Stereotype Threat

Why must we categorize people into particular groups based upon the stereotypes in which is perceived by society? Where and how did this idea of categorization arise? Do we place ourselves in these subgroups? Is it our choice of interest or do we evolve amongst these categorizes based upon what we are exposed to in our lifestyle? If this being the case, does this affect the way in which we are positioned in life? Can we avoid this stigma?

Stereotypes can be a threatening and problematic concern for individual’s intellectual learning and development. In terms of gender stereotypes it is believed that men perform better at mathematics than women do. This can be a threat for the performance of women in mathematics, as society has this fixed notion that this is a male orientated subject (Steele, 1997). I noticed this at my high school; where in the top mathematics class there was a domination of male students and during the course of the year the number of female students declined as the year progressed. Did this threat of stereotypes in society of males performing better than females have an impact on the way in which the overall female students performed? Possibly?

Schools are filled with vast arrays of many different subgroups; it’s almost impossible to ignore. Stereotypes are largely factored through the media and social networks, which have an impact on the way in which people’s opinions are formed and created.  Social media clouds people’s judgments influencing their decision-making and thought process of particular events or individuals. Rizvi (2005) discusses the implication of Islamic religion as a result of after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001, where heightened fear of those of an Islamic background were represented as dangerous and untrustworthy. These reports in the media created negative characterizations of Islams, which resulted in harmful dispute and segregation of all Muslims in society.

It’s a shame that people make assumptions about people based on how their stereotype is categorized in society. A representation of someone is much deeper than their outer physical appearance, it goes beyond this; their personal values, beliefs and attributes. However this is a visible characteristic that can be collected from a first encountered glance.

Yat-Sen Li (2013) accounts for such stereotypes of him being of Asian decent, where growing up in the 1970’s was different in comparison to his peers. He was called names based upon his race such as “Ching Chong Chinaman” and categorized into this group based upon physical assumptions and differences because of the way he looked.  He did not fit the same stereotypical physical characteristics to his peers. Australia today consists of a much more wide spread diversity of cultures and are more accepting. By saying Australia is much more diverse now, will this impact Yat-Sen Li schooling experience if he were to attend school at this time in today’s culturally diverse society? Such stereotypes still exist and I believe will always be a part of society. They may be modified in terms of social power or domination, but these stereotypes will always linger on.

Resources

Yat-Sen Li, J. (2013). Being Australian is not about the colour of your skin, The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 August, <http://www.smh.com.au/comment/jason-yatsen-li-being-australian-is-not-about-the-colour-of-your-skin-20130830-2sv06.html>.

Steele, C M. (1997). A threat in the air: How Stereotypes Shape Intellectual Identity and Performance, American Psychological Association, Vol. 52, (6).

Rizvi, F. (2005). Representations of Islam and Education for Justice. In C. McCarthy, W. Crichlow, G. Dimitriadis, & N. Dolby (Eds.), Race, identity and representation in education (2nd Ed.), (pp.167-178), New York: Routledge.