STEREOTYPE: a mental representation and a form of social categorization/generalisation made about specific individuals or a group and its members. Gender, race, political stance, and personality contribute to the stereotypes we place on others, but they are generally based on race and gender.
Examples of positive stereotypes:
Christians are good people
Asians are intelligent
Old people have grey hair
Examples of negative stereotypes:
Women are bad drivers
Americans are fat
THEORY 1 – SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
Social cognitive theory is based on following reasoning:
Social world is very complex
Processing information is limited therefore simplifying social information is needed
One way that we avoid information overload is social categorisation
Categories used are stereotypes
Stereotypes have the following characteristics
Energy saving devices
They can be automatically activated
They are stable and resistant to change
They affect behaviour
Supporting study: Cohen (1981) Bargh et al. (1996)