Title: Overcoming Racial Stereotypes // University Counseling Center // University of Notre Dame
Headings: Overcoming Racial Stereotypes
Overcoming Racial Stereotypes
What Are Racial Stereotypes?
How Do We Develop Racial Stereotypes?
Are Our Racial Stereotypes Harmful?
How Do We Overcome Our Racial Stereotypes?

Content: We develop our racial stereotypes in a variety of ways. On a very simple level, it’s human nature to categorize people. It’s our way of making a complex world simpler. From an early age, we learn to place people and objects into categories. However, when we’re very young, we tend to put less of an emphasis on attributing values to these categories. As we grow older and are influenced by parents, peers, and the media, our tendency to label different racial groups as superior/good or inferior/bad increases significantly. Additionally, the less contact we have with a particular racial group, the more likely we are to have negative feelings about the group. Any negative experiences that we have with a member of a particular group will strengthen our racial stereotypes and create fears about particular races. Based on our fears, we develop an us-versus-them mentality that tends to be self-protective in nature. As a result, we miss opportunities to learn and thrive from our differences.