Stereotypes are the devil! (Updated)

I came across this video today and thought it fit very well into the message I am trying to convey. The video is about a phenomenon called "Stereotype Threat". The author of this research is a social psychologist and the Dean of the School of Education at Standford University, Claude Steele. Watch it below:

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Stereotypes are defined by different people in different ways.

Merriam Webster defines a stereotype as:

Something conforming to a fixed or general pattern; especially: a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgement.

The authors at ChangingMinds.org describe a stereotype as:

Generalizations about a group of people whereby we attribute a defined set of characteristics to this group. These classifications can be positive or negative, such as when various nationalities are stereotyped as friendly or unfriendly.

 Chances are, we've all heard at least a couple stereotypes. Some examples include:

• Women are bad drivers
• White people can't dance
• Asians are good at math 

So, now that we have an idea of what a stereotype might sound like, let's look at some characteristics of a stereotype. Stereotypes are:

• Based on fixed, rigid ideas that support biases that we may or may not be aware we harbor.
• Associated with a group or category of people; virtually anything that would separate "us" from "them.
• Can seem flattering or disparaging; this is how we end up with stereotypes like "Asians are smart" or "People on welfare are lazy".
• Not true

So where do they come from? Well, it may be easier to ask where don't they come from. The socialization process is where we learn virtually everything about our social lives including our values, beliefs, societal norms, and what kinds of behavior are appropriate. The following are examples of different sources of socialization:

• Family
• Media
• Institutions
• Commmunity

So what? What a great question. See, if stereotypes are left unchallenged, people often become accustomed to them. This level of comfort in viewing a category of people as all possessing a certain characteristic or set of traits results in that group losing their individual identities, which is replaced with a larger, less defined, social identity; the process is known as deindividuation. The problem here is that the social identity gained is from the perspective of the viewer, not those being viewed. Because the viewer is focused on the stereotypical trait or behavior, and not on the individual, the person being stereotyped becomes dehumanized. Few people probably appreciate what that means more than psychologist Philip Zimbardo. The Standford Prison experiment conducted by Zimbardo shed light on a nasty, dark little secret about people: our potential to do heinous things to one another. And wouldn't you know that this potential is enhanced when people are dehumanized. Known as the Lucifer Effect, Philip Zimbardo has examined this aspect of human behavior as well.
Some of you may be asking what stereotypes have to do with all of this? Let me bring your attention to a reference I use fairly often: Allport's Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination. You can read a more detailed explanation of the scale on a previous post.

The scale outlines the process of how bias and prejudice evolve into discrimination and further into acts of violence. This process occurs when the behavior at the lower levels are left unchecked and become social norms. Stereotypes fall directly in line with disparaging terms. Even when the stereotype is positive, it often results in a negative outcome for those being stereotyped. An example of this can be seen by school teachers who believe the stereotype about all Asians being good at math. The teacher buys into this stereotype, so less tutoring is offered to Asian students.

The point is that by perpetuating stereotypes, we help to foster an environment in which it is easier to discriminate against one another. Once members of a group overcome any objections, be they personal or social, to discriminating against another group, it becomes easier for members of that group to graduate into the next higher level.

If one still has reservations about this line of reasoning, perhaps it would be of benefit to compare Allport's scale to the one used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to describe the progression of hate crimes.

 The progression is titled the Seven Stage Hate Model and describes how hate groups form, progress into prejudicial behavior before entering into violence. The similarity between this model and Allport's scale is evident.

So, now that we know all of this, what can we do about stereotypes? The answer is deceptively simple: don't use them and challenge others who do. It may not be easy, but since when is anything easy that is truly worth doing?