Chapter 18: Stereotype Threats

I am going to talk about stereotype threats. This section talked about how people are affected by certain stereotypes if they apply to them. If a person is thought to be incapable of performing well in an activity or academically because of their race or gender, they end up falling deeper into that specific stereotype. For example, the book comments on African American men and school work. Their stereotype is that they perform poorly because of their background and heritage. When they see that they were labeled as this, they become anxious and focus less on school and more on their pride. In the end, this resulted in them proving the stereotype correct because their academic success rate lowered. This is similar to people with strong sexual desires. They are often referred to as a "whore" or "slut". A lot of people my age don't hold back what they think of these types of people. A lot of bullying occurs because a person sleeps with more than one person. People say cruel things to their faces and it hurts their self esteem like any other negative stereotype would. Some of their "friends" even pull away because they think that they will be known as a slut by association. Then because of all of this, they seek attention in other things, like the opposite sex. They are given the attention from them that they are lacking from their friends or peers. They then fall into the original stereotype because they thrive the feeling of being wanted by someone. This type of thing occurs in almost every stereotype. However I also think that people try and break the stereotype that they are labeled. When they are torn down enough, they fall back into it though. I myself, hate when people say that I am incapable of doing something. I do all that I can to prove them wrong. In the end, I either succeed, or try too hard to please everyone else, that I go back to my old ways.