This article explores racial and gender stereotypes from an educational point of view. The authors of the article are two prolific psychology scholars. Carry Smith is a Ph.D. candidate at the Mississippi State University while Li-Chung Hung is an assistant professor at a university in Taiwan.
The article focuses on the prevailing stereotype that females are not as capable as males in math and sciences. The article engages in literature review to highlight instances of negative stereotyping and offer helpful solutions on how to eliminate such stereotypes.
The article unravels how math scores of women and minorities are affected by negative stereotypes. This article offers helpful insights into how racial and gender stereotypes affect math and science performances although it has some deficiencies in quality.
The article begins by conducting a literature review with the aim of tracing the history of stereotype threat. The authors note that the number of women who attain higher education is low compared to their population.
For instance, the authors claim that even though women constitute fifty percent of the population, only about twenty-one percent of women end up getting a Bachelor of Science degree. The authors then continue by offering more statistics on the connection between stereotypes and math abilities.
Some of the listed causes of stereotype threat include the affirmative action, discrimination within the society, and socioeconomic issues. At this point, the article delves into the stereotype theory and its connection to science and math performances.
The authors note that in the past several interventions have been aimed at overturning the impacts of the stereotype threat. While some of these efforts have been successful, others have failed to yield the desired results.
The authors classify the stereotype threat into two cases; the one addressing the academic performance of minorities and another one focusing on how the female gender performs in a male dominated world (Smith and Hung 245). The article then concludes by listing some of the expected implications of the research.
The articles authors have done a commendable job when it comes to the articles structure. The articles literature review and its accompanying detailed research are very helpful to the readers. The articles abstract provides a precise overview of the addressed topics and the authors intentions.
Moreover, the research question of the article is adequately explored in the paper. The authors manage to provide a satisfying response to their research question. Some of the literature that is used to support the research question covers almost all the aspects of the stereotype threat.
In addition, most aspects of math and science performances among females and minorities are adequately explored. The articles structure reflects on the professionalism of the authors and their expansive knowledge on this subject.
One of the most noticeable deficiencies in this article is the number of sources that have been used. Although this is a research paper, it is still possible to include too many sources on it. This paper uses too many sources for its research, therefore making it hard for the readers to synthesize the provided information.
In addition, using too many sources could be confusing to the readers. The number of sources used in a research paper should not compromise the papers coherency or confuse the readers. The authors should have edited out some of their sources according to each sources relevance.
Using too many sources does not add to the credibility of the topic. In some instances, using too many sources for the paper could imply that the authors are overcompensating for other shortcomings in their work. Moreover, some of the sources that are used by the authors do not relate to the paper on an advanced scholarly level.
In some cases, only the topic of these sources is similar to that of the article and not their subject matter. For example, the study by Levy and Dweck (1163) is quite relevant to the stereotype threat theory. However, the study by Liben and Signorella (11) is quite trivial and it does not have an important connection to stereotype threat.
Therefore, the latter should not be categorized in the same level as the former study. The authors should have left out the sources that are not relevant to the core subject matter of the article. This would have given the paper a smooth flow and made it easier to synthesize.
One of the most important aspects of this article is the fact that the authors were able to list both past and future interventions of stereotype threats. These interventions are important to most of the articles intended readers.
Stakeholders in gender and education matters would find these interventions helpful (Thomas and Stevenson 165). The future interventions against stereotype threats are sound and most stakeholders would be interested in trying them.
The articles authors worked hard to gather as many research materials as possible for their article. However, this action ended up putting too much baggage on the paper. The authors could have tried to manage their sources better by leaving out the less relevant sources.
Nevertheless, the authors are able to provide an adequate answer to their research question. Overall, the article is a good read and it has a wide audience base.
Works Cited
Levy, Sheri R., and Carol S. Dweck. The Impact of Childrens Static versus Dynamic Conceptions of People on Stereotype Formation. Child Development 70.5 (1999): 1163-1180. Print.
Liben, Lynn S., and Margaret L. Signorella. Gender-related Schemata and Constructive Memory in Children. Child Development 9 (1980): 11-18. Print.
Smith, Cary Stacy, and Li-Ching Hung. Stereotype Threat: Effects on Education. Social Psychology of Education 11.3 (2008): 243-257. Print.
Thomas, Duane E., and Howard Stevenson. Gender Risks and Education: The particular Classroom Challenges for Urban low-income African American Boys. Review of Research in Education 33.1 (2009): 160-180. Print.
Gender stereotypes exist across all cultures and all societies. If an individual abides by stereotype threat, they are likely to perform poorly in any subsequently associated challenge. Various studies have been conducted mainly focusing on examining effects of stereotypes activation on performance.
Past studies have revealed that performance can be depressed when individuals feel that the group to which they belong is negatively stereotyped with respect to that area; in our case, women are poor performers in mathematics. This study sought to investigate whether activating implicit gander stereotypes in female can influence performance in mathematics.
As a result, it was hypothesized that increasing the salience of female identity stereotypes decreases performance in mathematics. The study used two groups of 50 randomly selected 2nd year female students each. The participants were subjected to two different prime conditions.
One was a gender based prime where they watched a two minute You tube clip from Part of Your World while the other was nature based where the participants watched dolphins playing near the shore from BBCs Planet Earth. Participants later took a two minutes 10 questions mathematics test.
The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and particularly the mean. The results revealed that the participants who were subjected to the gender based prime performed relatively poorly compared to their counterparts on the nature prime. This thus indicated that actually activating implicit gender stereotypes in females influences performance in mathematics. The study therefore illustrates the negative impact of gender stereotyping and media representation of females.
