Stereotyping :: Psychology Stereotyping Stereotype Essays

StereotypingStereotyping is a form of pre judgement that is as overriding in todays society as it was 2000 years ago. It is a affectionate status that has stood the test of time and received much attention by social psychologists and philosophers alike. M some(prenominal) firees to, or theories of stereotyping have thus been raised. This essay evaluates the cognitive approach that categorisation is an essential cognitive do by that inevitably leads to stereotyping. Hamilton (1979) calls this a depressing dilemma.Browns (1995) comment of stereotyping through prejudice is the holding of derogatory social attitudes or cognitive beliefs, the verbalism of negative affect, or the display of hostile or discriminatory deportment towards members of a group on account of their membership to that group. This definition implies that stereotyping is mainly a group process, through the individuals psyches within that group. A further belief of stereotyping, defined by Allport (1954) as t hinking ill of others without warrant, is that people make their mind up without any personal experience. This pre judgement around a whole group is thus transferred to the stigmatisation of any individuals in that group. It is these ideas that the essay aims to evaluate, through the cognitive process of categorisation and the above definitions that bring about three distinct features of stereotyping, that our experience go off be demonstrated through.The first trait of stereotyping is over-generalisation. A publication of studies conducted found that different combinations of traits were associated with groups of different ethnic and national origin (Katz and Braly, 1933). However, stereotyping does not imply that all members of a group are judged in these ways, sound that a typical member of a group can be categorised in such judgements, that they possess the characteristics of the group. Still, when we talk of a group, we do so by imagining a member of that group.The secon d feature and characteristic of stereotyping is the exaggeration of the difference between ones own group (the in-group) and the other group (the out-group). This can be traced back to the work of Tajfel during the 1950s - the accentuation principle (Tajfel, 1981). Tajfels work was specifically on physical stimuli, and concluded that judgements on such stimuli are not do in isolation, but in the context of other factors. Applied socially - a judgement about an out-group relies upon other factors surrounding the judgement in question, as well as making a statement about the in-group and the relationship between the two groups.