Stereotypes Bad Drivers

The stereotypic belief that has been chosen for discussion is that all old people are bad drivers. This is a relatively common stereotype that could have been transmitted in many ways, including the media and culture. There are dozens of examples of this stereotype in the media, including, and most humorously, in the opening titles to the classic cartoon Mr. Magoo. Apart from the media, this stereotype could have been transmitted through culture itself, as people could have easily extended the perceived general degradation of old people’s hearing and eyesight to their driving abilities.
One source of stereotypes that may have enabled this stereotype is the ultimate attribution error. According to Pettigrew (1979), the ultimate attribution error is people’s tendency to attribute negative behaviors by an outgroup member to them internally, while members of the ingroup’s negative behaviors are more likely to be seen as due to external causes. The ultimate attribution error applies to the chosen stereotype as people are more likely to attribute any bad driving behaviors for an old person to their internal abilities as a whole; the old person was driving poorly because they are inherently a bad driver. However, when they see a younger person make a driving mistake they may be more likely …show more content…
People naturally use stereotypes (schemas for people) in order to streamline the information we need for memory and decision making. As driving can be a dangerous activity that also involves many types of stimuli, people need shortcuts in order to know what to focus on and make quick decisions to keep themselves safe. Therefore, the stereotype about old people being bad at driving may be used to quickly categorize a certain kind of driver, so that we may be more aware of their actions and keep a