Influence of Activating Implicit Gender Stereotypes in Females on Performance in Mathematics
The aspect of sex differences in education is one of the most researched areas concerning gender and education. Particularly, a male-female characteristic versus performance comparison takes centre stage. In their book The psychology of sex differences, Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) reviewed 1400 research articles on sex differences.
According to the authors, it is hard to underpin the role of stereotyping on individuals development of behavior or cognitive sex differences. Nonetheless, they concluded that some observable patterns of behavior thrive in areas of verbal and mathematical skills where girls are better in the former and boys are good at the latter.
Gender patterns in performance on various subjects vary from country to country. For instance an assessment by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Iceland revealed that , girls have proven to be superior to boys in three major areas namely mathematics, science and reading.
In Ireland however, the Irish PISA revealed that boys outperformed girls in proficiency in mathematics. Similar results were revealed in multiple choices questions and there was reduced anxiety about mathematics among boys as opposed to girls (OECD, 2004).
The International Assessment of Education Progress (IAEP) comparative study in 1991 showed that the differences in male and female socialization patterns in various societies, communities and cultures; as well as variations across time and space are the most significant factors influencing the development of gender differences in capabilities and attainment (Eurydice, 2010).
PISA 2003 pointed out that there were significantly small differences in performance among students in relation to gender. That is to say, males performed slightly better than girls (OECD, 2001) did. Basing on the above literature, the effects of stereotypes on performance and specifically on females clearly exists.
However, studies on priming have revealed that in the view of commencement of stereotypes and their forthcoming self-fulfillment, unconstructive self-related stereotypes are actually hazardous (Wheeler and Petty, 2001). Thus, unexpected fulfillment of the stereotype by the involved subject strengthens it, putting into play a fatal cycle of self-continuation (Ambady, Paik, Steele, Owen-Smith and Mitchell, 2003).
There exists a gap in literature on whether effects of negative stereotyping can be counteracted once introduced to participants. A study by Stangor, Carr and Kiang (1998), reported that after stereotype activation on participants who were made to believe that they were good in word finding puzzle, the participants did not perform significantly better.
Thus, this indicates that stereotype activation may not have necessarily influenced their performance. To this effect, a study was carried out to find out if gender stereotype priming could actually influence performance in a mathematics test among female students. To achieve the study objective, the study hypothesized that increasing the salience of female identity stereotypes decreases mathematics performance by females.
Methods
The study used a cross sectional survey research design. This design allows researchers to collect data from a large sample, to use hypotheses and to get respondents opinions and feelings on issues relevant to the study (Kothari, 2008). More so, this design is cost effective, provides for generalization of the data collected and further allows for hypothesis testing while at the same time allowing the researcher to report respondents opinions, feelings, attitudes and propositions.
The population was represented in the study by a randomly selected sample of 100 students whose selection was based on Balians (1988) recommendations for determining an appropriate sample size. Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), describe a population as an entire group of individuals, events, or objects having a common observable characteristic. The population of study in this case was second year female students.
Balian recommends a sample size of 60 to 300 or at most an average of 200 respondents in a survey study with an alteration of 10%. To this effect, the researcher decided to use 100 cases for the study. They were split into two groups each containing 50 members. By flipping a coin, all female participants were randomly assigned to specific conditions. The first conditions were the gender prime condition where participants watched a two minutes clip on YouTube of Part of Your World.
The second prime condition was a nature prime in which participants watched a narration by David Attenborough, which was a clip of dolphins playing near the shore from the BBCs Planet Earth. This film does not present any gender stereotyping nor is there any mention of gender aspects.
The respondents were then given ten simple mathematics questions to answer within two minutes. The questions were developed with consultation with peers so as to ensure the validity of the data collection instrument. The data collected was analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 (Eurydice, 2010).
After the data had been collected, it was cleaned up, coded, and then entered into the computer program. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize and present the data in narrative, graphical and tabular form. Using descriptive statistics specifically the mean, frequencies and percentages, the study objectives were summarized, analyzed and reported.
Results and Discussion
Figure 1: Comparison of performance between the gender stereotype prime and nature prime.
The study revealed that on average, mathematics performance was depressed for participants in the gender stereotype prime condition. That is to say that the females who watched disneys Marmaid were likely to perform poorly in this subject (Refer to figure 1 above).
This could be interpreted to mean that female gender stereotypes may have been made salient and thus might have affected the participants self-concept and increased their anxiety. Past research results have revealed that girls more than boys have high anxiety with regard to mathematics. These results supported the observation by OECD, (2004) who noted that girls had higher anxiety regarding mathematics.
Similarly, the results supported the stereotype held about girls that they have low self-concept and self-efficacy. Thus, by priming them with stereotypes regarding them, they got anxious and could not see themselves as capable to deal with simple mathematical problems. Rather, they got anxious and thus could not perform to the expectation.
On the contrary, those that watched the BBCs nature clip performed averagely well. This can be attributable to the fact that, their self-efficacy was not affected and could handle the problem without any anxieties. OECD (2004) also reported such results that lack anxiety, high self-efficacy, and self-concept in Poland and Italy.
This study results have also differed with that conducted by Ambady et al. (2003). Their study revealed that as soon as it is initiated, the path of maladaptive, stereotype-congruent conduct as a result of stereotyping can be averted. On the contrary, this study has revealed that stereotype primed individuals performed worse off than their nature primed counterparts.
Most possibly, this occurred because the gender stereotype primed individuals were unable to disassociate themselves with the female category and thus there was a possibility of stereotype approval being more intimidating (Balian, 1988).
However, it is expected that the participants would have developed mechanisms to cope with the negative stereotype activation. As past research points out, there is more than one way to do this. This would include the following. First, as suggested by Steele (1997), making the stereotype irrelevant by misidentifying with it can help.
