What Are the Causes of Stereotypes?

Fear of Differences

Stereotypes may arise from fear when people encounter someone who appears to be different than themselves. This fear might be related to imagined threats of personal injury or perhaps an insecurity over economic or social status. For example, males are traditionally viewed as the "breadwinners" and financial caretakers in U.S. society. Stereotypes about cold non-benevolent women executives might exist to not only explain how they achieved their status, but also discourage other women from pursuing high-paying positions. These women may then be unofficially marked as "undesirable" as a potential marriage partner and mother.

Popular media sources might also perpetuate stereotypes by portraying characters that belong to certain ethnic, gender and religious affiliations in a certain light. Films, books, magazines and music videos are all potential sources of misunderstandings. Characters with a particular personality trait, such as introversion, might consistently be portrayed in a negative manner as weak, socially repellent or borderline psychotic. Women in particular are portrayed by the media as being attractive without possessing intelligence. Ethnic groups might continue to be "typecast" in certain roles, such as gang members living in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

As individuals are exposed to different groups of people, there is a tendency to categorize or classify based upon one or two distinguishing factors. Categorization also exists to create a sense of belonging with a particular group. Often however, stereotypes emerge from a lack of experience with a particular group and are based upon assumptions. For example, an individual assumes that a blue-collar worker is less educated that a white-collar worker due to the lower educational requirements necessary to obtain a blue-collar job. Yet, there may be someone who is highly educated working in a blue-collar position because it pays more, it's what he prefers to be doing or is the only employment readily available in his community.

Social reference groups, such as family and friends, are another source of stereotypes. They might be passed down through jokes or comments. Friends at school might make comments about certain cliques. Or if a child's parents communicate that members of certain religious groups aren't to be trusted and are morally deficient, the child may later harbor that stereotype.