My Attempt at Defining Stereotypes...

Since the first day of class we have been talking about stereotypes and I have learned many definitions of what this word means. I have put some of these descriptions together to form my own definition of stereotypes. I believe stereotypes can give us an inaccurate description (negative or positive) of all members of a particular group. This definition obviously does not give us the whole picture of a social group because not all members of the group posses these “descriptions”, and I believe we are wrong to think that they do. We tend to stereotype a social group with a mental picture that represents our opinion, prejudiced feelings, or our judgments. Something that is important to remember is that not all stereotypes are untrue or negative, even though most are.
In Chapter eight of Lippman’s Public Opinion he states “ Consequently the stereotype not only saves time in a busy life and is a defense of our position in society, but tends to preserve us from all the bewildering effort of trying to see the world steadily and see it whole.” This statement makes complete sense to me. He is saying that life is to busy for us to make our own judgments on people in society, therefore we just go by what society has defined for us, even if it is incorrect or wrong. He is also saying that we tend to use stereotypes as a defense to hold our position in society and to put others down. This way of thinking keeps us from seeing the whole picture in different societies.