Stereotypes

Notes

Claim

Stereotypes are when we try to use Heuristics are mental shortcuts enabling fast automatic decisions to gain information about a person without having to invest time and energy in getting to know them.

Explanation

We infer (real or imagined) qualities of the group on the individual Diversity of perspectives strengthens decision-making and understanding, or group together people based on (real or imagined) shared qualities Distinguishing appearance from authentic substance reveals hidden conflicts. This is a built-in mechanism in our mind designed to make our social awareness easier, and less costly on the brain.

Stereotypes can also be self inflicted. Like a Belief alone can produce real effects, if we believe the stereotypes of the group we are a member of, it might become true (for us).

Why it matters

Stereotypes are usually negative, and lead to a Group membership biases perception and shapes intergroup hostility mentality, where we dehumanize and create negative stereotypes on members of the other group.

Examples

For example, if girls believe that they are bad at math, then they will actually perform worse than man.

Supporters

The halo effect is the same shortcut running at the individual level — one good trait gets generalized into an overall impression, the same way one group trait gets generalized onto everyone in it.

Opposers

Real listening means dropping this shortcut entirely — forgetting what you think you know about someone's group and focusing on the person actually in front of you.

Open questions

Visual