Secondly, indulging other salient identities the can alter the self-importance of a stereotype as well as individuals response to it as revealed by Stapel, Koomen and Spears, (1999). Thirdly, disregarding group based identity and bearing in mind a more individualistic perspective (Turner and Onorato, 1999).
Considering these researches in mind, if the salience of group identity in this case females is substituted with the salience of personal identity, the risks affiliated with negative stereotype priming could be reduced and performance changed to be illustrative of an individuals capacity and not the group to which they belong.
Thus, this study has demonstrated that such abilities of individuals distancing themselves with stereotypes associated with groups to which they belong are utterly impossible. Furthermore, the media representation of females in a gender stereotype actually affects their performance. This may be because most of the 2nd year females might have grown watching such Disney movies as the little Mermaid.
Conclusion
From the above research findings, it can be concluded that actually activating implicit gender stereotypes in female had a negative effect on their performance in mathematics. Furthermore, the females in this study were unable to employ the mechanisms as have been pointed out by other scholars that can be useful in reducing the negative effects of implicit stereotyping.
This also illustrates that actually media representation of females could have negative effects on their performance. In addition, females primed with gender stereotypes can perform poorly in mathematics.
Reference List
Ambady, N., Paik, S. K., Steele, J., Owen-Smith, A., & Mitchell, J. (2003). Deflecting negative self-relevant stereotype activation: The effects of individuation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40 (2004), 401-408.
Balian, E. S. (1988). How to design, analyze, and write doctoral or masters research. New York: University Press of America.
Kiang, L., Carr, C., & Stangor, C. (1998). Activating Stereotypes undermines task performance expectations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (1)75, 1191-1197.
Eurydice, K. (2010). Gender difference in educational outcomes: study on the measure taken and the current situation in Europe. Brussels: Education, Audiovisual, and Culture Executive Agency.
Kothari, C. (2008). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers.
Jacklin, C., & Maccoby, E. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Mugenda, A. B. & Mugenda, O. M. (2003). Research Methods. Quantitative And Qualitative Approaches. Nairobi: African Center for Technology Studies (ACTS).
OECD. (2004). Learning for Tomorrows World: First Results from PISA 2003. Paris: OECD.
Stapel, D., Koomen, W. & Spears, R. (1999). Framed and Misfortuned: Identity salience and the whiff of scandal. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2(29), 397-402.
Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: how stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 1(52), 613-629.
Turner, J., & Onorato, R. S. (1999). Social identity, personality, and self-concept: A self-categorization perspective. (2 ed.). The psychology of social self, 1(9), 11-46.
Wheeler, S. C., & Petty, R. (2001). The effects of stereotype activation on behavior: A review of possible mechanisms. Psychological Bulletin, 127(6), 797-826.
The phrase, Do not judge a book by its cover is probably one of the most ignored expressions in English societies. Instead of judging someone by the things they say or do, groups choose the easy way out and base their judgments on someones appearance.
The color of a persons skin or the clothing items one wears determines how one is treated, and thus perpetuates stereotypes. A new stereotype of hooded persons has emerged following the death of Trayvon Martin. The story of this seventeen year old reflects how society limits citizens ability to dress as they desire without being compartmentalized into an inaccurate and dangerous mould.
Trayvon Martins incident sparked off the hoodie movement following a news anchors assertion that his hoodie may have contributed to his death. Hundreds of thousands of people, including a US legislator, wore hoodies to protest against this new form of injustice.
The hoodie marches had a lot of racial undertones, but it is clear that the victims piece of clothing was the centre of attention in these campaigns. In order to understand why the hoodie is so important to the case, one must place the garment in context. The hoodie sometime solicits negative reactions owing to its tendency to hide the distinctiveness of the wearer. In most cases, the item of clothing will overlap with other stereotypes that build a case against the person.
For instance, issues of race, fear, delinquency and safety will arise when one sees a person with a hood. However, the case of Trayvon has not reinforced these stereotypes from the public; instead, the public has responded by challenging them and asking for justice. This kind of reaction demonstrates that the nation now understands that one must move beyond anothers appearance in order to know another person.
A number of individuals across social networking sites and other media outlets have tried to demystify the hoodie. These sources are quite useful in understanding the psychology and the social misgivings about the item of clothing. Many youth wear hoodies for practical reasons; they have no political agenda when choosing these types of clothes.
Many of them like the comfort and flexibility that they get when wearing them. In fact, hoodies strike the right balance between heavy winter jackets and light summer clothing. They are quite appropriate for those chilly days that are not cold enough for bulky jackets. In fact, even older individuals wear these clothes for comfort and warmth. Additionally, hoodies are conveniently located; they can be found in almost every major supermarket chain in the country.
On top of this, one may not have to part with a lot of money to acquire them. Consequently, it would be wrong to label a person as a delinquent, criminal, or a suspect because of their hoodie. Most of them are simply trying to stay warm. The product was created in order to offer protection against the wind, rain or cold. Many runners will wear hoods in the morning in order to protect their faces from the elements (Prosper 5).
Other people wear hoodies for less-practical reasons; to them, it is more of a fashion statement. High school goers, especially in Martins area wear these types of clothes all the time. Some of them have them in various designs, shapes and colors. In certain schools, the hoodie may be mistaken for a uniform. Indeed, this form of fashion is an expression of a young persons style.
It is a microscopic illustration of what that person is about, and has absolutely nothing to do with the individuals character. The danger lies in the people who make conclusions so easily without getting to know the wearer. Since the US is a pluralistic society, then it ought to have open-minded individuals who are ready to apply sound logic before judging others. Citizens need to move beyond the external appearance and use facts in order to come to these decisions.
