In any culture, groups and individuals develop preconceived notions about other groups and individuals based on their experiences and exposures. Things such as prejudices, stereotype, and discrimination are developed through these preconceived notions. Prejudices are “biased evolutions of a group, based on real or imagined characteristics of the group members” (Nelson 24). These biases are learned through the process of socialization and social learning throughout a person’s lifetime, mostly within a child’s development when they are shaped by their environments. Stereotypes are “a set of beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people” (Nelson 24). These stereotypes are based upon the generalizations that are made about specific groups or individuals within certain groups. Prejudices help form these beliefs and attributes that are associated within these stereotypes. Some stereotypes can be considered cultural, where there are shared beliefs about a particular group, usually more widely known. Prejudices and stereotypes fuel behaviors, most negative, toward the group or individual of the group they hold stereotypes and prejudices toward; this is known as discrimination (Nelson 24). When someone meets a new individual, they use many different aspects of their physical features along with information they procure from the individual to make inferences. The stereotypes and prejudices that fuel discriminatory behaviors are usually shaped and formed based on the environment in which an individual was brought up. A child is influenced greatly by the actions and beliefs of their parents and close family members. These prejudices and stereotypes that develop through social learning and exposure by parents and families shape th...
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...iety which aids in the equal treatment of all individuals and they are helping work toward and equal society for all individuals.
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While similar, the terms stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination all have their own distinct meanings. Gorham defines stereotypes as the organization of beliefs and assumptions people have toward social groups (19). Stereotypes can often be misrepresentative of a particular group because people unknowingly make assumptions about other people based on the knowledge they have acquired from media and/or people not in that particular social group. Examples of stereotypes can be beliefs that people of Asian descent are inherently good at math or that all black men are criminals. Unlike stereotypes which are predetermined assumptions people make about social groups, prejudice is holding negative feelings toward a group of people without fairly
In our global economy requiring functional and respectful relationships between nations, prejudice and stereotypes can be a destructive force both in the world and in individual societies, especially in diverse ones.
As Hodson and Victoria (p.344) note, human beings are not born prejudiced. They develop prejudice through socialization process. The role of family, media, and education is crucial in the prejudice in individuals. Stereotyping involves the construction of unfounded ideas and thoughts concerning an individual. Stereotyping involves the construction of unfounded ideas and thought concerning an individual in the same social context (Farley, p.21). The development of stereotypes revolves around the association of individuals with particular labels of identity. The truth is such ideas and propositions cannot be proven in most situations (Brown, p.68). Hence, the individuals who uphold stereotypes in society become prejudiced toward the victims. The difficulty associated with changing stereotypes is connected to the length of time required for internalization. Individuals in particular classes of society are exposed to stereotypes in their social environment for a considerable amount of time. In consideration of the Emmanuel Church shooting, the perpetrator expressed stereotypical idealization of the African American community. He expressed biased attitude through the sole target of African
In the text, we talked about during the course of this class is stereotypes, which the text defines as “widely held beliefs about a group of people (Intercultural Communication).” In my life and in my community,
Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping are important topics at the cause of debating within social psychology. A stereotype is a generalization about a group of people, in which certain traits cling to all members, regardless of actual individual variation (Akert, Aronson, & Wilson, 2010). As humans, people assign objects and individuals into categories to organize the environment. Individuals do this for not only organization, but also survival. Is stereotyping inevitable? That is the question; according to Devine (2007), it is, but Lepore and Brown (2007) have to disagree. Devine believes that “stereotyping is automatic, which makes it inevitable.” On the other hand, Lepore and Brown are not convinced that stereotyping is automatic, and have claimed, after observation, that it depends on the individual.
There are several factors that play a role in the development of stereotypes. The biggest learning of stereotypes come from family influences. Young children don’t see color or hold beliefs about culture and religion, but as they grow up, their ideas about people change with the people that they are surrounded by and associated with. Stereotypes also come from the media and social categorization (Ferguson). In young l...