Article Review
In the article “The Effects of Stereotype Activation on Behavior: A Review of Possible Mechanisms, S. Christian Wheeler and Richard E. Petty explore the behavioral effects of exposing people to negative stereotypes. They call this stereotype activation and define it as “the increased accessibility of the constellation of attributes that are believed to characterize members of a given social category.” Methods of stereotype activation range from “very subtle (e.g, subliminal face or word presentation) to blatant (e.g, Explicitly reminding participants of a gven group stereotype).” The researchers then show a table with many experiments performed that show causation between stereotype activation and
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They draw attention to the fact that parallels between the stereotype threat and automatic behavior literatures are only now beginning to be recognized in the literature, and thorough comparisons between the mechanisms of each mediational pathway have not been tested empirically. Though much the literature has examined academic performance as a dependent variable, similar principles should predict other behavioral changes as well. Their analysis provides a framework within which to consider stereotype-based behavioral change and also points to potential new effects that have not yet been demonstrated empirically. They believe that hot and cold processes both play a role in the effects of stereotype activation on behavior, independently or in conjunction, and that both implicit and explicit influences may co-occur. They end by saying important task for future researchers is to examine the relative contribution of these processes in determining stereotype-driven behavior …show more content…
The first is professionally written well cited. and gives much information on the topic The other is unbased, not thought through and features more of its author’s opinion than actual scientific data. While Wheeler and Petty only made statements that there is a behavioral change due to social priming effect based on evidence, Neuroskeptic states that social priming “just doesn’t “ring true”” without anything to back his claim up more than his gut. It is important for people to be able to distinguish between a scholarly article and a popular one. Scholarly articles are generally written by researchers, proffessors and college student and are often peer reviewed, causing them to be more factual than an online essay that could have potentially been written by a six year old. I felt interested in the first article and disgusted by the second. The article by Wheeler and Petty was interesting and informative while Neuroscience’s article was a frank reminder that anyone with an unproven unbased opinion can set up a website and appear to have
perpetuate in different social groups. Stereotype threat, as defined by Steele, is “being at risk of
Stereotypes are everywhere and can often create problems for people, however they become even more detrimental to teens, especially at schools. Writer and science correspondent for the NRA, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, “How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,” explains that stereotypes can hurt the performance of the person that it is associated with. He supports his claim by first explaining that how well people do on tests are determined by who administers the questions, then he explains that studies show that when people take tests and they are reminded of negative stereotypes that associate with them, then they don’t do as well, and finally he states that the studies are being widely ignored by all the people who should take heed of the findings, such as test makers and college acceptance people. Vedantam’s purpose is to tell you about the research conducted by Huang in order to inform you that stereotypes can affect performance on tests. In my 9th grade class at Point Loma High School, we were given questions about stereotypes from our teacher to interview two students.
Many thoughts come into the mind when hearing the word stereotype. The society has been exposed to too many stereotypes. These stereotypes result in controversial issues, which in turn, affect adults and children. The TV shows, internet, and social media are sources that expose children, as well as the adults, to stereotypes. Examples of those stereotypes are religion, sexism, and race. As children grow up by, the age of four they are able to pick up many stereotypes through those sources and without the perception and knowledge these children carry these stereotypes along with them in their long term memory. Moreover, children are not able to know or distinguish whether those thoughts are negative or positive stereotypes, which in turn, cause
Study 1 by Lepore & Brown (1997), congruent with Devine’s study (1989). Both Low and High prejudice groups had the same shared knowledge of stereotypes. Cultural stereotypes are shared widely and don’t indicate prejudice. Lepore & Brown, 1997. Study 2 examined how endorsement or priming in category activation leads to differential strengths in stereotype characteristics and group node activation.
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.
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.
Toni Morrison’s short story “Recitatif” deals with the reader's perspective on stereotypes. It allows the reader’s mind to be creative and question who is the African American women and who is the Caucasian women. The short fiction is based on two main characters; Roberta and Twyla. Neither women’s race is discussed in the story but they are, in fact, different. The setting took place in St. Bonny's shelter where both had no other choice but to be placed together. Roberta and Twyla were not fully considered “orphans” because their parents were not dead; one was sick and one was a dancer. Being that they are not actual orphans, many of the others did not want to hangout with them. “Recitatif” was also filled with stereotypical references to
Race comes in various forms however; it is a topic of concern because no matter if a person claims that they are anti-prejudiced, it is impossible for this world to be free from stereotyping them. A stereotype per dictionary.com is a, “set of inaccurate generalizations about a group/race that allows others, outside the group, to categorize them and treat them according to their group/race”, (SITE DICTIONARY.COM). In the story, Recitatif, readers will come across prejudice acts or stereotypes; however, people tend to realize their own stereotypes as they read or learn about someone else’s, hence making it comfortable throughout the story for themselves.
Inzlicht, Michael. Stereotype threat: theory, process, and application. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
The second feature and characteristic of stereotyping is the exaggeration of the difference between ones own group (the in-group) and the 'other' group (the out-group). This can be traced back to the work of Tajfel during the 1950's - 'the accentuation principle' (Tajfel, 1981). Tajfel's work was specifically on physical stimuli, and concluded that judgements on such stimuli are not made in isolation, but in the context of other factors. Applied socially - a judgement about an out-group relies upon other factors surrounding the judgement in question, as well as making a statement about the in-group and the relationship between the two groups.
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.
Stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice are phenomena that motivate animated debate amid the scholars as well as the public. Many ponder on which acts should be deemed discriminatory, when they can come to a conclusion that a decision or a social guideline preference is actually founded on prejudice and the role played by prejudice in creating gender and racial disparities. Also of immense interest are queries regarding how the society should react to these problems and whether they have been dealt with in a pleasing manner. Social psychologists lunge into this dispute equipped with scientific method, hoping to gather evidence that can shed the much needed light on these continuing worries. In particular, this paper seeks to shed some light as to why stereotypes and prejudices occur in the mind of perceivers, as well as the manner and under which circumstances they are most likely to manipulate perceivers’ explicit behavior.
Numerous research and investigations were conducted on the topic of stereotype threat. In the articles connected to this paper, experiments were performed to see how stereotype threat affected test results. During tests some participants were exposed to variables that activated a negative stereotype while others were not. Those exposed to the negative stereotype had lower results. Therefore stereotype threat resulted in weaker performance. It is proven the threat exists but so...
Stereotypes are everywhere and can be about anyone. Generalized remarks about gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or age are common forms of stereotyping. Any time someone makes hasty groupings whether by race, gender or an individual and makes a blanket judgment about them is stereotyping. Military members are no different than society. One of the military's greatest assets is its diverse workforce but with diversity comes stereotypes. As a woman in the military, I frequently encounter stereotypes and have made hasty conclusions about others. This paper will discuss a few stereotypes that I have faced in the military.
Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.