Stereotypes As A Tool For Grouping People - Free Essay Example

Self-Image is basically described as how one perceives themselves. Its what they see when they look in the mirror, or shown in what they wear; there are many ways to express your own self image. Though an issue in society is taking these self images and grouping them together into one idea. This type of generalization is known as stereotypes. Stereotypes are defined as an oversimplified idea of particular people, places and even objects. The most unfair thing about stereotypes is how wrong they can be. Unfortunately though they are used and accepted daily as a proper explanation for various topics. This can cause a bit of a mess for when they are obviously either biased, untrue, or just plain rude. The way people are stereotyped are looked at as if they were on some assembly line. Each person was apparently made in the same place, around the same time, with the same parts, no select diversity whatsoever. Cleary this is unfair, but still believed, and almost lived by by others. Labelling though isnt just categorizing one person into a certain mindset, but targeting a whole race or nation for being carbon copies of one another. As bad as stereotypes can be, a lot of people oddly enough believe they can benefit from them. An example of this is that some feel stereotypes enables people to respond rapidly to situations because they may have familiarity to a certain topic or had a similar experience before. The world is such a vast place, inhabited by billions of people so it is no wonder we seek out ways to simplify our surroundings so that they are easier to digest and understand. Stereotypes enable you to categorise people into manageable boxes, which allows you to form expectat ions about people and situations making life more predictable and easier to understand. For example, similar to the way that foods are put in to types so you can make choices about where and what you eat, stereotypes provide people with a way of acknowledging different groups of human beings.(Watson) Thinking that they already have some insight on a particular matter, or person even, can make it easier for people to socialize, or more likely to participate in social life. Stereotyping is believed to have been able to lead some people in a more promising direction; rather than belittling one person or thing, the familiarity of the situation can be rather promising for socializing. We resort to stereotypes because its the next best thing. You sort of know every person based on their race or occupation or the kind of clothes they wear by the preconceived notions that are thrown at us by the media and what we acknowledge as the generalized truth. It might sound awful at first glance, but theres some merit to such generalizations. Isnt it better to sort of know a person than to not know them at all?(Hock) Generalizing can actually help people out in the most unexpected ways. With this idea of labeling, it can be easier for people to engage in friendships, being if others have similar traits or interest. Thinking that we actually know someone from what we generalize them for, can actually help create a more pleasing and comforting social environment. Even with some upsides though, this idea of labelling is still a sociological issue. A really big disadvantage to generalizing is that it drastically ignores the differences between individuals; making others think things about people that might not be exactly true. Stereotypes can promote extremely harmful images to the things involved, even potentially injuring those victimized by it. Labeling people in a negative manner has a lasting detrimental impact on those who experience the prejudice, suggests a new study. ?Past studies have shown that people perform poorly in situations where they feel they are being stereotyped, says University of Toronto Scarboroughs Michael Inzlicht, who led the research.(Nauert). This kind of generalization can have a big impact on people involved, and victimized by it. Another example of this impact was an experiment was done by Steele and Aronson in 1995. This was a conducted experiment involving African American and White college students who took a difficult test using items from an aptitude test (American GRE Verbal exam) under one of two conditions. In the stereotype threat condition, students were told that their performance on the test would be a good indicator of their underlying intellectual abilities. In the non-threat condition, they were told that the test was simply a problem solving exercise and was not diagnostic of ability. Performance was compared in the two conditions and results showed that African American participants performed less well than their white counterparts in the stereotype threat condition, but in the non-threat condition their performance equaled that of their white counterparts. (McLeod). Due to this social categorization, people are being held back. Whatever potential a person has can be completely stripped away by one ignorant statement. Its completely unethical to judge look at a persona nd automatically think you know what they are, what theyre up to, and how to treat them. Once a person, place, or thing is stereotype it sticks almost like glue, making it hard to separate the individual person from the overall assumption made of them. Once a stereotyped is learned, its almost impossible to see the original thing for itself. Within my own life though, stereotypes were heavily implemented around me. My grandparents on both sides grew up in a strict church environment, with certain rules to be followed. My family on its own grew up extremely biased and prejudice. A lot of things were told to me, that later in life I found out to be nothing but a lie. Each of them felt they had a certain, almost expected role to fill. It wasnt just them though, they only saw people as a label rather than for who they really were. I remember a big thing about my childhood was how discriminated I, and my cousins were for being children. Its odd to think you can be discriminated as such, but we were labelled as children, apparently meaning we couldnt grasp certain things, we had no rights; basically being a child meant you were seen not heard. It didnt just stop there. Luckily though, my parents disagreed with these types of labeling as much as me. They offered me the freedom to become who, or whatever I wanted. Just because I was a girl didnt mean I couldnt get the same toys as my male cousins, or try sports, and even dress however I pleased. Yet with my freedom from stereotypes, it still found a way to hook me in. As I grew I started to notice stereotypes filling up my everyday life. A stranger on the street was considered dangerous because of their skin color, a kid in my class was expected to be smart due to their race, people werent just people anymore, they were assumptions of who they might be. People arent like Barbie dolls, there isnt just one version of us. The world and its people are a conglomerate of diversity, like a snowflake, no two are the same. Stereotypes can be very damaging, and only slow people down. As helpful as some people may find it to be, there is no reason to categorize something into one small mindset. No one person is the same as just one thing, everyone is different and should be treated as such.