How Stereotypes Affects Society

They conflict with people's view of others, they make people judge others based on things such as race, color, religion, ethnicity, etc. They are Stereotypes. A stereotype as defined in the dictionary is “A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.” They affect the way people view others. Stereotypes affect society by making people judge others based on stereotypes.

Most people see stereotypes as a way to group certain people together. There are good things and bad things about stereotypes. “A pro is it lets us respond to situations quickly because it is similar to another experience. A con is it makes us ignore differences between individuals so we think things that may not be true.” Stereotypes can be a good thing. But in most cases they are not. An example of this is the stereotype that all muslims are terrorists. Many people think of terrorists when they hear the word muslim. But only 6% of terrorist attacks in the U.S. in the past 7 years have been muslim. Muslim terrorist attacks are very low and uncommon. But stereotypes make them out to be terrorists.
Whether it’s conscious or unconscious. Everybody has one. Most people don’t know they have one or use it, but they do. For example if you see a tall black man you might think he’s a good basketball player or a fast runner. Although it may be true, It may not. Without knowing them or seeing them play basketball that's a stereotype. In a case like this just assuming things have little to no harm but other stereotypes can insult someone which can land you in hot water. For example using my first example, if you assume that a muslim is a terrorist just because their muslim you’re most likely