We humans are socially driven agents, possessing an innate need to affiliate in some situations and compete in others. This desire leads us to form an ‘us ' and ‘them ' dichotomy which pervades almost all aspects of our lives, resulting in stereotypes, prejudices and other forms of biases, some mild and others detrimental in its consequences(Amodio, 2014). This paper aims to discuss the processes and consequences of stereotyping from a social psychological perspective, with a special focus on stereotyping of homeless individuals. Furthermore, research evidence will be utilized to discuss the possibility and conditions needed for social perceivers to control stereotyping and its consequences. Aligning in this direction, the paper will be structured under the following subtopics:
i. An Overview of Stereotyping: A Theoretical, Empirical, and Historical analysis ii. Processes and Causes of Stereotyping iii. Consequences of Stereotyping iv. Stereotyping of the Homeless
v. Controlling of Stereotyping and its Consequences vi. Conclusion
An Overview of Stereotyping
The word ‘stereotype’ was coined by Morier in the ‘Adventures of Hajji Baba of Isapahan’ where he explains his stance that “the manners of the East as …show more content…
Trulong Shirley reports that majority of newspaper reports presented homeless people in extremely unfavorable light with devalued characteristics such as mental illness, crime, intimidating and scruffy, rarely mentioning causal attributions.
Kurylo’s (2012) research demonstrates that participants who viewed stereotypes as accurate, useful, appropriate and valuable, aiding understanding of target groups would continue to use it, in spite of being prescribed not to, hence maintaining it. Haslam and Dovidio (2010) identified basic factors that foster and maintain bias: (a) personality and individual differences, (b) group conflict, (c) social categorization, and (d) social
i. An Overview of Stereotyping: A Theoretical, Empirical, and Historical analysis ii. Processes and Causes of Stereotyping iii. Consequences of Stereotyping iv. Stereotyping of the Homeless
v. Controlling of Stereotyping and its Consequences vi. Conclusion
An Overview of Stereotyping
The word ‘stereotype’ was coined by Morier in the ‘Adventures of Hajji Baba of Isapahan’ where he explains his stance that “the manners of the East as …show more content…
Trulong Shirley reports that majority of newspaper reports presented homeless people in extremely unfavorable light with devalued characteristics such as mental illness, crime, intimidating and scruffy, rarely mentioning causal attributions.
Kurylo’s (2012) research demonstrates that participants who viewed stereotypes as accurate, useful, appropriate and valuable, aiding understanding of target groups would continue to use it, in spite of being prescribed not to, hence maintaining it. Haslam and Dovidio (2010) identified basic factors that foster and maintain bias: (a) personality and individual differences, (b) group conflict, (c) social categorization, and (d) social