Sometimes choosing the rational path over the irrational one can make the difference between the death or survival of another human being. Trayvon Martin would probably have been alive if his shooter Zimmerman had figured understood the practicality of wearing a hoodie when it was raining. He would have realized that this was just an external cover and had nothing to do with Martin as a person.
A number of individuals have a very twisted view of the world, including the person who shot the hooded victim. They tend to make assumptions about their own safety or a perceived threat on the basis of unfounded ideologies. Even the President himself stated that if he had a son, then he might have looked like or been in the same position as Trayvon. Categorizing people into groups based on their external appearances can lead to irrational actions that may even take away a persons life (Prosper 8).
If discrimination against people continues owing to their items of clothing, especially the hoodie, then the matter may spiral out of control. Some radicals may argue that hooded clothes should be outlawed in order to protect people from these wearers. However, this would be dealing with the problem in a very aggressive and misguided way. If people continue to discriminate against the wearing of hoodies, then it will send the wrong message to unbalanced people such as Zimmerman.
They will assume that it is alright to attack or even shoot a person because of what they have on. If the stereotype about hoodies was taken to the limit, then everything that criminals wear to conceal their identity should be banned, such as masks, stockings, shades and the like. It may be true that a number of liquor-store robberies are done by hooded individuals, but this is no excuse to make blanket statements about everyone in a hoodie.
Such a stereotype is just a reason for uninformed people to profile other individuals. If the same logic were applied to other items of clothing, then one would be justified to get nervous about a person wearing dark glasses or an individual driving with tinted glasses. One would become sinister about any item that conceals identies and would take away others right to do so.
A number of people argue that discrimination against hoodies is also another way of covering racial stereotypes. One can understand their point of view because the victim of this crime was a black male and the assailant was white. It may have been racially based or not; nonetheless, this scenario opens up the possibility of other racists who may use clothing as a disguise for their racist intentions.
They may select symbols that are largely associated with the targeted race or ethnic group and then use them as an excuse to commit hate crimes. If the country prides itself in democracy, then it should not allow this kind of discrimination to continue.
The hoodie movement has brought to light the pervasiveness of stereotypes in society today. It has shown how dangerous prejudices can be if thy are treated irrationally. While biases will always exist, it is what one does with them that reflects who one is. In fact the hoodie movement symbolizes a vital force in societys democratic space because it focuses on eliminating future excuses for injustice, which is quite commendable.
Work Cited
Prosper, Cheyenne. Chic and cheap: The symbolic hoodie . The Oracle. 2012. Web.
Every person has an ideal image that he considers as the perfect specimen of each gender. Oftentimes, these images can be so far out of the ordinary that there is absolutely no way that a real person can achieve these ideals regardless of how hard that person tries. It is because of these misguided personas that gender bashing takes place. While it is widely believed that men who gather in groups do nothing but bash women, that does not exempt women from this activity either. The truth is that male-bashing is also a reality and the article The Male Bashing Stereotype proves this.
Through this article, one can deduce that the image of the perfect male has evolved over time. However, the male evolution has never been geared towards perfection. Such a type of evolution does not exist. Problems about the image and capabilities of men arose because of the way gender power, ability, and skills beliefs have been handed down from generation to generation. Thereby affecting the way men view themselves and the way women view the men whom they deal with regularly as well.
Indeed, the male species has been given specific responsibilities and capabilities in our society. But men do not necessarily have to fall into these stereotypes. This article is highly biased towards seeing men in a very bad light for some reason or another and it shows in the way that the writer depicts the men she has met throughout her life.
The article fails to make mention of the fact that not all men can be depicted as bums, degenerates, and louts just because of their ages, stations in life, and types of social enjoyment. Men, just like women, pass through stages in life that teach them how to become real men. All of the mistakes and lack of social molding that they show women during their youth are not the stuff that dictates the kind of men they will be in the future.
It is not fair to depict men as maladjusted or self-centered, as they are portrayed in the article. Although there are certain types of men who tend to remain chid and adolescent like for most of their lives, the reality is that these are the men who learn the hard lessons in life and become the responsible male leaders in their respective fields in due course and time.
We have to accept that men love to live their lives. But that does not mean that they only have disrespect for the women they come across socially or in the learning or work environment. Instead, these men should be viewed as the social indicators of a persons ability to adjust to his environment. Learning to co-exist with men, regardless of their accomplishments or shortcomings in life is vital to the survival of the human race and further fuels the battle of the sexes.
Speaking of the battle of the sexes, it is my belief that the author of the article is one who is so female empowerment oriented that the author chooses to see only the negative on the opposite sex. One has to remember that each person will treat as they find. Therefore, if a woman wishes to command the respect of the male species, she must act in a manner that will make him respect her without the need for her to demand such.
The article wants us to believe that males are untrainable creatures who are only a step above the dog species. After all, women are viewed as cats, and males are viewed as dogs in some parts of the social world. Men in reality are really creatures who take their cue as to how to act around women themselves. Such a conclusion can be gleaned from the way the author unfairly projects the male to be socially inept creatures who need to always be drunk in order to function properly in life. Men, just like women, act the way their social circle dictates that they act. Nothing we ever see is reality. Everything is adjustable and changeable. Although the changes may not be permanent, the reality is that men are creatures of change as well. They just have to be told how they are expected to act.
I do not agree with the article insinuating that men spend most of their time thinking about sex and social activities alone. But then again the writer does admit that she is a feminist and she herself does not have any idea about the kind of man she would consider to be ideal. So, how can we say that she wrote an objective male-bashing stereotype paper?
