High School Stereotypes Essay

A stereotype is a fixed set of beliefs upon of a certain group of individuals who share common traits. Stereotypes can be classified into a wide range of categories such as: race, culture, ethnicity, gender, social or economic status, and religion. A stereotype has to do with a group of people rather than an individual. Most stereotypes are biased and untrue. Stereotypes often lead to prejudice, meaning that one acts a certain way due to the fixed beliefs they have toward a certain group of individuals. Although stereotypes often have a negative connotation, psychology says that we need to put people into these groups in order for our brains not to overload on information. I was recently insulted by a woman who made a very rude stereotype about Mexicans. It has definitely impacted my life and the way I view and act towards others.

There are both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to stereotypes. One advantage would be the fact that stereotypes allow us to respond faster because of similar experiences, while one disadvantage would be that we make generalizations instead of seeing the differences among individuals. Although stereotypes are mostly negative,  there are some that may convey something

Stereotyping occurs when a person assumes that every member of a society or subculture has the same characteristics or traits. Whenever we make judgements about people without knowing them, we are stereotyping them. There are various types of stereotypes, but the most common ones are racial stereotypes and gender stereotypes. Race, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation are the main factors of stereotyping. All Blacks are great basketball players and All Muslims are terrorist are examples of Racial Stereotypes. All women like the pink color and all men like cars are examples of Gender Stereotypes. All Indians are spiritual and All Latinos dance well are examples of Nationality Stereotypes. People might stereotype me as I am spiritual because

Stereotypes separate people, and give them a fixed mentality towards a certain group of people. Sister Rose Thering witnessed stereotypes when she was taught that the Jewish people were malicious for killing Christ. Nevertheless, she strived to prevent prejudice directed towards Jews. I am a member of the Peer Leadership club in my school, and I have done activities with other students that discourage negative behavior associated with bigotry and bullying.

Stereotypes form because of people unintentionally passing on social information to one another (Martin, Hutchison, Slessor, Urquhart, Cunningham, Smith, 2014). Information that is generally complex gets passed onto others who unwillingly select simple traits creating categories for people (Martin, 2014). Whether it be our own family members, teachers, peers, the media, etc., who pass the idea of stereotypes on to us it is almost impossible to avoid any of the information. Research suggest that stereotypes begin with slight aspects of the truth that over time explodes into overwhelming ideas of what others should or should not be (Jacobs, 2014). Stereotype inconsistent information is any information that does not conform with societies general idea of stereotypes (Kashima, Lyons, & Clark, 2013).

In today’s society, individuals and groups are labeled with either positive or negative stereotypes. People encounter stereotypes everyday and everywhere. It is the picture people paint in their minds when approaching a group or individual when in fact it may be different in reality. Stereotypes affect a person’s way of living and thinking either in a negative or positive way. Stereotypes are based on truth but in an exaggerated way, while misconceptions are formed from having stereotypes.

In class we talked about what a stereotype is, it is a view of a person or group of people that is normally false and can be positive or negative. For example, we talked about how Chinese people are all super smart, and we talked about how Mexicans makes a lot of tacos. These are a few stereotypes we discussed in our groups in class but we came to a conclusion that the more people stereotype about a specific group the more problems we could have in the long run. For instance, if someone takes it the wrong way the person who said it could be put into a bad position.

All Asians are good at math, all blondes are dumb, all Muslims are terrorists - these are all common stereotypes. Without even realizing it, stereotypes have undeniably played an enormous role in individual lives. Minds seem to already set a certain image in them based on the people they encounter. People judge others by their skin tone, ethnicity, and physical appearance unconsciously, and this have been proven by many social experiments. Of course, though these stereotypes might be accurate at times, there are situations where they are completely defied.

Stereotypes can help people out in many different ways such as helping people be seen as not just a category. It can make people be seen as not a man or woman but a man or woman who has done things. These stereotypes can be seen also as a way to encourage a higher standard of people. The people can learn from these stereotypes and turn them to the opposite of what the stereotypes says. At the same time stereotypes can be used to help people respond to different situations.

I agree with the author Claude M. Steele because I think the effect of stereotyping have on someone is that it strips the person of their individuality and put them in a group that they don’t belong in. it’s make people make assumptions about others based on age, gender, and appearance and make it’s hard to get to know that people for who they are. If a person try to prove someone wrong about a stereotyping than the other person might call them racist or be rude to them. So they just let people to say a negative stereotype about them even if it not true.

Today, we are living in a very complex social environment. In today’s society, people are stereotyped in many different ways depending which category an individual is located in. Haven’t you been stereotyped at some point in your life? Or you may have stereotyped someone without even noticing it. Stereotyping is actually more serious than we thought and it is becoming a major problem in our society today.

Society has been influenced by the way in which people identify themselves and one another. Some of those influences are positive, while some are negative. Stereotypes are people’s prejudices toward the people in minority groups that are not fully understood by the majority of society. Hence, stereotypes make people wrongly consider some individuals as the epitomes of a whole group of people. Therefore, the identities, opportunities and decision-making of different individuals of the minor groups are limited.

In today 's society we encounter and face numerous problems that can be solved. In everyday life we as human beings walk around giving other individuals stereotypes without realizing that we are doing so. One of Society 's biggest problems that we are facing right now is stereotyping people.

Stereotypes have been around for decades, and are still prominent today. In today’s society, everybody stereotypes one another, but will not admit that they do. Stereotypes can either be positive or negative. Usually stereotypes are used in a negative approach and can be degrading to an individual. Misconceptions are also used by individuals and can be harmful and unreasonable.

Since the concept of stereotyping holds a broad scope, the essay will narrow down the focus to ethnic groups and their culture. If we assume that the use of stereotypes helps us to gain an understanding of the world, we may establish different profiles and characterizations on certain groups of people. For example: Jews are greedy, Muslims are terrorists, black people are criminals, Americans are obese, homosexuals are weak and so on. These assumptions are typical examples and have become so common today, that people may mistake them to be correct classifications of the certain groups and types of individuals, because they have been misunderstood or generalized due to one incident as well as influenced by certain factors.