Salima Isahunova

Chris Hilgeman
Writing Sec I
December 8, 2016
Stereotyping is in Human Nature
When we think about a person who stereotypes, the first thing that usually comes to your
mind is an uneducated, narrow-minded person who generalizes most of the things to make his or
her life easier. Partially, that is true. Psychologists once believed that only bigoted people used
stereotypes (Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes). Although, many open minded
people dont realize that they arent much better when it comes to stereotyping. We use
stereotypes all the time without realizing, noticing, or intending to do so. We have met the
enemy of equality, and the enemy is us (Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes).
Stereotype is a fixed, overgeneralized belief about a particular group or class of people
(McLeod, Saul). Stereotypes usually happen when an idea of a certain concept or a thing gets
repeated and popularized. There are advantages and disadvantages to stereotyping: a person can
respond to a situation faster because they may have had the experience before, but it makes a
person generalize instead of seeing things as their own individual concepts. The most common
stereotypes usually revolve around race, nationality, gender, age, orientation, or preferences.
Those divide into negative, positive, and neutral stereotypes. For example: black people are good
at basketball (positive), have some sort of criminal record (negative), and like chicken and
watermelon (neutral). Many people think that this stereotype about black people is true because
of social conditioning and the media, for example the most successful basketball players are of
African American descent. Or it couldve been a repeating trend: Eddie Murphys Raw came
out in 1987, and then his famous white people cant dance joke was repeated all throughout the
90s (Why Do You Think Stereotypes Are True?). A simple joke from a stand up routine can
transform into a stereotype usually because your brain doesnt have the cognitive ability to
discern TV from reality, especially when it's developing (Why Do You Think Stereotypes Are
True?).
There is another psychological phenomenon that majorly relies on stereotypes- bias. If
stereotypes are shortcuts that your brain uses in order to make an immediate judgment about
somebody, a bias is when you apply a stereotype behind that impulse for your personal or
general preferences. For example, a famous stereotype about Asian people claims that they have
high intelligence, and there is a situation where an Asian gets hired for a job over someone else
just because of that stereotype, and that makes whoever hired the Asian biased towards them.
The bias has a risk of making a stereotype threat, which is when a person unconsciously lives up
to their stereotype because of constant pressure.
Surprisingly, recent studies have found out that stereotyping is part of human nature.
Psychologists say we categorize -- or stereotype -- by age, race and gender, because our brains
are wired to do so automatically (Psychology of Stereotypes). Human brain naturally wants to
sort things out and put them into categories, giving them a vague, corner-cutting image or idea
that is easier to process. If there is something that a person doesnt know, the brain will
subconsciously take whatever information it received on a certain thing and turn it into that
general idea until more information is presented. The fear of the unknown, stereotype threats,
predisposed biases are a huge factor that affects our brains when we want to make an assumption
about something that we may not know.
There have been numerous studies done on this subject. 20/20 has done an experiment
with three groups of children to prove that stereotyping starts at young age. They showed
pictures of different people of different races, and one that immediately stood out was the Black
man and a White man. "20/20" showed the kids pictures of a black man and white man, and
kids gave their opinions on each one. One said, "He looks mean." Another referred to him as
"FBI's Most Wanted." Another commented, "He looks like he's a basketball player," when
referring to the black man. When the white man's picture was shown, one child said, "He's nice."
Another said, "I think he's nice except he might be mad about something."(Psychology of
Stereotypes).

The boy was probably picking up on something. The photo of a white man was of Oklahoma
City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Admittedly, the pictures were a little bit different, but when we
asked which man is a criminal, most kids pointed to the black man. When we asked which man
was a teacher, most pointed to McVeigh. This is ironic because the black man pictured was
Harvard University professor Roland Fryer (Psychology of Stereotypes).
Another experiment was conducted on persons automatic response towards races. It
presents the subject with a series of positive or negative adjectives, each paired with a
characteristically "white" or "black" name. As the name and word appear together on a computer
screen, the person taking the test presses a key, indicating whether the word is good or bad.
Meanwhile, the computer records the speed of each response (Where Bias Begins: The Truth
About Stereotypes). This experiment resulted in shocking outcome: Most people who
participated in the experimenteven some African-Americansrespond more quickly when a
positive word is paired with a white name or a negative word with a black name. Because our
minds are more accustomed to making these associations, says Banaji, they process them more
rapidly. Though the words and names aren't subliminal, they are presented so quickly that a
subject's ability to make deliberate choices is diminishedallowing his or her underlying
assumptions to show through (Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes).
Stereotypes may seem convenient for some people, since it's easy to look at someone and
assume things about them as a group. However, we do need to try and stop thinking about them
as a shorthand for the truth, but we also need to keep in mind that even if we forcefully try to end
stereotyping , we never truly will. Even if our brain wants to stereotype, we shouldnt take it as a
an excuse to use it and blow things out of proportions. Your first instincts arent always right,
therefore people need to try and give people a chance to be themselves instead of unfairly
labeling them.
 Works Cited

McLeod, Saul. "Saul McLeod." Simply Psychology. N.p., 1970. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

"The Science behind Implicit Bias." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881. N.p., n.d. Web. 08

Dec. 2016.

"The Psychology of Stereotypes - ABC News." N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2016.

"Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes." Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec.

2016.

"Why Do You Think Stereotypes Are True? | Decoded | MTV News." YouTube. N.p., 2015. Web.

08 Dec. 2016.

Salima,
Some good and interesting info in this paper - looks like you did a good job on the research part
of it. Check the comments above, make corrections and resubmit.
- Mr. H 1/9/17