Title: What are the consequences of stereotypes? - Getting Race Right
Headings: What are the consequences of stereotypes?
What are the consequences of stereotypes?
It’s so easy to see in an experiment
And so difficult to see in real life
Stereotypes influence how we think about other people
Stereotypes influence how we behave toward other people
Stereotypes perpetuate inequality and place a significant burden on those affected
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Content: No harm done, in this case. But what if we use “within-group scales” when thinking about people in other ways? It’s like describing a Black person as “articulate.” It can be a back-handed compliment, saying, in effect, “You speak well—for someone who’s Black. You string words together coherently in a sentence. I don’t expect that of people like you.” It’s insulting, of course, to hold people of color to lower standards, complimenting them for levels of performance that would not elicit compliments if they were White. It also provides them with false feedback about their strengths and weaknesses. Just one more point here: Unless we are highly prejudiced, we don’t usually stereotype people in the complete absence of supporting information.