Stereotypes

Introduction

In social psychology, a stereotype is a certain general perception that people have about some specific categories of people. It is a fixed thought about all things in a group. Stereotypes ignore the complexity and variety of individuals in real life. Of course, it is not the only bad thing; when a person is faced with the same situation in life, he or she can react quickly and accordingly (the way a person greets a new colleague changes when he or she recognizes that the new colleague is from Japan) .

Source：https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/image-of-typical-welfare-recipient-linked-with-racial-stereotypes.html

In what ways do stereotypes affect the way communicate between people?

The impact of stereotypes on communication actually has two sides. Positive effects, as mentioned above, can simplify the cognitive process (perceiving things in a one-side approach). Negative effects can be more diverse, such as placist, racist, gender bias, age discrimination etc. This can cause harm to others as well as to oneself.

The impact of stereotype on employment job-seeking

It is common in hiring environments for stereotypes to influence recruitment outcomes. Therefore based on the stereotypes that recruiters have of candidates, the way they communicate with each other may also change.
Appearance stereotypes are widespread in people’s lives and include information such as physical appearances and clothing. During the recruitment process, recruiters create simple and fixed impressions of candidates with different levels of appearance and subconsciously give higher ratings to candidates with better appearance.
For example, when a candidate comes to an interview dressed in a sloppy outfit, the recruiter may subconsciously focus on his personal work habits, such as his ability to arrive at work on time or his strong sense of teamwork. This may result in the candidate’s qualifications being overlooked to some extent.

Effect on making friends

A university is like a small social environment. People from different cultures have distinct boundaries and stereotypical attitudes. Everyone is in the same classroom together but not necessarily friends with everyone.
Group activities do not necessarily reduce tensions or prejudices in groups, and there is research evidence to suggest that people prefer to interact with people who are similar to them(Homans, 1950). For example, being of a similar age, being from the same country, etc.

Personal Experience

In the year 2020, I was just getting ready to enter university. When I was choosing my major, I was basically sure that I wanted to enter the Internet industry in the future and chose the major of Computer Science. But some of my relatives expressed their disapproval and questioning attitude towards my decision: “Can you be good at computer science as a girl?”, “Computer science should be chosen more by boys, right?”. But the louder their doubts became, the more I was convinced that I wanted to prove to them that there was nothing wrong with girls studying computer science.

In fact, many girls also doubt their own abilities because of these stereotypes. When I browse a social media platform, I often see some girls posting questions like “Is computer science major suitable for female students”.

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What are the implications of such events occurring in my social life?

I believe that stereotyping is a bad phenomenon in social interaction and is a disrespectful attitude towards others. Although we cannot easily change others’ thoughts, we should not become negative because of the threat of stereotypes against us from outside. In the social life, these negative stereotypes can spill over into myself and all I can do is to improve myself and prove to those who judged me that they are wrong. At the same time, friendly communication with others can also go some way to eliminating stereotypes.

Reference

Østreng, D. (2001). Does togetherness make friends. Stereotypes and intergroup contact on multiethnic-crewed ships. Tønsberg: Vestfold College Publication Series/Paper, 2.
Cardwell, Mike (1999). Dictionary of psychology. Chicago Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 978-1579580643.
Homans, G. (1950) The Human Group, New York: Harcourt Brace.