Male bashing, just like female bashing, is not something that should be taken lightly and written about in such a light-hearted manner. Even though she tries to depict her views in a comedic way, the sharpness and intent of her words remain clear. In order to have written an objective article dealing with the male shortcomings, she must also have taken the time to balance it out by depicting the positive aspects of the male gender. After all, not all men are bad eggs and not all women are bad apples, right? It would not have hurt if she had mentioned that there were some exceptions to the rule. After all, there are some pretty good male catches out there that women can attest to.
Stereotypes refer to misleading perceptions labeled against a group of people or a certain way of doing things, which are flawed, and that misrepresent reality (Stangor, 2000, p.24).
Common stereotypes include negative perceptions against certain religions, gender, ethnic groups or a certain race. Stereotypes have adverse effects on victims. They encourage hatred, irresponsible behaviors, aggressiveness, lack of self-control and diminish motivation of individuals in certain situations (Stangor, 2000, p.28). Stereotypes are unethical and should be discouraged.
Common stereotypes
Three common stereotypes include the perception that Muslims are terrorists, Christians are ignorant, and that women are less intelligent than men. These stereotypes are unjustified because they lack scientific evidence to validate them.
They result from hatred and superiority complex by individuals or groups of individuals who harbor negative attitudes towards certain individuals or social groups (Stangor, 2000, p.43). Stereotypes are either positive or negative. However, they are baseless and unethical because they lack evidence to validate them.
The stereotype that Muslims are terrorists propagates the perception that Muslims are evil people and always act to destroy the world and harm people (McGarty et al, 2002, p.73). The media has played a significant role in propagating this stereotype. Individuals who perpetuate the stereotype claim that Islam supports murder in its teachings.
This stereotype is flawed because a decision to commit a crime is motivated by personal values and character, and not an individuals religion (McGarty et al, 2002, p.75). In addition, the teachings of Islam condemn murder and instead encourage peace. This stereotype leads to hatred and religious intolerance, which cause religious and political wars.
Another common stereotype is that Christians are ignorant. People who propagate this stereotype believe that Christians are ignorant because they ignore the validity of science (Chunnel, 2010, par3). In addition, they claim that Christians are evil because the Bible contains many stories that talk of war and violence.
This stereotype is flawed because there are so many Christians who believe in science. Christians who do not believe in science do so because they choose to believe what Christianity teaches without investigating to find the truth. Even though their Christian beliefs may contribute towards their refutation of science, not all Christians are ignorant. This stereotype causes religious intolerance and persecution.
The stereotype that women are less intelligent than men is a gender stereotype that is held by many people. People use the traditional concept of division of roles based on gender to propagate the stereotype (McGarty et al, 2002, p.79). Women were given easy tasks such as cooking, washing and taking care of children. On the other hand, men handled difficult tasks such as fending for their families and cultivation.
Mens ability to handle difficult tasks is the foundation of this stereotype. The stereotype is unfounded because in todays society, gender roles have changed and women are handling tasks that were considered masculine (McGarty et al, 2002, p.80). In addition, women have equal potential to success as me do. The large number of women in leadership roles is a proof that women are as intelligent as men are, and they can achieve whatever men can achieve.
Conclusion
Stereotypes refer to misleading perceptions labeled against a group of people or a certain way of handling responsibilities, which are flawed, and that misrepresent reality. Common stereotypes include perceptions against certain religions, gender, ethnic group or certain race. Stereotypes have lasting negative effects on victims. Common consequences of stereotyping include hatred, aggressiveness and lack of self-control.
McGarty, C., Yzerbty, V., and Spears, R. (2002). Stereotypes as Explanations: The Formation of Meaningful Beliefs about Social Groups. London: Cambridge University Press.
Stangor, C. (2000). Stereotypes and Prejudice: Key Readings. New York: Psychology Press.
One of the most enchanting novels in the American literature, the piece by Cahan offers a plunge into the world of the usual. All soaked with the binding routine, always repeating, always the same, the book is a perfect study of humans nature in terms of everyday life.
Although people tend to be original and outstanding, the routine and the mundane life take them back into the life of the ordinary. With help of the traditional stereotypes, Cahan manages to create the specific nowhere-to-run atmosphere.
Stereotype Me: Learning to Think
It is quite peculiar that all possible stereotypes can be traced at every level in Cahans creation, starting from the mundane family life and business relationships up to the stereotypes concerning nationalities and national features of character and behavior. With help of these tiny details, often almost invisible, the author creates the impression of striking reality.
Yet at the same time the reader understands that what Cahan suggests is the mock-reality where everything is a grotesque, and where people watch their reflections in a distorting mirror.
What bursts upon the eye immediately is the traditional idea of various nationalities. For instance, the lead character, Leizer Lipman, is a perfect specimen of a Jew as they are often depicted living in a foreign country, yet running his small but successful business:
The shop was one of a suite of three rooms on the third floor of a rickety old tenement house on Essex Street, and did the additional duty of the familys kitchen and dining room. It faced a dingy little courtyard, and was connected by a windowless bedroom with the parlor, which commanded the very heart of the Jewish markets.
Another traditional picture of a national character is Lipmans wife, Zlate, a woman of East European descent. According to the widespread myth about the Slavonic women, she is rather humble yet hard-working, a real helping hand for her husband.
Another issue which the author touches upon is the prejudices and myths concerning work. Zlate mistakenly gives orders to her husbands employee, considering the latter her own errand boy as well. Creating certain conflict, this small detail sheds the light on the stereotypes learned at the mothers knee.
Although they could seem absurd to the people of different culture, they are still a part of someones life; they are practically a part of someone, to be more precise.
