Stereotypes: Formation of Stereotypes
What is a stereotype?
- A stereotype comprises a set of characteristics, traits, behaviours and attitudes attributed to social and cultural groups based on broad, often biased information about that group
- Our social world is very complex and contains a huge amount of information; one way of avoiding information overload is to use stereotypes to understand the world and those living in it because they save energy and can easily be applied to people (an example of people as cognitive misers)
- The main drawback of categorising people into broad groups is that stereotyping can lead to associations between groups and characteristics that are often negative and may give rise to prejudice and discrimination
- One theory of how stereotypes form is Illusory Correlation (which can also be studied as part of the Cognitive Approach – Reliability of Cognitive Processes)
What is Illusory Correlation?
- Illusory Correlation (IC) is a cognitive bias which occurs when people assume that there is a relationship between two variables when in fact this relationship does not exist or is based on stereotypical assumptions which lack tangible evidence
- Some examples of everyday ICs are:
- Blondes have more fun (the IC is the linking of hair colour and enjoyment of life);
- Italians are highly excitable (the IC involves generalising a specific behaviour to a whole nation);
- A gambler who believes that wearing their ‘lucky shirt’ will help them to win at the roulette table (the IC is the belief that arbitrary factors such as clothing choice can have any influence over the outcome at a gambling game)
- All ICs are not necessarily negative or harmful e.g. My right knee is aching which means that rain is on the way, but some ICs can be at the root of bigoted behaviour such as racism, sexism, homophobia etc.
- One explanation for the development of ICs is the cognitive miser explanation: the world is a complex, busy place and we are bombarded on a daily basis with a multitude of messages and information so using ICs to understand the world means that less cognitive energy needs to be expended than if one were to fully focus on the subtle and varied explanations for specific behaviours/types of people
- ICs are directly relevant to stereotype formation as they highlight the ways in which social categorisation can lead to individuals being labelled with set and predetermined behaviours according to fixed (and untested) ideas about one of the groups to which they belong
Would Italian people be happy with this stereotype?
Which research studies investigate formation of stereotypes?
- Hamilton & Gifford (1976) – illusory correlation favours the majority rather than the minority in terms of group size
Hamilton & Gifford (1976) is available as a separate Key Study – just navigate the Individual & the Group section of this topic to find it (Two Key Studies of Stereotypes). This study can also be found as part of the Cognitive Approach topic Cognitive Biases which you can find as a separate Revision Note on this site
Exam Tip
Make sure that you choose the CORRECT theory of stereotypes in the exam: there are two topics in Stereotypes: Formation of Stereotypes and Effect of Stereotyping. If you use the wrong theory and study to answer the question then you will get 0 marks
Worked example
SHORT ANSWER QUESTION (SAQ) - 9 marks
Explain one theory of the formation of stereotypes. [9]
This question requires you to go into some detail, providing explanation of the theory. Here is an exemplar paragraph:
Illusory correlations may contribute to ethnic stereotypes. Members of the majority group can ‘hide’ their negative behaviours but members of minority group are already noticeable due to their ‘difference’ so any negative behaviour on their part will be noticed – and commented on. A good example of this is the media: if a minority individual commits a shooting, the ethnicity of the criminal is mentioned; if it is a person from the ethnic majority group, then their ethnicity isn’t commented upon. In this way, the theory of illusory correlation provides a valid explanation for the formation of stereotypes.
