Stereotypes. Sure they are not always right but are they still valid? Should we recognize that stereotypes exist for good reason?
My perspective is that they are both harmful and protective. They can harm the stereotyped when someone incorrectly labels them without actually knowing anything about them or vice versa. Both of those possibilities are harmful because the incorrectly labeled good can absolutely misrepresent themselves.
Conversely, it is impossible to get to know every single person that comes along. Somehow people need to make quick judgment and sometimes their life can depend on that snap judgment. It's evolution and survival. It also applies to less drastic subjects as well. It's simplification.
I'm curious to know what other people might think about that.
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Stereotypes are useful when my involvement with someone will be trivial, for instant the door-to-door salesperson or Jehovah's Witness. If I'm to engage with a person, all judgements go out the window, unless of course they insist on being that stereotype. Some people insist on it.
Making generalizations is a survival mechanism, so as long as we're aware of that, it does little harm IMHO.
Hominid
Level 7
Nov 21, 2017
1
Stereotypes usually come from a kernel of truth, but the extra layers added on as the stereotype is propogated and the reasons they are propogated are the issue. The media doesn't help nowadays, either.
AtheistInNC
Level 7
Nov 21, 2017
1
I think that most "media" type issues can be boiled down to the standard of "art imitates life". There are representations of everything that you see in the media in the society. It isn't helping to deny that or to belittle it.
Could you provide some specific stereotypes please?
MichaelBaribeau
Level 5
Nov 21, 2017
1
All people on welfare are lazy and could just "get a job".
I wonder if welfare recipients are just as 'lazy' as everyone else. This 'stereotype' seems more a rationalization for a political opinion and making a moral judgement than a reflection of welfare recipients. How about sometime like, poor people are more likely to steal. When in a poor neighborhood should you lock your car based on this stereotype? I guess it comes down to the empirical bases of stereotypes. Of course there are constitutional issues to consider like with police profiling as well.
Stereotypes that I were thinking about were racial like how different races see each other, sexual like men/women/LGBT and especially in this forum religious followers or beliefs.
to my knowledge those types of stereotypes are sexist not sexual and racist not racial. I would need an empirical bases.
I think the negative stereotypes stick in our mind because of how our perception works. If something is viewed harmful or dangerous, or we're told something or someone is dangerous, we're wired to remember that for survival. I think that mental action puts people in those stereotypical categories.
lem31167
Level 5
Nov 21, 2017
1
Steriotyping is intellectually and morally lazy behavior. It is largely a way of avoiding serious and objective evaluation of the individual case.
wordywalt
Level 9
Nov 21, 2017
0
Wordywalt you are absolutely right. Not denying that. I wonder how you feel about lazy people? Who do you think are lazy? People who don't work hard or people who are too lazy to think through a problem all the way?
Thomasmeador I couldn't agree more with you more. It would be impossible to live life meeting everyone we see without developing stereotypes.
I think we are all guilty of it subconsciously (like it or not).
Most of the time it seems to be a problem we have to overcome, but I also do see benefits. I think people just automatically associate "stereotypes" with racist, sexist, nationalist references and don't consider all of the other many ways we judge people but their looks and body language along with other labels.
EmpAtheist
Level 4
Nov 21, 2017
1
I like to deal with people as individuals, not as representatives for their various memberships. Even if there are positive or statistically accurate stereotypes, it is unfair to the individual to assume anything about them based upon their ethnicity, sexuality, gender, etc.
resserts
Level 8
Nov 21, 2017
1
Unfair or not, everyone does it. If you didn't I doubt you would be alive today. It takes time to get to know someone. There's not enough time for people to make a real connection with everyone they meet.
What I would hope is that people would get to understand better about stereotypes and be less racial, ethnic and sexual orientation bias and focus on the quality of their actions and if a stereotype is used it is less tribal and more behavioral.
How would I die if I didn't unfairly stereotype people? I agree that it takes time to get to know someone. What bearing does that have? Why can't I say that I don't know a person well enough in some areas to make a judgement? We can still understand cultures based upon statistics, e.g., Catholicism and the Virgin Mary are important to many Mexicans, but when I meet someone from Mexico I don't assume they're a Mary-worshipping Catholic. To your later point, that we should focus on a person's behavior, I agree — but that's not stereotyping (in fact, it's the exact opposite of stereotyping).
If you don't know someone very well, it is still based on a stereotype of a behavior if you are making a judgment on behavior. You don't know what their true motives are. Serious issues could still exist. Sociopaths key on those types of stereotypes.
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