People believe many stereotypes about other cultures, races and genders. But stereotypes are generalizations. They cannot explain how complex a person really is. Photo by: Jennifer Wu/Flickr.

Often, we make assumptions about groups of people. This means we have ideas about what those people are like. But we don't have proof that our ideas are true.

These kinds of assumptions are called stereotypes. They are often based on race, religion and culture. They can also be based on whether people are gay or straight. They can even be based on what country they are from.

Stereotypes Vs. Generalizations

Many great basketball players in the U.S. are African-American. But this does not mean that all African-Americans are basketball players. This is a generalization. Photo: Chad Cooper/Flickr.

All stereotypes are generalizations. A generalization is when we think that something is true for a whole group of people. But it might only be true for a few of them.

For example, think of how you would answer if someone asked: What group of people in the U.S. are the best at playing basketball? Or, what group is the best at math?

Basing an idea on just a few examples can lead to generalizations. Over time, many people might start to believe the same generalization. That is when the generalization becomes a stereotype. A stereotype is a myth. It only seems true because it gets repeated over and over.

Stereotypes Can Be Complicated

Asian-Americans are just one of many racial groups in the U.S. Stereotypes often see people in a group as the same. But there are many differences within a racial group. These differences are based on religion, sex and culture. Photo: Yanping Nora Soong/Wikimedia.

Stereotypes can be complicated. That's because a single stereotype can mix many different ideas about a person. People have many different sides to them. Our race, gender, religion and culture all come together to make who we are. This is known as intersectionality.

There are positive stereotypes. But this can also be bad. Say a student belongs to a group of people who are usually seen as smart. But this student happens to have a learning disability. It is not as easy for them to learn as it is for others. Because of the stereotype, the teacher might think this student is supposed to be smart. Instead of helping, the teacher might think the student is being lazy.

Is There Truth In Stereotypes?

It might seem like stereotypes are partly true. But that's not really the case. Stereotypes make it look like groups of people act a certain way because that's how they're born. Science shows that this is not true. There are other reasons that explain how people are.

Maybe a society only lets a group of people do certain jobs. Members of this group might become known for that job. This isn't because they don't have skills to do other things. It's the only job they were allowed to have.

The next time you catch yourself thinking of a stereotype, try this. Think about the groups you belong to. Make a list of the stereotypes about those groups. You might see that those stereotypes about you aren't true.

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