Stereotyping

2. Stereotyping is exaggerated generalizations associated with a categorizing system , they go beyond the facts at hand and make claims that usually have no valid basis. However, it is also something that most people find difficult to avoid from doing. What do you think? 

      To believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same. In my opinion, we are living in the world where stereotyping actually has become one of the entire world’s habit. We judge people based on what we see not on what we know. However, we could not avoid from doing so. We could not avoid from thinking that fat people eat a lot; tall people must have good basketball skills, a female and male can never be a best friends without any love feelings and so on. There are certain reasons why one could not avoid from being a stereotype. The reasons are the way we think which is by categorizing people into groups, the things we hear and by assuming person equals the roles. 

    As for the first reason, the way we think which is by categorizing people into groups.  We think based on the categories we form in the past which by our experience. For instance, a woman used to have a dishonest boyfriend and by her past experience; she will have the thought that all men are the same. All men are liars.

   Next, we also pick up stereotypes from the world around us. We hear stereotypical talk from family, friends or the media. For the example, we often hear that fat people eat a lot while it is actually not. Certain people do not living their life as a fat people so they would not know that not all fat people eat a lot. It is all about metabolism that actually matter. People with high metabolism would have difficulties to gain their weight while people with low metabolism would easily gain weight even when they take meals at the same amount as the skinny people. Dr. Yoni Freedhoff Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, “Skinny individuals almost invariably have slower resting metabolisms; there is literally less of them to burn while at rest.” As a result, larger individuals usually have a higher metabolism (that is they burn more calories at rest) than their thinner counterparts.Last but not least is by assuming person equals the roles. 

  When we see people in a particular role, we tend to assume that they are well-suited for it (and, by extension, not so well suited for other roles). For example, women are more likely to have responsibilities for rearing children, so on average they spend more time than men nurturing others. Seeing that, we come to believe that women are naturally nurturing, downplaying the extent to which they may simply be carrying out their responsibilities.

  Thus, there are actually many other reasons that make a person as a stereotype. The way we think which is by categorizing people into groups, the things we hear and by assuming person equals the roles. As we grow older, many more stereotype that we are going to face since this phenomenon is unavoidable.