stereotyping

We can stereotype people on visible cues such as physical shape and race or in less visible cues such as sexual orientation, job and religion.
For istance, what do you think a doctor could be, a woman or a man?
Things like this, affect how we remember things about people becasue since we were children we have been brought up by using stereotyping about female and male (like their job or what kind of personality they have). This topic is discussed in Williams and Best key study.

A shared belief about the characteristics of those who belong to a particular social or physical category.

AIM: To investigate sex stereotyping in 30 countries across the world

METHOD: They gave to people in the 30 countries, 300 characteristics to attribute to male and female or both.

RESULTS: Findings show the same sex stereotyping of male and females across the 30 countries:
Female: emotional, understanding and warm
Male: reckless, hard-headed, determined

CONCLUSION: Cross-cultural study suggests commonly heald stereotypes of male and female.

EVALUATION OF THE STUDY: THERE IS A LACK OF ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY AS THE RESULTS CANNOT BE GENERALISED TO THE ENTIRE POPOULATION AND MALE AND FEMALE ARE NOT ALWAYS AS DESCRIBED ABOVE.
THE STUDY IS QUITE OLD AND STEREOTYPES ARE BREAKING DOWN SO THE RESULTS ARE NOT REALLY ACCURATE.

DISADVANTAGES:

• THEY ARE USUALLY OVERSIMPLIFIED
• THEY LEAD US TO MAKE ASSUMPTION ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE WHEN WE KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT THEM
• THE AFFECT WHAT WE REMEMBER AND MAKE US FORGET ABOUT PEOPLE
• THEY LEAD US THE VIEW PEOPLE OF AN OUT-GROUP IN A NEGATIVE WAY, USALLY LEADING TO PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION.

ADVANTAGES:

• THEY HELP US TO RESPOND QUICKLY TO SITUATION AS WE MAY HAVE HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE BEFORE
• THEY REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF COGNITIVE EFFORT WE NEED TO MAKE
• THEY HELP US REMEMBER PEOPLE WELL
• THEY MAKE US FEEL PART OF A GROUP BECAUSE THE PEOPLE IN THE GROUP SHARE THE SAME OPINION AS US