simulatedworld
Freshman Member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2008
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- 7w6
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- sx/so
It could come from not understanding, if one person can look at another and misinterpret X to mean Y and create a basis to stereotype all people in that group of people, then why is it that a group of people couldn't do the same and therefore create a stereotype based on their perspective which is based on misunderstanding?
Most stereotypes are based on clearly observable characteristics that can't easily be misinterpreted. In order for what you describe to happen, people from the demographic in question would have to give a false impression of the stereotyped characteristic often enough to generate a widespread stereotype about them, which seems unlikely.
If it's truly a mistaken perception on the part of observers, that mistake is unlikely to be widespread enough to generate a stereotype with absolutely no basis in reality.
There are probably exceptions to this, like the "blondes are stupid" thing, because intelligence obviously has no correlation with hair color. So, you have a point that this might happen sometimes, but most stereotypes are based on some small grain of truth.
So stereotypes are based on a grain of truth and they're more likely to be true for people of that group than other groups? Sounds like they're based on more than just a "grain of truth" if they cover that group more than any other comparable group.
Not really. Example: Males under 20 drive too fast. If you had to pick one demographic group that drives too fast more often than any other, it'd be males under 20, but it may not even be true for most males under 20.
But the fact that it's true for people from that demographic more often than it is for people from any comparable demographic means there's a grain of truth there. It's still only a grain because it's probably not true of a majority of people in that demographic--but enough people from that demographic do it to create the impression of a well-known stereotype.