[Hasway]

As I have noticed, people stereotype all the time, and usually don't know that they're stereotyping.
Do people's brains feel a need to stereotype so they can understand a person without getting to know them? Or do they stereotype be because it's so difficult to know/understand certain people? Basically, why do people stereotype?

[Ted]

Another reason for stereotyping is that it is likely to be true. Each time a stereotype is true in any scenario, we automatically feel more inclined to doing it.

Example:
I can probably go to any given high school gym class and find asians who are un-enthused about playing floor hockey. Maybe 1 out of 100 asians I find will actually be enthused about floor hockey. By making this particular stereotype, I will be correct 99% of the time and therefore will probably make the same stereotype in the future.

Also, wouldn't every trend or classification be stereotyping?

[Hasway]

Makes sense, but what about in social situations.
If you walk into a classroom and see a quiet kid, would you consider them to be shy?
The average person would say yes, but knowing MBTI, I would say no. Most quiet people I know aren't shy at all. So, why do people then still usually consider quiet people shy?

[Ted]

In your scenario, I would say that a characteristic of being shy, is to be quiet. For this reason, may it be true or not, people make the assumption that quiet people are shy.

I guess it also depends on how you define shyness.

Some definitions/synonyms of shy include: reserved, hidden, and secluded
All of these are strongly associated with being quiet.

[Hasway]

What I don't understand is, using your association, why do people make this assumption if it seems to not usually be true?
definition-reluctant; wary.

[Mozzes]

	Originally Posted by Ted To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Example: I can probably go to any given high school gym class and find asians who are un-enthused about playing floor hockey. Maybe 1 out of 100 asians I find will actually be enthused about floor hockey.

Well obviously. Floor hockey would take away from the time they need to perfect their Kung Fu.

[Ted]

Well let me try putting it this way: Do you know of an adjective that describes a quiet person who isn't shy?

It also has dependence on those two adjectives. Shy is an adjective that is most commonly used to describe people. Quiet is an adjective more commonly used to describe volumes of objects (TV, radio). While "shy" describe a characteristic of a person that is long-term, "quiet" is just a momentary observation of what the person is at the moment.

There are probably more reasons but to sum it up, it is just natural for humans to make assumptions and stereotypes.

[Feral]

I just think stereotypes are funny, myself.

[ElstonGunn]

	Originally Posted by Ted To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	In your scenario, I would say that a characteristic of being shy, is to be quiet. For this reason, may it be true or not, people make the assumption that quiet people are shy.

That's kind of like the "all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares" thing, I think. Shy people are likely to be quiet due to their shyness. On the other hand, a very outgoing person might be quiet because he doesn't have anything to say at that time, or he's concentrating on something else, or he just doesn't like you and doesn't want to talk.

But like you say, it depends on the definitions. If you want to take "shy" and "quiet" and use them interchangeably, then I guess all quiet people would be shy, just like all big things are large. But if you draw a distinction between "shy" and "quiet," then at best, there could be a strong-but-not-guaranteed correlation between the two.

[JustMel]

It stems from the need to make people fit into the "correct" category.

I tend to be fairly quiet but I'm far from shy. I just don't find many people I care to interact with. I'm always known at work as "the quiet one that you don't make angry"-- guess that says a lot about my "category" doesn't it....

I used to think my husband's family were all rednecks then I caught an episode of "My Big Redneck Wedding" and have decided they're not rednecks they're just opinionated bigots. I can't say that I know anyone that truly says/does the things they do on that show. Ugh. One episode was enough now I don't even like the advertisements. I will go so far as to stereotype the people on that show as annoyingly stupid.

[Airfire]

I see nothing wrong with stereotyping at all. Look at its synonyms in the dictionary: categorize, type, identify. It's simply an efficient method of thinking and only becomes an issue when prejudice is applied.

[goulas]

I think it's an evolutionary survival mechanisim that serves as an efficient means of processing information. It is most likely that INTJ's do not favor stereotypes because we are often perceived contrary to the way we view ourselves. I think there are some important points to be made. Stereotyping, in my opinion, is innate and can create a huge advantage to those who use it constructively. My two year old already stereotypes by identifying every twenties and up male as a daddy and same with mommies. He knows what a ball is and it's shape therefore a tomato is a ball along with eggs and other things. Insurance providers do it with FICO's, age, sex and so on. Aside from calling it stereotyping I can also see this being referred to as statistical data. I think this is what our brain starts out with and the end result is referred to as a stereotype. With that being said, it is ignorant to rely on this mechanisim alone without cultivating it. It is a good thing that our minds were given to work with but as usual, people have found a way to ruin it.

[Zombicide]

	Originally Posted by Hasway To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	why do people stereotype?

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I hate giving this example. . .especially considering how much I want people who needlessly enter its domain to receive a Darwin award for getting eaten by it but it's the best example I could find.

Because although it's (colloquially) hypocritical and ignores the likely frequent exceptions to the rule (considering there are virtually always exceptions to the rule or we'd basically be ignoring the fact that diversification obviously exist to have created the stereotypes to begin with), to some extent it makes sense to stereotype. I mean, we're likely to assume that a squirrel enjoys eating nuts or that spiders make webs or for some mysterious reason that adults are smart enough to not believe in ridiculous, nonsensical fairy tales that only a f***ing retard would believe even though most of them in actuality are retarded or that New Yorkers have a New York accent, these are technically stereotypes. The definition not being relegated to the negative connotation of stereotypes, we all stereotype.

[speedsuit721]

I stereotype all the time. They do exist for a reason, after all. I'm not going to make any decisions based on a perceived stereotype or make comments that imply I have a stereotype in mind, but it would be ridiculous to think that we don't all classify people according to cultural trends, media portrayals, past experiences, etc.

[Pika]

Stereotyping is simply a pragmatic application of statistical principles. One can observe a particular behavior common to a given group (called a population in statistics) and can reasonably, and correctly, infer that most members of the group will follow that behavior.

As an example, men are more inclined to be football fans than are women. If one were to select a group of men at random one could expect to find a fairly high proportion of them were football fans. Thus a reasonable stereotype would be that men are football fans and, on average, they are. But, if one were to randomly select one individual from the group and say "this guy is a football fan" you would much more likely be wrong.

A stereotype is basically an average; accurate when applied to a population but not when applied to an individual in that population.

[Tyrant Soup]

In the absence of other information, stereotypes provide a very good starting point.

[HeyZeus]

I don't believe in stereotypes, I just believe they're funny and convenient. They are useful in creating humor. They might also be useful as references/considerations in mental self-examination.

Even real boob that seems to be a walking stereotype could surprise you under closer review. But still, why banish stereotypes and lose all the laughs?

[alphawolf]

	Originally Posted by Hasway To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	As I have noticed, people stereotype all the time, and usually don't know that they're stereotyping. Do people's brains feel a need to stereotype so they can understand a person without getting to know them? Or do they stereotype be because it's so difficult to know/understand certain people? Basically, why do people stereotype?

I think that people stereotype for the same reason they are religious - they feel a need to understand things without thinking too much about them. Or as you put it: without getting to know them.

Stereotyping does work with a lot of people. But you will always fail if you try to stereotype me. In my most recent LTR, my wife could not fully understand me even after 10 years. I have only met one woman in my life who understood me completely, and that happened within 2 hours of our very first meeting and conversation which lasted for those 2 hours.

[sid4wisdom]

tendency to form inductive knowledge is hardwired in the human mind. its preponderance in human thought is a complex phenomenon. it has been described by gladwell in blink, nissim taleb in black swan and de bono in 'why so stupid' taking various angles on the issue.