Stereotypes

One concept from the book I’d like to discuss further is stereotypes. According to Trenholm stereotypes are generalized second hand beliefs which provide conceptual biases (2011). Though this topic is pretty general, I think it’s something that deserves plenty of recognition. In our everyday lives we carry biases about almost everything. We may not realize it but we judge everything from people to books, movies or places.
This chapter in Trenholm discusses how people are creatures of habit and that we tend to adapt to our cultural beliefs. Cultural beliefs can also be related to stereotypes. We grow up thinking the way we do because our culture has created distinct ways to look at the world. This is how stereotypes develop. Stereotypes are not bias of culture as they exist everywhere. Again it is due to our natural instincts that we perceive judgments as we are a result of the judgments our cultures create.