It is obvious that once Zlate or Lipman abandon their prejudices and stereotypes, there will be only empty shell left, not the people, for stereotypes are often what peoples lives depend on.
The Secret Shelter from Vulgarity
Another common stereotype which the author considers is the shame of saying sorry. As Lipman decides to apologize to Beile, he feels quite uncomfortable and realizes that he might have no heart to continue what he started:
He armed himself with a fib to explain his conduct. But all in vain; he could not nerve himself up to the terrible meeting. And so day after day passed, each day increasing the barrier to the coveted visit.
With all the wisdom and understanding Cahan approached one of the most significant things in peoples lives, the art of saying sorry .
Another tricky issue which Cahan considers as a stereotypical situation is Lipmans affair. Using the traditional stereotype of relationships between a man in his ripe age and a young woman, Cahan exposes the futility of peoples attempts to make the incompatible come together.
Conclusion: A Long Way to Go
With help of his talent, Cahan makes peoples chronic stereotypes burst like bubbles. Describing the world as it is, bare and unveiled, Cahan makes people see their own silly prejudice. As stereotypes surrender the lead characters, it becomes obvious that the vision of the world can be changed all that one has to do is to make an attempt.
In life, we all grow up in communities that have beliefs and practices that tend to create a form of identity for the given communities. These identities can be positive or negative depending on the effects they have on members of the given society.
Some communities have some characteristics, which can be attributed to them due to some practices that some of the members have, which should not be used to describe the whole society (Saraglou, 2011, 432). Most of these attributes are negative.
They tend to be prejudicial to them. One of them is stereotyping. A developing stereotype that I have been guilty of holding is that Muslims, especially of Arab extract, are terrorists (Brandt, 2013, p. 300). I have encountered this stereotype in my life. It has led to the members of these groups being viewed with suspicion. Another stereotype I have encountered is that fat people are lazy.
Naturally, many fat or big people labor a lot in most of the activities they do. They tend to be slower relative to many lean bodied people. This misconception has therefore led to many people believing that they are lazy thus making them a subject for jokes and ridicule. The third stereotype I have come across is that salesclerks are conmen.
By nature of their work, any salesperson is supposed to convince customers why they should buy whatever the sales representatives are selling (Campbell, 2011, p. 435). The fact that individuals realize later that they were convinced to buy what they actually never needed or had to buy at a much higher price makes them view salesmen as conmen because the individuals usually feel conned at the end of the day.
The Argument in Support
The recent past has seen an increase in terrorist activities in the world. This case has become a global problem for society to tackle. In most of these cases, the perpetrators of terrorist activities have been identified as Muslims from the financiers, planners, and the executors of the plots (Brandt, 2013, p. 300).
This argument is further affirmed by most terrorists proclaiming that they are doing it for Allah by fighting infidels who are presumed to be anybody who is a non-Muslim. This case has therefore cemented the notion that Muslims are terrorists and that no one can tell from their faces and hence the caution that people have when dealing with them.
The notion that fat people are lazy is because many of them avoid doing activities that would require them to spend a lot of energy and movement (Campbell, 2011, p. 435). In many cases, they prefer working from one position, specifically sitting positions.
Many fat people cannot exert themselves the way other slender people do especially when it comes to movement because they tend to grow tired fast thus ending up doing much less work relative to what their counterparts can do. This case paints them as lazy people. It has become an identity for fat people. Salespersons are another group of stereotyped people by being branded conmen.
In most cases, people feel cheated concerning the value of the items they have been convinced to buy from sales representatives who work to get a bigger commission on whatever they sale. By getting the highest value of an item from the individual, salesclerks are always deemed conmen because they will convince the buyer to buy with all assurances that the price is the true value of the item.
Mistakes in the Argument
The notion that all Muslims are terrorists is wrong because just a fraction of the Muslim nation so far has been identified as terrorists. Out of the millions of Muslim adherents, less than 200,000 have ever been identified as terrorists. Furthermore, many Muslims are peace loving having come out to condemn acts of terrorism in the name of Islam.
Thus, it is wrong to stereotype Muslims as terrorists (Saraglou, 2011, p. 488). Although the Quran advocates for Jihad against infidels, it should be put in mind that the Quran was written a long time ago and that the context was then different. It is also a mistake to stereotype fat people as lazy because each individual performs tasks according to his or her abilities.
Our speed is determined by the amount of weight on our bodies as well as the distribution of the same weight on the bodies (Campbell, 2011, p. 440). In many cases, the speed of fat people is proportional to their weight. If compared to slender people, they would be as fast as the slim people in doing tasks. Therefore, their ability to perform tasks is simply relative.
Fat people should not be tagged as lazy. Lastly, sales representatives have a duty in convincing a potential client to buy their wares at a certain price. It is not their mistake when an individual buyer buys out of ignorance and/or at exorbitant prices.
It also not their duty to inform buyers on the prices because everyone is supposed to have knowledge of whatever items he or she wants to buy only if he or she does a little bit of research (Campbell, 2011, p. 441). Salespersons earn their living by convincing people to buy. One thing they never do is to force anyone to buy from them.
Reference List
Brandt, P. Y. (2013). Psychological Aspects of the Role of Religion in Identity Construct. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 1(1), 299-303.
Campbell, C. (2011). Seeing is Eating: How and When Activating a Negative Stereotype Increases Stereotype-Conductive Behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(3), 431-444.
Saraglou, V. (2011). Metastereotypes of Groups with Opposite Religiuos Views: Believers and Non-Believers. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 21(6), 484-498.
