Thursday, February 19, 2009
Judgement
The world is built on impressions. My 17 years have taught me this. However, I've also come to learn that these impressions are not always true. I was having an argument with a friend about stereotypes and i came to realize that as much as stereotypes and first impression judgments are largely wrong, they are not entirely wrong. To what extent would you agree?
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4 comments:
The term "stereotype" usually has a negative connotation. We are conditioned to think in advance that stereotyping is somehow wrong. But don't you think that stereotyping is essential for knowledge in some ways? What is a stereotype in any case? Is it the same thing as a generalization?
Stereotyping i think IS essential for knowledge because for one it helps in making somewhat informed decisions. The issue of stereotyping came up in my TOK a class a while back and i do believe that stereotyping is wrong even if intentions or beliefs right-Stealing is wrong regardless of intentions. Whether or not one does it to feed his family or intends to replace it(probably a bad analogy but i hope you get what im trying to say).
I think a stereotype is pretty much the same thing as a genberalization wikipedia says this:
"A stereotype is a preconceived idea that attributes certain characteristics (in general) to all the members of class or set"
Yes it necessary to have certain ideas about how a class of people MAY be because it is necessary in making decisions- Even in science you need a hypothesis- but i believe this should only guide you to some extent not rule your later judgments(as hard as it may be with certain notions in place already).
Earlier, last semester I thought Ethiopians were were very smart in Math and so the arriving IB1s would overfill and dominate the Math HL classes-I was wrong.
This was a good impression i had, however, besides the disappointment(which was a bad thing) the fact that i had inducted this to the whole nationality i believe was a wrong thing.
I think generalizations are necessary but when it comes to humans, i think it gets a little fuzzy...
Interesting discussion going on here.
You have all touched on a few salient points, and I am merely here to repeat them for I think they need to be underscored.
Once taken in its extreme and negative representation, stereotyping is bad, and rightly so. It is a reflection of intellectual laziness and should be dismissed when it under serves the people/cultures/situation that the stereotype seeks to describe or capture.
But that said, (and look at the way I introduce a counterfactual), can we as a people and society function without stereotypes? At the risk of being reductive, can’t everything be viewed using the lenses of stereotypes? Think of the way we operate and think in society, Old people are weak, hence you should give them your sit in the bus. Imagine the mental exhaustion that will ensue if you had to deconstruct every situation you found yourself in when an old person walked into the bus and you had to decide whether to stand up or not for it might be perceived as degrading, or…..you get the drift.
Streotypes operate as schemata, they are mental structures that represent the world as we perceive it and help us negotiate our way through and around it.
Kamau's last paragraph makes a very important point. Though stereotypes are mostly wrong they are also unavoidable and important. The human mind has a tendency to arrive at conclusions based on very limited information. The brain developed this tendency because it was very important for our survival in our evolutionary history. The person who runs away at the sight of a snake has a better chance of survival than the one who knows that all snakes are not poisonous and stops to check. Stereotypes can be a starting place for our knowledge formation. The most important thing is to apply reason to them and avoid being prisoners of stereotypes. Easier said than done.
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