What is a stereotype?
A stereotype is a representation that is made about an individual or group of people based on the way they present themselves. Associating appearances with groups of people and making assumptions about their personalities and values.
Tessa Perkins identifies such assumptions:
- Stereotypes are not always negative
- Not always about minority groups or the less powerful
- They can be held about one's own group
- They are not rigid or unchanging
- They are not always false
People assume that stereotypes are aimed at and targeted towards the less powerful but this is not always the case, we can make assumptions and stereotypes about upper class minorities in the same way they would make assumptions about lower class people.
They can be held about our own groups, for example collectively as a representation of people we are based as a group within Wyke College, within our own group we stereotype people, even though we all belong to the same institution and hold the same ideologies as a whole, within the group we stereotype based on our assumptions.
People either hold stereotypes of a group (believe them to be true) or not. This can lead to negative behaviour or wrong assumptions. Because someone holds a stereotype of a group, his or her behaviour towards a member of that group can be predicted.
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