About stereotypes

The article is published at the request of my friend kokoff .



After reading the articles on the human brain for a long time did not work to write about what was intended, but finally did. Noticed the frequently occurring definition, which made the title. I myself am very much interested in this side of human psychology. I believe that sometimes it plays an unnecessarily strong role in the lives of some people. What is sin toit? I myself have a couple of stereotypes that are annoying and lead an active struggle with them. With all the content that is under the cut, I want to reveal in detail the essence of the concept and some problems associated with it. For presentation used the literature, the Internet and personal life experience. The article is informative - I hope it will be interesting and useful to read.
')
The stereotype is a standardized, simplified and flattened, usually brightly emotionally colored image of some socio-political object (phenomenon, process), possessing significant stability, but fixing in itself only some, sometimes insignificant, features. Sometimes defined as inaccurate, irrational, overly general representation. In a broad sense, this is a traditional canon of thought, perception and behavior, a patterned manner of behavior. (DV Olshansky, p.89). Initially, the "stereotype" is a metaphor for thinking, which came from typography, where stereotype is a monolithic print form, a copy of a typographic set or cliché used for rotary printing of large-circulation publications. The same stereotype is a well-established attitude to current events, developed on the basis of comparing them with internal ideals. As a result, the system of stereotypes is worldview.

The area of ​​stereotyping extends from delusional fantasies to the conscious use of rounded results by scientists. The whole human culture is mainly the selection, reorganization, tracking of different models of the environment. That is, the formation of stereotypes is saving your own efforts, as an attempt to see all things anew and in detail, and not as types and generalizations, is tiring, and for a busy person it is practically doomed to failure. In addition, there should be noted the cases of refusal from typifications: in a close circle there is no way to replace an individualized understanding with something or somehow save on it. Those whom we love and admire know more about ourselves rather than the classification under which we can be led. In addition to saving effort, stereotypes seem to perform one more function: stereotype systems can serve as the core of our personal tradition, a way to protect our position in society. They represent an ordered, more or less consistent picture of the world. Our habits, tastes, abilities, pleasures and hopes are conveniently located in it. The stereotypical picture of the world may not be complete, but it is a picture of a possible world to which we have adapted. In this world, people and objects take their intended places and act in the expected way. We feel at home in this world, we are part of it. Therefore, it is not surprising that any change in stereotypes is perceived as an attack on the foundations of the universe. This is an attack on the foundations of our world, and when it comes to serious things, it’s really not so easy for us to assume that there is any difference between our personal world and the world in general.

The system of stereotypes is not just a way to replace lush diversity and chaotic reality with an orderly view of it, only a shortened and simplified way of perception. Stereotypes serve as a guarantee of our self-esteem; projecting into the outer world an awareness of our values; protect our position in society and our rights, and therefore, stereotypes are filled with feelings, preferences, affection or hostility, associated with fears, desires, attractions, pride, hope. The object that activates the stereotype is evaluated in connection with the corresponding emotions.

The stereotype begins to act even before the mind is turned on. This leaves a specific imprint on the data that are perceived by our senses even before these data reach the mind. Nothing opposes education or criticism more than stereotype, since it leaves its mark on the actual data at the moment of their perception.

In cases where experience conflicts with a stereotype, a double outcome is possible: if an individual has already lost some flexibility or because of his considerable interest, it is extremely inconvenient to change his stereotypes, he can ignore this contradiction and consider it an exception to prove the rule, or find some mistake and then forget about this event. But if he has not lost curiosity or the ability to think, the innovation integrates into the already existing picture of the world and changes it.

The tendency to stereotypical perception of the world is to a large extent the basis of the thinking of neurotypical people, and does not apply (or applies to a small extent) to some less numerous categories: yogis (spiritual development), indigo aspergers, etc. (innate immunity), just intellectually developed individuals (conscious re-evaluation).

