Stereotypes, as we have come to understand, are assumptions that some individual

Question

Stereotypes, as we have come to understand, are assumptions that some individuals have about certain groups. Stereotypes can span across race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual preference, and other areas. We have also come to understand that individuals within these different groups face stereotype threat, or the risk of people feeling they are conforming to the stereotypes that exist about their social group. In your initial discussion post for this unit consider the impact that stereotype threat can have on an individual and respond to the questions below:

What influence might stereotype threat have on an individual? What might this influence in their life? Why?

What would be the importance of having conversations across different social groups about how stereotype threat impacts them? Would a conversation of this nature be beneficial? Why or why not?

What steps could be taken to change the influence that stereotype threats have within a cultural group?

Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

Explanation / Answer

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the response based on your personal views if necessary.

(Answer) There are typically two types of individuals, ones who conform and ones who do not. The individuals who do not conform would usually behave based on their individual personality and would not usually conform to stereotypical behaviour.

However, there are individuals who knowingly or even inadvertently conform to what is required of them over time. Such individuals enforce stereotypes even if the bases of these actions have no cultural or even scientific connotations.

For instance, if a woman is a decent driver, she conforms to her own skills. However, if a woman makes an error while driving, and attributes her error to being a woman driver, she gives the stereotype a little validity even though gender does not influence the parts of the brain that are ancillary to driving.

Furthermore, this behaviour would influence their life by influencing the people around them. If this woman would reference her driving error to being a woman, her friends who observe her will base their opinion on her beliefs. They, in turn, would probably have the stereotype enforced that women are probably bad drivers. This is a simple example of crowd behaviour that is at play.

How a single individual behaves could probably influence an entire crowd. This is why it is necessary to mix about with different social groups without any preconceived notions. Conversations about the impact of stereotypes in one’s life are essential because crowd behaviour can have both bad and good influences. Therefore it is essential that the influences come from knowledge, truth and compassion of another social group.

Such open conversations would deepen our knowledge about another group. We would know what kind of response is hurtful to them and we would avoid that behaviour. This would create an amorous environment as opposed to one full of animosity.

“Stereotype threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as a self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's social group (Steele & Aronson, 1995).

*1)The term, stereotype threat, was first used by Steele and Aronson (1995) who showed in several experiments that Black college freshmen and sophomores performed more poorly on standardized tests than White students when their race was emphasized. When race was not emphasized, however, Black students performed better and equivalently with White students. The results showed that performance in academic contexts can be harmed by the awareness that one's behavior might be viewed through the lens of racial stereotypes.”

*2) The best way to combat stereotype threat is to convey that diversity is valued. For instance, communicate a multicultural ideology that explicitly values diversity (Purdie-Vaughns et al., 2008) When there is a common belief that no race is greater than the other and every race is special in their own way, there will be no room for incubation of insecurities and stereotype would not be a threat anymore.

*1) (Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995, November). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. )

*2)( Stanford.edu., Empirically Validated Strategies to Reduce Stereotype Threat.)

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse S
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.