To what degree are stereotypes accurate?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

a . Possible Response Points:
i. The view that stereotypes contain a kernel of truth that people tend to overgeneralize has been tested by Swim (1994).
ii. She found that stereotypes of males versus females were fairly accurate in both content and degree. That is to say, participants in her study knew with accuracy what the differences were between men and women, and they were fairly accurate at describing the magnitude of those differences.
iii. Because stereotypes are, in some sense, a heuristic way of understanding the world, people may try to hold accurate stereotypes. However, prejudice is held for many other reasons, including motives such as to bolster self-esteem, to maintain political power, and so forth. Such motives are not as governed by a desire to maintain accuracy, so Swim's findings should be understood in this context.
3 . Similarly, in both cases there is a tendency to engage in the confirmation bias.
ii. What is different about social categorization is that people are more emotionally vested (and less purely cognitively driven). Social categorizations are therefore likely to be more difficult to alter than other types of categorizations.