Stereotypes and How They Relate to Group Dynamics

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to comprehend what stereotypes are, it is a necessity to keep in mind three principles that guide work on the social psychology of stereotyping. Stereotypes are aids to explanation, stereotypes are energy-saving devices, and stereotypes are shared beliefs. The first one suggests that stereotypes should form so as to help the perceiver make sense of a situation. The second implies that stereotypes should form to reduce effort on the part of the perceiver. The third and last implies that stereotypes should be formed in line with the accepted views or norms of social groups that the perceiver belongs to. We cannot have an impression of a group unless we can tell the difference between that group and some other group. Categorization is the cognitive process by which we detect those differences and similarities. This accentuation can be seen as a means of crystallizing important regularities amongst the stimuli so that they can be recognized, remembered, and responded to. McGarty, ...

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all that is deficient in popular thinking. This view of the falsity of stereotypes creates a tension in terms of the master problem of social psychology that we have already touched upon. If stereotyping is so central to our understanding of the world how plausible is it that the process could be so deficient? It also creates an enormous tension in relation to the first guiding principle. How can stereotypes assist with explanation if they produce falsehoods and distortions?
Stereotypes attract little attention when they are not shared by many people. If every individual had a very different stereotype of some group then those stereotypes would be of little interest. Shared stereotypes, ...

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