Stereotype 18 : Stereotype Overcoming and Use

Stereotype Overcoming and Use

To overcome stereotypes, then we need to understand what stereotypes are first. A stereotype is a fixed impression about a certain type of person formed by social classification according to gender, race, age or occupation, etc. It is a set of ideas about the characteristics, attributes and behavior of a specific group or a cognitive representation of the characteristics or attributes associated with a social group and its members.

To make good use of stereotypes, first of all, we need to recognize the necessity of overcoming stereotypes: in most cases stereotypes are not based on direct experience or factual material, but formed by prejudice or hearsay, so stereotypes are often inaccurate or even harmful, so we need to overcome them in our daily life and interpersonal communication.

Secondly, we should always remind ourselves not to let momentary stereotypes influence our judgment, and in the process of dealing with and making friends, we should give ourselves and others more understanding and support, more time and patience to make judgments, and always remind ourselves to be sensible and not to be swayed by stereotypes.

Finally, we should get rid of old habits of thinking in the process of dealing with things and making friends. Everyone lives and works to form their own kind of thinking habits, the rapid development of society, the rapid change of information let us understand some of the old habits of thinking, is often the beginning of the fall. So we need to keep pace with the times, always update our thinking habits, adapt to the development of society and lifestyle changes, and get rid of the old thinking patterns.

For individuals, stereotypes can save cognitive resources, make judgments more quickly, and have an important guiding role in subsequent behavior. When people meet other individuals or groups, they instinctively want to know the behavioral intention and ability of the other party, and they want to know whether the other party is friendly or hostile, and stereotypes can help people make judgments. The media and advertisements can take advantage of this stereotype effect to better convey messages and persuade customers.

Scientists believe that it is impossible to predict anyone's level of aggression, mathematical ability, activity level or emotional expression simply based on their gender, and that gender differences only become apparent when calculating the water average of a group.

As individuals develop, many people choose careers based on gender role criteria, such as in librarianship, elementary education, and nursing, where the proportion of women is higher than that of men, as in Figure 18-1, and in science and technical fields that require a mathematical or scientific background, where the proportion of men greatly exceeds that of women. More developmentalists believe that gender role stereotypes create self-fulfilling prophecies that increase the cognitive differences between men and women, causing men and women to follow different career paths.

The best way to deal with stereotypes is not to prove the opposite in action, because the end result is to label yourself as "oh, he's an exception" in the eyes of outsiders, rather than "the public's idea is wrong" as we would expect. ".

Sometimes this can even backfire: we become an example of outsiders believing more strongly in the truth of stereotypes, because they think of our actions as a way to protect ourselves, a way to separate ourselves from the "stigma". The next time some other stereotype is mentioned, we will be made a laughing stock and told to prove it again.

When faced with an annoying stereotype that you have heard a million times, the most effective way to deal with it is to explain it! Explain in the fastest, simplest and most convincing way possible, because only then can we extend the conversation to everyone and make our idea a generalization rather than limiting it to us as individuals.

(18-1)

Reference.

Zhao Min, The influence and control of stereotypes in interviews [J], News Outpost, 2008(08)