STEREOTYPE-THINKING (1)

Erasmus+ Project
“Take Out Stereotyping Out of Your life”

STEREOTYPE THINKING

NAPOCA TECHNICAL COLLEGE
CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

ABOUT STEREOTYPE

 A stereotype is any thought widely adopted about specific types of individuals or
certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group of those
individuals or behaviors as a whole

 A stereotype is “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class
of people.” (Cardwell, 1996).

 One advantage of a stereotype is that it enables us to respond rapidly to situations
because we may have had a similar experience before.

 One disadvantage is that it makes us ignore differences between individuals;
therefore we think things about people that might not be true (i.e. make
generalizations)

 We all use stereotypes, all the time, without knowing it.

ABOUT STEREOTYPE

 Stereotypes are a part of our everyday life. We hear stereotypes every day and
everywhere. Sometimes we can find ourselves in a situation where we make
stereotypes for a large group of people. Every person, young or old, is labelled with
either positive or negative stereotypes.

 Stereotypes affect people’s social lives, emotions, and how people interact with their
environment.

 Stereotypes have an enormous impact of how we feel. That makes people have no
motivation; therefore they won’t have good performance at any level in their life.

 Members of stereotyped groups worry of what they are doing, and this makes them
stressed, because they think that they have to be perfect, in all aspects of their lives!
People get tired of being criticized all the time. When there is no one able to close
people’s mouths, they start to become isolated. In the same way they don’t talk,
because they are afraid to say something wrong, so that they won’t look silly. They
are afraid of failure.

ABOUT STEREOTYPE

Conclusion

 Instead of focusing on all the mistakes of each person, we should start
paying more attention of how unique each person is.

 Stereotype causes people to feel lonely and even sometimes
depressed. It’s also harmful for their environment and their social life.

 We should keep stereotypes out of the picture, even though sometimes we
can be victims ourselves.

 Stop judging people before you even get to know them.

COMMON STEREOTYPES

 Racial Profiling

 One of the more common stereotype examples is stereotypes surrounding race.
 For example, saying that all Blacks are good at sports is a stereotype, because it’s

grouping the race together to indicate that everyone of that race is a good athlete.

 Gender Profiling

 There are also some common stereotypes of men and women, such as:
 Men are strong and do all the work.
 Men are the "backbone."
 Women aren't as smart as a man.
 Women can’t do as good of a job as a man.
 Girls are not good at sports.
 Guys are messy and unclean.
 Men who spend too much time on the computer or read are geeks.

COMMON STEREOTYPES

 Cultures

 Stereotypes also exist about cultures an countries as a whole. Stereotype examples of
this sort include the premises that:

 All white Americans are obese, lazy, and dim-witted. Homer Simpson of the TV series The
Simpsons is the personification of this stereotype.

 Mexican stereotypes suggest that all Mexicans are lazy and came into America illegally.

 All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists.

 All people who live in England have bad teeth.

 Italian or French people are the best lovers.

 All Blacks outside of the United States are poor.

 All Jews are greedy.

 All Asians are good at math. All Asians like to eat rice and drive slow.

 All Irish people are drunks and eat potatoes.

 All Americans are generally considered to be friendly, generous, and tolerant, but also
arrogant, impatient, and domineerin

COMMON STEREOTYPES

 Groups of Individuals

 A different type of stereotype also involves grouping of individuals. Skaters, Goths, Gangsters, and Preps
are a few examples. Most of this stereotyping is taking place in schools. For example:

 Goths wear black clothes, black makeup, are depressed and hated by society.
 Punks wear mohawks, spikes, chains, are a menace to society and are always getting in trouble.
 All politicians are philanders and think only of personal gain and benefit.
 Girls are only concerned about physical appearance.
 All blonds are unintelligent.
 All librarians are women who are old, wear glasses, tie a high bun, and have a perpetual frown on their

face.
 All teenagers are rebels.
 All children don't enjoy healthy food.
 Only anorexic women can become models.
 The elderly have health issues and behave like children.

 Sexual Stereotypes

 Sexual stereotypes suggest that any feminine man is gay and any masculine woman is a lesbian.
 Those who believe gay stereotypes may also believe that homosexuality is immoral, wrong and an

abomination.

STEREOTYPE ABOUT ROMANIAN- Roma

and vampires speaking Russian?

 Romania is a Balkan country- Partly False- Even if geographically this is not
accurate, in many cultural aspects Romania does feel like a Balkan country.

 Everything is cheap- Partially true- While the food is cheaper in Romania,
especially the fresh organic ingredients, the utilities and gas prices are very
similar to Central and Western Europe

 The land of Dracula- False- You can discover the truth behind the myth with our
history tour Vlad the Impaler versus Dracula

 Romania is dangerous- False- Generally, you shouldn’t worry about anything
happening to you if you take the minimum precaution measures
recommended anywhere in the world.

 The land of gypsies- False- Travelling across Romania, you’ll see a more
complex image of this otherwise colorful minority, including gypsy

 Romanian is similar to Russian- False- Few know that Romanian is a Romance
language similar to French, Spanish, Italian, and that less than 10 percent of the
words come from the ancient Slavic. Yet Bulgarian, German, Turkish words

STEREOTYPE ABOUT ITALIAN- Football
addict and talkative fashionistas?

 Italians love pasta and they eat it everyday. Spaghetti and pasta in general are
sacred.

 Italians have amazing coffee culture
 Pizza was invented in Italy.
 Italians are very fashionable. In fact, Italians are fashion victims icon wink

Italianity
 Italian people often say: “mamma mia!” and “thatsa spicy meataball!”
 Mafia is real and dangerous.
 Italians are very romantic.

STEREOTYPE ABOUT TURKS- Macho
muslims driving Mercedes?

 Turkey is a Very Conservative Country
 Turkey is a strict Muslim country.
 Women walk around in Burkas, covered from head to toe, only

showing their eyes
 Men are dominant, women are submissive and stay at home
 Turkish men are allowed x amount of wives.
 Everyone wears a fez and has a mustache
 Turkish Cuisine Consists Mainly of Kebab
 Turks Ride Camels
 The country is unsafe.

STEREOTYPE ABOUT LITHUANIAN-
Russian, backward villagers?

 ALL LITHUANIANS SPEAK RUSSIAN
 LITHUANIANS ARE RESERVED, RUDE, AND UNFRIENDLY.
 IT RAINS IN LITHUANIA. A LOT
 LITHUANIANS ARE SLOW
 THE OFFICIAL RELIGION IN LITHUANIA IS CATHOLICISM
 VILNIUS IS JUST ANOTHER BORING CROSS-TOWN

STEREOTYPE ABOUT SLOVENIAN- Bilingual
and introverted balkan people?

 Slovenia is so small that people communicate by yelling (or yodelling) from one
part of the country to the other.

 Slovenia’s population is so small that they can all fit in one bus
 Slovenians are sporty (this is true, Slovenia is on average, the most sporty

country on the planet)
 Slovenians are terrible neighbors. Because, if your favorite cow dies in a tragic

accident, they will be happy that you are less fortunate than them.
 They eat a lot. Not fat! Apparently one stereotype is that slovenians have so

much food that they eat until they pass out

IS ALL THIS STEREOTYPE ABOUT OUR
COUNTRY TRUE OR FALSE?

 Please think about it and give us the answer