Stereotype thinking

This is, above all, a convenient form of human existence. The desire to systematize everything, to bring it under one line makes life much easier, but, on the other hand, it makes it less interesting and diverse. A phrase like: “Oh, she’s blonde!” ... And everything seems to be clear to everyone! But in fact, people are all different, with their own characters, their own views ...

A person creates a standard, stereotypical way of thinking and behavior based on established stereotypes, traditions and customs that affect our thinking and life experience. A person depends on the general opinion of the crowd, on laws and statements that he himself has not verified by himself or herself. He believes in generally accepted rules and regulations and tries to find a logical explanation for them, even if he does not know the true state of affairs.

Nature does not like emptiness, it fills it with something. If a person does not have his own opinion, there is no certainty about a particular issue, then he will have someone else’s opinion, often this is the opinion of the majority, the so-called public opinion. This principle also applies to the upbringing of the younger generation, in the sense that if the parents do not take up their child with good deeds, then he may be engaged in bad deeds.

A person tries to logically argue any phenomenon, reality, problem, relying on some general information, on his knowledge and experience. Often, these explanations coincide, especially for those people who do not have enough knowledge of the history of the issue, once again pointing to the stereotypes of thinking.



A survey was conducted of students about the pattern of letters on a computer keyboard or typewriter. Not knowing the true state of affairs, the students had an erroneous, but, as it seemed to them, logically sound point of view. Almost unanimously, the idea was expressed, according to which the arrangement of letters in the existing order was chosen for the highest printing speed. Some even suggested that once in the past, numerous studies were conducted of the dependence of typing speed on the location of letters on the keyboard, which led to the present result, and they read about it somewhere.

Everything turned out just the opposite - the letters on the keyboard are arranged just so that they are typed not faster, but more slowly. This secret reveals in one of his novels Paulo Coelho. He says that when, in 1873, Christopher Scholes invented the first typewriter, then with a high printing speed there was a problem of pushing hammers and jamming the typewriter. Eliminating this inconvenience, we had to change the location of the letters to slow down the typing speed, then the first prototype of the modern keyboard with the letters in the first row of QWERTYUIO ... etc. appeared. Then, this innovation was picked up by other manufacturers, and soon, this version of the arrangement of the letters became the only one.

Ultimately, it is the stereotypes of thinking due to lack of information that are the source of various prejudices, superstitions, various mystical teachings, when a person tries to rationally justify his successes and failures, ups and downs, lucky chance and bad luck in life.

Be aware of this, be realistic, have enough information to have your own point of view!

Stereotypes here and there: in relation to people, deeds, actions, things. Do not pinch your mind in the border, give it freedom, give hope to search for something contrary to it, so you only expand your horizons and understanding of the world in which you live. Learn everything from your experience! Do not listen to the nonsense of the first comer, chase away the thought that we are hammered into our heads every day! Be real, we are people, not virtual programs working according to a scheme (read living on stereotypes)!

It turns out that stereotypes interfere, but help in some situations. And the question of whether it is necessary to abandon them completely and irrevocably cannot be resolved unequivocally! On the one hand, you must, of course, be bored living, focusing only on the outer shell. This is a kind of emptiness of some kind. Due to a catastrophic lack of time, we very often forget about the most important thing, about inner individualization, about the spiritual world of a person. It is easy to write a person in one group or another after seeing his hair or eye color (blue-eyed men say they are cold), but it is much harder to understand, to understand this person! And it is much more interesting to see individuality in a person!

It often happens that if someone does not conform to someone's stereotypes, it becomes a kind of exile. Why? In my opinion, non-standard is very attractive, although on the other hand, it will be difficult for an unconventionally dressed person to work in an office, where everyone goes in strict business suits. Probably, everything should be in moderation.

How to be? How to live? :) Fighting stereotypes or, on the contrary, it’s up to you to decide.
This is a topic for further discussion. If you liked the article, you can continue on the topic.

__
Let me remind you that the article was prepared by kokoff . Please send thanks or beams of anger to him.