Real Communication An Introduction

44 Part 1  Basic Communication Processes

Cultural myopia is especially dangerous when members of the dominant group

in a society are unaware of, or are insensitive toward, the needs and values of

other members in the same society.

Stereotyping

Schemas can be dangerous in a diverse society if we rely too much on them to

make generalizations about groups of people. For example, stereotyping is the

act of assuming that individuals, because they belong to certain groups, have

a set of attitudes, behaviors, skills, morals, or habits. It is applying a type of

group schema to people that is fixed or set, so that when you meet an individual

from this group, you apply your set of perceptions of the entire group to that

individual.

Stereotypes may be positive, negative, or neutral; they may be about a group

to which you belong or one that is different from your own. If you have a nega-

tive stereotype about corporate executives, for example, you may think that they

are all greedy and unethical, even though many (if not most) are hardworking,

honest men and women who have climbed the corporate ladder. On the other

hand, a positive stereotype might blind you to bad behaviors that don’t conform

to your ideas.

Such stereotyping plays a role in the way we perceive individual behaviors.

In a study of the effects of friends’ posts on Facebook (Walther, Van Der Heide,

Kim, Westerman, & Tong, 2008), researchers found that for men, negative

posts about their “misbehavior” (such as excessive drunkenness and sexual

exploits) resulted in perceptions of greater attractiveness. But the same kinds

of posts produced very negative judgments when posted about women. These

negative impressions can reinforce double standards about the acceptability of

certain behaviors among men versus women (Baile, Steeves, Brukell, & Regan,

2013). Gender stereotypes, indeed, run deep across contexts. Participants in

one research study viewed only the heads of two social robots, one with lon-

ger hair and curved lips (feminine) and one with shorter hair and straight lips

(masculine). Participants perceived the long-haired robot as more suited for

household chores and caring for children and the elderly and the short-haired

one as ready to repair technical devices or guard a house

(Eyssel & Kuchenbrandt, 2012).

Prejudice

Negative stereotypes may lead to prejudice, a deep-

seated feeling of unkindness and ill will toward particular

groups, often accompanied by feelings of superiority over

those groups. In its most extreme form, prejudice can lead

to a belief that the lives of some people are worth less than

those of others. Indeed, the institution of slavery in the

United States flourished based on this belief. Even today,

the cultural landscape of almost every nation is dotted

with groups that advocate the notion of racial superiority.

Prejudice involves prejudging a person or persons

negatively, usually without efforts to discover the relevant

STEREOTYPES OF
DUCK DYNASTY’S cast
members might lead some to
think they’d feel out of place
in a New York City hotel—but
they actually feel right at
home. Gurney Productions / © A&E /
Courtesy Everett Collection

CONNECT

As you learn in Chapter
5, stereotypes can lead
to discrimination in which
your thoughts about an
individual or group lead to
specific behaviors. So if
you believe that all sorority
members are poor stu-
dents (and you dislike them
for this belief), you may
discriminate against a Zeta
Tau Alpha member in your
study group, believing her
incapable of handling the
workload.