Title: Stereotypes | Simply Psychology
Headings: Stereotypes
Stereotypes
Racial Stereotypes
Katz and Braly (1933) – Racial Stereotyping
Research Evaluation
Stereotype Threat
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Content: therefore we think things about people that might not be true (i.e. make generalizations). The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing (i.e. thinking) we have to do when we meet a new person. Stereotypes lead to social categorization, which is one of the reasons for prejudiced attitudes (i.e. “them” and “us” mentality) which leads to in-groups and out-groups. Positive examples of stereotypes include judges (the phrase “sober as a judge” would suggest this is a stereotype with a very respectable set of characteristics), overweight people (who are often seen as “jolly”) and television newsreaders (usually seen as highly dependable, respectable and impartial). Negative stereotypes seem far more common, however. Racial Stereotypes
Racial Stereotypes
Researchers have found that stereotypes exist of different races, cultures or ethnic groups. Although the terms race, culture and ethnic groups have different meanings, we shall take them to mean roughly the same thing at the moment. The most famous study of racial stereotyping was published by Katz and Braly in 1933 when they reported the results of a questionnaire completed by students at Princeton University in the USA. They found that students held clear, negative stereotypes – few students expressed any difficulty in responding to the questionnaire.