It is clear that we live in an increasingly multicultural society. Just a simple look to any school or Institute of our country to give account of the variety of colors, languages and dresses (almost always) coexist in harmony. All mix is certainly enriching: different perspectives, different ways of understanding life. Contact with different cultures benefits everyone because we can learn from the experiences of others which make us better. We have at our fingertips flavors from around the world through various culinary traditions. We can live in our cities and learn customs from around the world.
Contact with each other and cultural reality is essential to understand what we thought unquestionable; the immutable truths that we had learned from our cultural tradition become simple options between the different cultures. We need other cultures to exit our cultural shell and to understand that we are not the navel of the world. The French cook very well, the Italians are the most romantic nation; Hispanics are quite attached to their traditions. It is what is generally thought in some nations and we call it cultural stereotypes, i. e. hat society has defined concept and accepts it although it is misleading, falsely thinking that other cultures have a specific culture.
Today, cultural stereotypes are very common in societies. Most of what we think in other cultures is based on them. Unfortunately, due to this many people evaluate the representatives of different cultures only taking into account what one think of them in general. We do not try to know them better but instead we deviate from them for having nothing in common with them. The truth is that many times these stereotypes are false and therefore we should not be guided by them.
Stereotypes arise easily because it is based on the behavior of individuals representing a culture, seen by representatives of the other. However, it is very difficult, or even impossible, to eliminate them completely because they are deeply rooted in the minds of the people. Guided only by the cultureless stereotypes, we create in our mind a wrong image of what other cultures are like. You must know people personally to determine what we think of them. Stereotypes affect us even though we are not aware of it. In a study conducted by Boucher, Rydell and Murphy (2015)
If we try to define the word “stereotype” in the dictionary we would get a definition more or less like this: “A set of ideas that a group or a society obtains from the rules or previously established cultural patterns”. This shows that basically the stereotypes are the product of the attribution of a given feature objects (or groups of people), having its origin in an improper or too rough and arbitrary generalization of reality, it tends to get rid of any logical conclusion. Prejudice, on the other hand, comes from stereotypes.
They are the attitude we adopt on the basis of stereotypes that we have (Crandall, 2011) Nowadays there are many stereotypes that may be due to different characteristics as social class, age, religion, ethnicity, sex, and the list could fill this page and the mass media are one of the main culprits since they manage to establish role models through many trading strategies or appearance than the majority of people will try to acquire. Stereotypes are transmitted and promoted by various routes, such as formal education and informal education, mainly in the family and through the mass media.
When we turn on the television, radio or open a magazine, we are opening the door of our home and our minds to a series of ideas and images that while on one hand, they reflect reality, they inform and entertain us, on the other hand have a limited vision and biased on how to live, way of thinking, clothing so on and so forth. Most if not all people almost instinctively, will try at some point of their lives to fit into any social class or group and to do this it is necessary to comply with the requirements to settle in one. Why the use of stereotypes?
Now that the borders are gradually disappearing, different cultures coexist with one another to a much greater degree that only a few decades ago (and in our country the phenomenon is still more recent); However, the issue is that on many occasions there is cohabitation, but not always mixing and interaction, and therefore gives the paradox that internal borders are emerging more and more. Stereotypes are barriers that hinder our approach to others. Communication between humans of different places on Earth is not prevented by the cultural differences but unable by stereotypes.
Stereotypes are speeches closed on members of other communities that prevent us from knowing them directly. They are compact and default, ideologies that always precede the real with each other, meeting even if they arise as wisdom drawn from experience of so-called real contacts. There are many types of stereotypes. Known by all for example, relating to nationalities stereotypes. Koomen and Bahler (1996) stated that, according to opinion polls, Europeans believed that Germans were workers, Italians romantic, English cold hearted, hedonistic French and the reliable Dutch.
Too many people have chosen to organize the world in stereotypes, before approaching the wonderful wealth of mankind with curiosity, dignity and respect. Although stereotypes seem inaccurate, something in which the media have a high degree of responsibility, for example, if a group of 10 or even fewer people think the same way about how to dress colors should be combined, they have created a stereotype, which affects the psyche of people and which may alter the course of society.
The media have the potential to handle mass and be able to define the behaviors as well as to determine stereotypes that affect societies; it also sends messages that inform or teach about these, in order to avoid them and not create depressive societies. Stereotypes are still present in our society while women entered the workforce and will equate to the man. The woman is identified by its body, relationships and beauty not valuing the information and intelligence they possess.
In the advertising world we find different types of stereotypes, but the principal one is the sex stereotype. This is used for all types of products and even for those who have nothing to do with it. It is a stimulus that the receiver hosts quick and positive. The role of women in advertising has been highly stereotyped, representing it always as wife, mother, housekeeper or even female object. The woman is represented as an object of man’s desire. Stereotypes in advertising are simplified ideas of reality that have been accepted by the society or by a particular group of people.
It does not simply try to sell the product to which they refer. Many times in the beginning it may be forced or even comical, but at the end, the end the message ends up being accepted. We live in a complex world, in which every day we receive large amounts of information from many different sources, and from this we must take decisions. Decisions, normally, have to take them without enough time to be able to analyze the information received and stored. This is why we need mechanisms to simplify the reality of our environment.
A way to do this is categorization, i. e. to organize the world by classifying objects in groups. Ultimately, stereotypes are beliefs we have about a group, and prejudices are attitudes, in the most negative cases, that we adopt towards this social group in particular due to such stereotypes. For example, a jury can convict more easily to a person if this takes facial tattoos (Funk, 2013). In conclusion, the stereotypes do not necessarily have to be negative.
In another study, Pennebaker, Rime and Sproul in 1996, show that in 20 countries of the northern hemisphere, shows that people from the South of each country were more expressive than the people in the North. Even prejudices can be adaptive depending on context, but must be aware of how we affect and influence, and up to what point can be discriminatory and harmful to society and our interpersonal relationships. So far, social psychology has been most successful in explaining the prejudices and stereotypes that offering tools to reduce them.
In any case, we know that having experiences and real information, clear and direct about an individual belonging to a particular group can reduce the stereotypes that we have about this group. In addition, the own desire not to be carried away by prejudice may reduce the effect of them. In short, be affected by bias is a completely normal process, which is useful for the individual. Stereotypes are beliefs about other groups. These beliefs may be true, wrong or exaggerated, but be aware of the limitations that stereotypes and prejudices have that shape us with direct and objective information.