Critically consider the roles played by stereotypes

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Critically consider the roles played by stereotype in how we perceive other people (24 mark)          In this essay I am going to consider the roles played by stereotype in how we perceive other people. Stereotype are described as ‘the as the little picture we carry around within our heads’. A definition of stereotype is a belief held by people about the characteristics of the members of a social group. For example all black people commit crime. People form stereotypes as it saves mental energy, as cognitive misers we aim to use the least possible energy to cut down the amount of cognitive effort involved in social perception. We use stereotypes to put people into categories once we have made a stereotype we tend to apply the characteristic to the whole social group. So it is easier to describe a
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whole social group rather then, describing them as individual as this would make them think more. Stereotype are activated as soon as we come into contact with a contact with a particular social group, once a stereotype has been formed we have a mental list of there characteristics in which we expect them to behave, if they don’t match up to our characteristic we tend to say they are an exception as it is easier to say they are one of a kind rather then change our perception. In addition to saving on cognitive effort, stereotype has an important role ...

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