Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
Forming Judgments on the Basis of Appearance: Stereotyping, Prejudice, and
Discrimination
We frequently use people’s appearances to form our judgments about them and to determine our
responses to them. The tendency to attribute personality characteristics to people on the basis of
their external appearance or their social group memberships is known as stereotyping. Our
stereotypes about physically attractive people lead us to see them as more dominant, sexually
warm, mentally healthy, intelligent, and socially skilled than we perceive physically unattractive
people (Langlois et al., 2000). [10] And our stereotypes lead us to treat people differently—the
physically attractive are given better grades on essay exams, are more successful on job
interviews, and receive lighter sentences in court judgments than their less attractive counterparts
(Hosoda, Stone-Romero, & Coats, 2003; Zebrowitz & McDonald, 1991). [11]
In addition to stereotypes about physical attractiveness, we also regularly stereotype people on
the basis of their sex, race, age, religion, and many other characteristics, and these stereotypes
are frequently negative (Schneider, 2004). [12] Stereotyping is unfair to the people we judge
because stereotypes are based on our preconceptions and negative emotions about the members
of the group. Stereotyping is closely related to prejudice, the tendency to dislike people because
of their appearance or group memberships, and discrimination, negative behaviors toward
others based on prejudice.Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination work together. We may
not vote for a gay person for public office because of our negative stereotypes about gays, and
we may avoid people from other religions or those with mental illness because of our prejudices.
Some stereotypes may be accurate in part. Research has found, for instance, that attractive
people are actually more sociable, more popular, and less lonely than less attractive individuals
(Langlois et al., 2000). [13] And, consistent with the stereotype that women are “emotional,”
women are, on average, more empathic and attuned to the emotions of others than are men (Hall
& Schmid Mast, 2008). [14] Group differences in personality traits may occur in part because
people act toward others on the basis of their stereotypes, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A self-fulfilling prophecyoccurs when our expectations about the personality characteristics of
others lead us to behave toward those others in ways that make those beliefs come true. If I have
a stereotype that attractive people are friendly, then I may act in a friendly way toward people