preview

Stereotypes Report

Decent Essays

Put an Asian in a fight and expect him to use his expert martial art skills. He’ll pull out his nunchucks, put his hands into fists, and yell “Ha ya!” while charging at his opponent at full speed. Then he’ll karate chop him and land his foot on his opponent's face. This is one of many stereotypes Asians are associated with. Stereotypes are standardized, preconceived notions or images invested with a common group of people. In other words, stereotypes are oversimplified opinions about a group of people or things who share similar characteristics such as race and gender. Stereotypes are common in society today. Being an Asian American like other races come with society’s ideas of who they are and their identity. When most people think …show more content…

Some examples of positive stereotypes are that Asians are good at math or men are good leaders. Yet, positive stereotypes have negative effects. In January of 2013, John Oliver Siy and Sapna Cheryan conducted multiple experiments to answer the question, “If hearing a negative stereotype about your group gets you upset, does hearing a positive stereotype have the opposite effect?” In one study, an Asian and White participant were to fill out a packet. One packet had math problems and the other had verbal problems. The White participant was given the choice to decide who did what packet. Then he told the Asian, “I know all Asians are good at math. How about you take the math packet. I’ll work on this one.” Being a math genius categorizes as a positive stereotype which should make an Asian feel good about themselves. Instead, when the participants were asked how they felt after the activity, the Asian said he felt disregarded and depersonalised. When the positive stereotype was used in this situation, the Asian participant felt less like an individual. This study showed how positive stereotypes are not always positive and how they can hurt others

Get Access