Stereotyping

Imagine yourself on an airplane, and a group of Muslims or Arabs just boarded. All the men are wearing Turbans. An initial thought could be fear of terrorism. The fear of the 9/11 attack, society has guided us to believe that those men and women are terrorists. Often, you find yourself in a stereotype or stereotyping. This is a very negative habit and it has managed to weasel its way into social acceptance. Stereotyping is a form of pre-judgment that is prevalent in today’s society (McLeod, 2008). Bias is the point that resonated with me because of its advantage and disadvantage in the community

The idea of stereotyping can be difficult to understand. When does stereotyping develop? According to Amber Moore, “new research suggests that hearing generic language that describes people, like "girls cry, boys don't" can act a foundation for a child to learn stereotypes and cultural biases” (Moore, 2012). Stereotyping can begin as early as preschool. People tend to make generalizations and predictions of members of groups who fit the categories we use. There is nothing wrong with generalization as long as it is accurate. So what is the definition of stereotyping exactly? According to the article, Logically Fallacious, Bo Bennett describes stereotyping as “the general beliefs that we use to categorize people, objects, and events while assuming those beliefs are accurate generalizations of the whole group” (Bennett, 2013). In other words we are automatically assuming something by examples such as, color, gender, weight and so on. Assumption itself can then lead to discrimination.

First, bias is the point that resonated with me because of its disadvantage in the community. With discrimination, communication, especially in the work field, can be affected. Stereotyping can plague interracial communications. According to Alder and Proctor, “surveys of college student attitudes show that many blacks characterize whites as ‘demanding’ and ‘manipulative’, where as whites characterize blacks as ‘loud’ and ‘ostentatious” (Alder and Proctor, 2011). Stereotypes like these can easily hamper relationships, personal and professional. For example, an African American employee may keep distance from the white employees if he or she assumes they are demanding. Stereotyping can be easy when society basically teaches you how to act. I am in the Army and many people such as new friends or others I am just meeting automatically assume; girl in the Army equals lesbian or gay, or I am afraid of her she is going to beat me up because she is in the Army. For example, my male friend says to me do you want to fight, jokingly, then laugh and say just kidding you will probably beat the crap out of me army girl. Saul McLeod from Simply Psychology expresses that, “by stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have” (McLeod,