Canada is the worlds second largest nation on the Northern part of America. Canadians are people who hold many stereotypes. The maple leaf bag is a Canadian stereotype that depicts their identity and origin especially during international trips. The maple leaf has a red color, while the design of the leaf, with eleven sharp points, has unique significance representing their provinces and territories. As a novel cover, the maple leaf bag will give a detailed elaboration on a book titled the Canadian stereotypes.
Canadians believe that when traveling with a maple leaf bag it not only highlights their patriotism but also gives a distinction on their origin.
They believe they are honest, respectful, caring, polite and orderly when compared to other European nations. Therefore, the use of a maple leaf bag in a foreign country gives them an upper hand while interacting with other people. Furthermore, the sight of the maple leaf enables them to have a friendly interaction both at home and abroad.
While in foreign countries as tourists, they receive better treatment than Americans, Australians, and German among others. On the other hand, other nationalities criticize the Canadian stereotype as myths and not practical as perceived.
On the cover of the novel Canadian stereotypes, there will be the image of the maple leaf bag. The image of the maple leaf bag will represent both the flag and the history of the Canadians. The picture of the maple leaf bag represents the origin, culture, behavior and character of the Canadians thus describing their stereotypes.
The flag of Canada has an emblem of a maple leaf on a white squared background and, therefore, the image is for identification. Canadians strive to distinguish themselves from other Europeans proving their patriotic spirit (stereotype).
The red color of the maple leaf gives the origin of the Canadians. Red color symbolizes power and the heroic nature of the Canadians, which the natives believe in. Similarly, its appellant nature shows the strength and bravery behavior of the Canadians. Thus, the use of the red color will enable a non-Canadian or Canadian to relate the book with the Canadian stereotypic culture.
The first part of the novel will show the unique character and symbols of Canadians, which separates them from other white people. Canada as a nation has compiled many stereotypes that receive mixed reactions from the both the natives and other nationalities. Therefore, the novel will outline many Canadian stereotypes.
The second part will involve collecting personal experiences from both the natives and other people who have interacted with the Canadians, it will rule out whether the stereotypes are Myths or not. The third section will be to give personal views through observing the behavior of the Canadian people.
There will be a comparison of the observed behavior with the stereotypes the Canadians practice. The last part of the novel will analyze what other people think about the Canadian stereotypes, and through rating of the interviews, it will close on whether the stereotypes are mere speculations, or not.
Summarily, the cover of the novel will have a picture of a red maple leaf on a bag, which Canadians use while on international tours. The red maple leaf bag is the symbol of Canadian flag; thus, it gives their identity and proves the stereotype about their patriotism.
Television advertisement perpetuates gender stereotypes through their advertising. This is through reinforcing the traditional gender roles assigned by the society. The traditional stereotypes about being a man is being business minded, tough, independent while being a woman means being passive, sensitive, and submissive, having beauty, elegance a good homemaker.
Television commercials are most likely to be run at the time when the advertisers think the target audience is watching television to sell their products. For instance, during daytime advertisers will run commercials about food, beauty products cleaning agents and so on in soap operas or dramas that have more women viewers than men viewers have.
On the other hand, in sports programs commercials for things such as beer, vehicles and property are run because the audience for such programs are mostly men. Gender stereotyping in television commercials is a topic that has generated a huge debate and it is an important topic to explore to find out how gender roles in voice-overs TV commercials and the type of products they are selling to the public are related. From many findings, it is clear that advertisers use gender to sell different products during different times in broadcasting.
Many studies in content analysis have been done on television commercials. The studies have focused on gender stereotyping but many have ignored the economic motivation behind the stereotyping in commercials. Advertisers want to make most of their advertisement and run the ads when the target audience is likely to be watching certain television programs. For example during soap operas advertisers will run ads on things like diapers.
This product is hardly seen during programs watched mostly by men for instance sporting programs. While some advertisers may not consider the age and sex of the audience some do so because it is cost effective as they are able to reach most people in the target group using one commercial (Craig 1).
Gender roles stereotyping comes in when advertisers choose to run ads on products aimed at women during daytime. This is considered the best time to reach this target group, as most women are likely to be at home taking care of their children or just housekeeping. These young women are more likely to buy the products advertised than the older women who are largely ignored by the advertisements, as they are not considered as big buyers.
During prime time, the advertisements changed and target women who usually work. To make the advertisement more economical; advertisers run ads that target a wider audience of both men and women. Thus during this time products that appeal to both gender are more likely to be advertised. During the weekend most television stations run sporting events, they are mainly targeted at men, and thus products aimed at men are advertised during these programs. Products such as cars, beer are advertised (Craig 1).
It is also important to note that television programs are also gendered. There are programs created primarily with a specific gender in mind. During these programs, the advertisers get a good opportunity to sell their products to their target audience. The programs are made in such a way that they help to sell the products being advertised.
This is achieved by portraying the characters in the programs with traits that are desirable to the target audience. This in turn makes the target audience desire those traits and thus are more likely to buy products advertised during such times (Craig 3).
For example, men are portrayed as dominant, autonomous; in occupations that are prestigious on the other hand, women are shown as caring, compliant or in domestic settings. Therefore, women will be shown in ads about domestic products while men will often advertise outdoor products or business related products (Chandler 1).
In voice-overs, the gender stereotypes are reinforced and maintained. The program or advertisements makers use voice-overs that represent the products they are advertising and that fit the society’s stereotype of gender roles. In voice-overs, regarding authority male voice-overs are used.
The males do voice-overs for products that are masculine in nature. The male voice-overs are also used in various product advertisements unlike their female counterparts who are mostly used in doing voice-overs for domestic products such as food, cleaning agents or female beauty products.
The female voice-overs are often gentle, sensitive, and dependent or even submissive (Chandler 1). If men are used in advertising home products, they are often shown as being unable to handle the task. For example, a man may be unable to operate a washing machine and a woman comes over and shows him how to use it with so much ease.
