socio approach: stereotype formation

Question 1

stereotype definition

Answer 1

a stereotype comprises of a set of characteristics, traits, behaviours and attitudes attributed to social and cultural groups, often based on broad and biased information

they serve as generalisations about entire groups, which can lead to negative associations that foster prejudice and discrimination

Question 2

one explanation for how they form

Answer 2

one explanation for how they form is illusionary correlation theory. it is a cognitive mechanism where a person perceives a relationship between two unrelated events or variables

it is the type of cognitive bias that occurs when two statistically infrequent events co-occur leading to an overestimation of the frequency of the co-occurrence

thus, leading to a false perception of a connection between them

Answer 3

we tend to notice more unusual behaviours as they stand out to us and are therefore more easy to remember

since this information is most accessible to us, it is the most likely form of information to influence illusionary correlation