Stereotypes
and Prejudice actually included in psychology studies. But we have to realize
that stereotype and prejudice is also being a problem in communication.
Prejudice and stereotypes usually being a package with discriminations, or
maybe racism. We know that so many differences in the world. Some people are
rich, so they can buy anything they want, but some others are poor.
Let
me see you about Indonesia. We have about 16.000 island with many ethnic and
klan inside, with different culture, different language, different norm and
many other differences. We have so many culture, traditional dance, traditional
song, food, clothes, etc. Many people said that difference make a weakness, but
this country build on many distinctions. But we’re united in one nation,
Indonesia.
Before
I talk too much, we need to know what’s definitions about stereotype and
prejudice first.
Defining Stereotype
Jandt
(2004), Stereotype is the broader term commonly used to refer to negative or
positive judgements made about individuals based on any observable or believed
group membership. In other definitions, Lippmann (1992) said that stereotype
refer to the typical picture that comes to mind when thinking about a
particular social group. Stereotypes not only reflect beliefs about the traits
characterizing typical group members but also contain information about other
qualities such as social roles, the degree to which member of the group share
specific qualities, and influence emotional reactions to group member.
Case study of stereotype
Stereotype
made some generalization of some member of groups, it can be positive or
negative. Let me see you about stereotypes cases. Indonesia have so many
ethnics and religion, but majority is muslim. In about 2002, all we know that
there’re terorism cases in Indonesia. Bali, one of most visited island in
Indonesia has bombed by terrorist. Sari club and other nightclubs in Legian,
Bali was ruined. Many people killed by those accident. Terrorist who bombed
that place finally caught. They said that the reason why they do that just
because Bali considered as immoral places. They also believe that USA is “most
destroyed country” because they sure that USA have a bad effect to the world,
and to their religion. They believe that many Americans and another bules got
their vacation in Bali at that time.
After
these insident, many tourist won’t come to Indonesia, especially come to Bali.
Because they affraid with terrorism tragedy and think that Indonesia is a terrorist
country. Not just finish up there, many people in the world think that
terrorist is always a muslim, Islam is a terrorist religion. This is a bad
labels for muslim people of course.
From
this case, we can learn that there’re some negative stereotypes. First, muslim
people have a mindset that USA make this world messy. Because USA made
technology, guns, and entertaintment globally, so they have many power to
control the world in all sector. Second, people in the world have a mindset to
moslem people too. They think that the terrorist is always a moslem, and Islam
is terrorist religion, Islam allowed people to kill each other. We know that
not all of this is true. We know some part is just a stereotypes that can’t
proved and accounted.
The effects of stereotype
Stereotype
has two effects, positive and negative.
a.
Positive effects :
1. Allow
people to quickly proccess new information about new events or person
2. To
organize people’s past experiences
3. To
meaningfully assess differences between individuals and groups
4. To
make predictions about other people’s behaviour
b.
Negative effects :
1. Cause
us to assume that widely held belief is true when it actually may not be.
2. Continued
use of the stereotype reinforces the belief.
3. Weaken
our ability to think critically.
4. Breeding
ground for errant generalizations.
5. Serve
as a major source of disinformation about others.
6. May
easily conceal or feed into prejudice, racism, sexism, and other forms of
bigotry.
Defining Prejudice
The
study of prejudice has a long history in social psychology troughout which its
definition has evolved. Widely definitons of this, prejudice is a negative
attitude toward a particular social group and its member. Allport (in Stangor,
2000) assumes that prejudice is not irrational, because prejudice is thinking
ill of others without sufficient warrant and based on absence of fact. Dovidio
and friends (2010) also describe about prejudice. They suggest that prejudice
is an individual level attitude (whether subjectively positive or negative)
toward groups and their members that creates or maintains hierarchical status
relations between groups.
Whereas stereotypes can be positive
or negative, prejudice refers to the irrational dislike, suspicion, or hatred
of a particular group, race, religion, or sexual orientation (Rothenberg,
1992). Prejudice is seen to have three components : cognitive, affective and
behavioral (Dovidio, 2010). The first of these is equivalent to what we will
define as stereotype. The second is a purer affective or evaluative response to
the group, void of any particular semantic content. And the third consist of
behaviors and behavioral tendencies discriminate against, or in favor of a group.
We
may try to distinguish certain degrees of negative actions in prejudice :
1. Antilocution.
Most people who have prejudices talk about them, with like-minded friends,
occasionally with strangers, they may express their antagonism freely. But many
people never go beyond this mild degree of anti-pathetic action.
2. Avoidance.
If the prejudice is mire intense, it leads the individual to avoid members of
dislikes group, even perhaps at the cost of considerable inconvenience.
3. Discrimination.
Here the prejudiced person make detrimental distinctions of an active sort.
How we can reduce stereotype and
prejudice in social live?
Everyday
we’re doing communication activities. We have to realize that communications
proccess that we always do everyday may create a new stereotypes or prejudice
to others. We communicate, so we make a new perspection to another people.
According some literature, so this is my suggestions to reduce stereotypes and
prejudices :
1. Eshtablising
cultural norms.
2. We
need more frequent information and stronger content.
3. We
have to remember that our opinions affect what people think, so we have to more
careful.
4. Presenting
more balanced pictures of minority in media. We can do this by reporting forms
of human right abuses and portraiting all groups fairly. All we know that media
is the window of the world. Human persceptions is also formed by media.
5. Keep
comunicating fairly with each other.
References :
Dovidio, John. F and friends. 2010. The SAGE Handbook of Prejudice; Stereotyping
and Discrimination. London : SAGE Publications.
Downloaded from http://blogs.thegrangeschool.net/revision/files/2010/03/
stereotypying-powerpoint.pdf in October 13th,
2012.
F. E. Jandt, “Stereotypes and Prejudice
as Barriers,”. in An Introduction to
Intercultural Communication. Identities in a Global Community, F. E. Jandt.
Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004, pp. 93 – 119.
Stangor, Charles. 2000. Key Reading in Social Psychology;
Stereotypes and Prejudice. Philadelphia : Psychology Press.
Wolfe, Connie T and
Steven J Spencer. Stereotypes and
Prejudice. University of Michigan. Downloaded from http://141.213.232.243/bitstream/2027.42
/67510/2/10.1177_000276429604000207.pdf in October 13th,
2012.
