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Instructions
Personal Narrative: The Power of Stereotypes
On the topic of stereotypes, Communications scholar Kathleen Hall Jamieson offers the following observations:
“The word stereotype was coined by Walter Lippmann in his influential book Public Opinion, published in 1922. We do not react directly to reality but process it through representations or cognitive structures that help us sort information. Stereotypes are ‘pictures in our heads,’ said Lippmann. They take features by which we differentiate one group from another (e.g., skin color or gender) and link them to ascribed characteristics that have no necessary relationship” (64).
John Chaffee once observed that perceptions such as “women are very emotional” or “teenagers are wild and irresponsible” are termed stereotypes because they express a belief about an entire group of people without recognizing individual differences among members of the group. Stereotypes affect your perception of the world because they encourage you to form an inaccurate and superficial idea of a whole group of people” (151, 9th ed).
The upshot of this twofold: First, stereotypes perform an important function in that, as Lippmann says, they “help us sort information.” This is what makes thinking with stereotypes attractive: they make it easier to process information by providing shortcuts; they help us organize and filter our experiences. The problem, of course, is that stereotypes “help” us by diminishing others—that is, by glossing over or ignoring the complexities of other people’s lives. Ultimately, such thinking diminishes the person using the stereotype too. Such a person becomes intellectually lazy, relying on conventional wisdom and preconceived notions which insulate him/her from reality.
With these points in mind, write an essay in which you do the following:
1) Describe an incident in which you were perceived as a stereotype because of your age, ethnic or religious background, employment, accent, place of residence or some other factor.
2) Explain how it felt to be stereotyped in this way.
3) Discuss where the stereotype might have originated as well as at least one specific action that might be taken to prevent such acts of stereotyping.
Be sure to write about a specific, notable incident. Tell the story of the incident the way a good storyteller might: Use concrete details, vivid descriptions and passages of dialogue to help your readers “see” the incident and share in how you felt. For models of this kind of writing, look at the two short essays assigned above: “Black Men and Public Space,” by Brent Staples, and “Only Daughter,” by Sandra Cisneros.
This essay should be double-spaced, with 1” margins all around. It should be around 3 pages — or about 750 words—long. It can be longer if you like.
