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. Stereotyping usually leads to unfair results, such as discrimination, racial profiling, and unnecessary violence, all behaviors which need to be stopped.

    Read More

  • Stereotyping And Repression Formation

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stereotyping is an adaptive mechanism, adopted by human beings, to assist in the cognitive process of impression formation. Within the social arena, we are subjected to unfamiliar people and places on a regular basis. First impressions are often formed hastily on the basis of very limited information, and assisted by the practice of stereotyping. More specifically, stereotypes can be defined as the cognitive schemas that relate to a particular social group. These cognitive schemas are mental structures that contain knowledge about a particular type of stimulus: attributes, relations, and so on (book). In terms of gendered stereotypes, these schematic structures outline how men and women ought to behave, and contribute to impression formation:

    Read More

  • Dionne Brand

    1817 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stereotypes can be conceived with positive or negative connotations. The positive stereotype is one that represents an idea that may have been lost, or a desire one cannot obtain. The negative s...

    Read More

  • The Inherent Dangers of Stereotyping

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is no doubt that at some point in life, we have all been guilty of judging somebody before we really got to know them. Perhaps we judged them based on their weight, their gender, their hair color, their clothing style, or maybe even all of those things combined. We were guilty of making that person into yet another stereotype. Or perhaps we have been on the receiving end of that judgment, and we may not have known it. At some point, everyone has most likely been a stereotype in one way or another.

    Read More

  • Race, Ethnicity, and Hate Crimes

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Stereotypes unreliable, exaggerated generalizations about all members of a group that do not take individual differences into account” (Schaefer 40). Stereotypes can be positive, but are usually associated with negative beliefs or actions such as racial profiling.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes and Misconceptions

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    The world of today is a relatively primitive one, even with every advancement that humanity has accomplished we remain primitive in this aspect. There has been progress, even as slow in comparison to that of todays, it is progress.The ignorances and other human flaws are still very existent within every society, regardless of the boundaries between them be it geographical or cultural. Stereotypes and misconceptions exist in the modern society. Stereotypes arise when there is a single radical group who are accepted as the representation of their apparent subculture. Then the ignorant and misinformed take these “representatives’” behavior as a generalization of the entire group. While the less common misconception is made by some incomprehensible anomaly where an entire assumption is based around a single social group, that has never even proved to be true. There is a stereotype that is attached with the College educated community, they are believed to be almost guaranteed success. The fact that they have a degree in their respective field has built a stereotype of the “successful ones.”

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In the Media

    483 Words  | 1 Pages

    Stereotypes play an important role in today's society and particularly in Propaganda. According to the Webster's Dictionary stereotyping is defined as a fixed conventional notion or conception of an individual or group of people, heldby a number of people. Stereotypes can be basic or complex generalizations which people apply to individuals or groups based on their appearance, behaviour and beliefs. Stereotypes are found everywhere. Though our world seems to be improving in many ways it seems almost impossible to liberate it from stereotypes.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes and The Merchant of Venice

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stereotypes are a fixed image of all members of a culture, group, or race, usually based on limited and inaccurate information resulting from the minimal contact with these stereotyped groups. Stereotypes have many forms: people are stereotyped according to their religion, race, ethnicity, age, gender, color, or national origins. This kind of intolerance is focused on the easily observable characteristics of groups of people. In general, stereotypes reduce individuals to a rigid and inflexible image that doesn't account for the multi-dimensional nature of human beings. One example of stereotypes is the categorization of the Jews in the Elizabethan era.

    Read More

  • Dichotomy The Devil Essay

    1626 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stereotypes are assumptions that are made about an entire group of people based on observations of a few; they act as scapegoats for prejudice behaviour and ideologies.

    Read More

  • The Causes of Stereotypes

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the modern era, stereotypes seem to be the ways people justify and simplify the society. Actually, “[s]tereotypes are one way in which we ‘define’ the world in order to see it” (Heilbroner 373). People often prejudge people or objects with grouping them into the categories or styles they know, and then treat the types with their experiences or just follow what other people usually do, without truly understand what and why. Thus, all that caused miscommunication, argument or losing opportunities to broaden the life experience. Stereotypes are usually formed based on an individual’s appearance, race, and gender that would put labels on people.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Gender Roles

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everybody is born and made differently, but one thing is similar, our gender. We are born either male or female, and in society everybody judges us for our gender. This is called gender roles; societies expecting you to act like a male or female (Rathus, 2010). Some people say, “act like a lady,” or “be a man,” these are examples of how gender roles work in our everyday lives. In society when we think stereotypes, what do we think? Many think of jocks, nerds, or popular kids; gender stereotyping is very similar. Gender stereotypes are thoughts of what the gender is supposed to behave like (Rathus, 2010). One example of a gender stereotype for a man would be a worker for the family, and a women stereotype would be a stay at home mom. Though in todays age we don’t see this as much, but it is still around us. In different situations both gender roles and stereotypes are said and done on a daily basis and we can’t avoid them because everyone is different.

    Read More

  • Media Stereotypes

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stereotypes are deeply embedded in every society in numerous ways. The dictionary definition of a stereotype is “one that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.” Stereotyping or Labeling is a technique that “attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirable.” These stereotypes become so cliché that they begin to form daily thoughts and views and one is unable to look beyond them. They then become dominant ideologies that are impossible to remove. These stereotypes are inevitable since they have been a key player in the propaganda that the west promotes to other cultures and societies.

    Read More

More about Stereotypes: Obscuring Lenses in Society

Open Document