This advertisement although not breaking from tradition and having a man advertise at the end a woman comes and she is the one who is able to run the washing machine successfully thus reinforcing the traditional gender roles that homes are best run by women as men cannot be good homemakers. On the contrary, advertisements about men have male figures that work very hard. These males are often rewarded with a beer at the end of a day’s hard work.
The stereotype type being propagated in such an ad is that men work very hard outdoors or in businesses and thus need a reward at the end of the day. Some ads may also show a man who is successful as having many women and thus reinforces they notion that a man can have a woman as long as he works hard. This kind of ads objectify women (Limpinnian 1).
We are in the 21st century and even though the role of women has shifted drastically from that of being care givers to professionals the stereotypes still persist in television advertisement. This may be attributed to the patriarchal society in which males dominant every aspect of life.
Interesting enough children tend to learn these stereotypes from the advertisement they see on television. Girls are often used in fewer ads than boys are and in those advertisements that are used to portray the traditional roles of women.
For example, the girls will be used in doll ads or in cooking fat ads to show that their role is in the home. Conversely, boys are portrayed in ads as being care free with toys cars and tough. This means that the boys and girls grow up to fit into gender behaviors shown in the advertisements (Bradway 1).
Finally, the gender roles in voice-overs in television commercials and the type of products advertised by different genders all seem to reinforce the traditional stereotypes. The advertisers do not want to shift from gendered advertising because they would not want to upset the status quo in the society as the products they produce are produced with a target market in mind.
Works Cited
Bradway, Jacquelyn. Stereotypical Gender Roles Portrayed in Children’s Television Commercials. Web.
Chandler, Daniel. Television and Gender Roles. Web.
Craig, Steve. Men’s men and Women’s Women: How TV Commercials Portray Gender to Different Audiences. Web.
Limpinnian, Danielle. The Portrayal of Men and Women in TV Ads. Web.
The ideas of sexism and homophobia are still considered to be one of the most burning ones and the most difficult to analyze. Lots of people cannot comprehend how people of the same sex may create couple, bring up children, and be a separate family institution. Female oppression and gay humiliation touch upon race and ethnic lines (Sex, Lies and Stereotypes), and this problem cannot but bother so many people.
The exhibition under consideration, Sex, Lies and Stereotypes, is aimed to prove how unfair but still constant discrimination of people is; and several illustrative posters like Women Are Not Chicks or Oh, So That Explains the Differences in Our Salaries demonstrate how burning the topic can be and underline that so many people of different age and gender are already in these discussions.
People try to use their sexuality to its full extent in order to achieve the desirable goals and meet their demands: diets, comparisons, lies, and suggestions create certain limits for human achievements, and people are eager to find different approaches to overcome them, but still, they cannot comprehend that they themselves create these limitations and suffer.
Lots of sophisticated scholars determine “homophobia as a cause of sexism, heterosexism, and racism” (Murphy 191). As we know, phobia means fear, and sometimes, this fear may be conscious, but sometimes, this fear is regarded as unconscious.
Nowadays, lots of men are still afraid of their own tastes and preferences just because the traditions of masculinity are considerably exaggerated. The point is that “society is less threatened by lesbian sexuality than by gay sexuality” (Carroll 302), but still the fear to be a member of such minority exists in any person. This prejudice to of wrong sexuality is so deeply rooted that even time does not have such powers to destroy these problems and solve the problems once for all.
By means of pictures, it is possible to observe that relations between men are still regarded as something strange (Stand by Your Man), and the power of lesbians does not lead to development of society but attention to the affairs, which are inherent to women only (Lesbians Are Coming out in Full Force).
The exhibition helps to comprehend that even art plays a very important role in all these discussions and can help to make solutions by means of illustrative examples.
Observing the life of ordinary people and talking to relatives, friends, and friends’ relatives, it becomes clear that women want to become as slim as possible, this is why they try to keep diets and ruin their health; gender discrimination at work influences people’s attitude to their duties and benefits; and gay marriages are still not comprehended by some part of society and cause numerous misunderstandings.
The main message of this exhibition lies in its title and several subtitles: sex, lies, and stereotypes are so closely connected to each other, that, very often, these three issues have unbelievable mutual impact. The strong side of the exhibition under consideration is its diversity: its creators mention everything from children participation in these discussions to both gay and lesbian marriages.
It is necessary to underline that gays’ and lesbians’ presence in military is still under a question, lots of parents may simply deny their children with non-standard orientation, the vast majority of gays are bashed very frequently, and same-sex marriages are not allowed in many countries.
These problems have to be mentioned, it is necessary to solve them in order to make this life safer and to improve our generation’s future. With the help of pictures, offered at the exhibitions like Sex, Lies, and Stereotypes, people get a chance to realize how many problems exist in this world and have to be solved.
A picture, where two men take each other’s hands and cut the cake, shows that people around supports their decision; they do not want to hide their relations, and even the figures of little men on the case symbolize the idea that people of different spheres of life accept this choice and are ready to help them. It is not necessary to see their eyes, because they identify men as a part of society, who is ready to make decisions and takes own tastes and interests into account.
In my opinion, it is wrong to think that sex and stereotypes are based on lies, but this is the only idea that comes to my mind when I look at the title of this exhibition. However, some subheadings, offered within this exhibition, help me comprehend the essence of the problem of sexism and homophobia and realize how one of the issues influences the development of the other.
If women prefer to create couples with women, men in their turn can do the same. And if the power of women raises day by day, the approaches, women use should be changed as well. Success requires considerable and radical steps, and people are ready to take them just in order to correspond to current conditions.
