What are the dansgers of stereotyping people Essay

What are the dansgers of stereotyping people - Essay Example Stereotyping infers a considerable amount of information about individuals beyond their apparent superficial qualities and generates expectations about their expected behavior in various situations. Stereotypes are frequently based around common aspects of a particular group including profession and occupation, sex, religious beliefs and practices, age, race and ethnicity, dressing, speech and body shape (Macrae, Stangor & Hewstone 8). There are dangers associated with stereotyping such as promoting discrimination and bias because stereotypes lack accuracy, applying stereotypes broadly such that individual characteristics are overlooked, making serious misjudgments about people and distorting the view of a particular group and consequently damaging relationships. One danger of stereotyping is that it takes on universal meaning, being applied to all members of a particular group. If this occurs with lack of accuracy, stereotyping not only becomes damaging, but also affects the way those who are thought to belong to the particular group being stereotyped are talked about and treated. It is apparent that how a group of people is seen influences in part how they are treated. Stereotypes may come to be the accepted way of thinking about members of a particular group, with no acknowledgement of diverse individual characteristics. Stereotyping can result in misunderstandings, which, if not challenged, can severely damage relationships among different groups. An example of this is the race riots and violence of 1980s (Brunsch 9).Stereotyping results in discrimination and persecution of the oppressed groups. For instance, the stereotyping of Asian Americans has led to denial of their civil rights and even homicide such as the killing of Chinese American Vincent Chin by individuals who thought he was a Japanese American (Brunsch 10). Moreover,