<p>Do you believe in ethnic/racial stereotypes? Are Asians smarter? Blacks more aggressive? Italians temperamental? Irish people can drink more? Hispanic women more sexual? Asian women more subordinate? Brazilian women more attractive? </p>
<p>Note not all these involve physical characteristics, but also intellectual and emotional. Also note not all seterotypes include an entire race, but rather characterize an ethnic group. Note not all of them are positive or negative.</p>
<p>So do you believe in stereotypes? Also, remember, stereotypes don't apply to EVERY individual person. It's a generalization.</p>
<p>i mean i’m not sure how to approach this question, but the way i see it, stereotypes are what they are… generalizations. Now there are some ridiculous ones that aren’t really true but i feel like some generalizations tend to come true as a product of the ethnicity’s culture/ways. I.E. Asians are seen as “smarter” cuz they generally place a higher value on education. But as the italian poster here said, it is in no way a good way to characterize a specific individual lol.</p>
<p>I don’t succumb to “given stereotypes” out of rumor or hearsay. I do, of course, however, form generalizations after having had enough real-life experience.</p>
<p>I scroll slowly down the page, so at first I only saw the beg of your post. I sighed and said to myself: “Did he not read the statement about stereotypes being generalizations and not applying to individuals?”</p>
<p>Then I laughed hysterically after reading the bottom.</p>
<p>But let me clarify my question for everyone. Are stereotypes generalizations? This is undeniable. But that’s not the question. The question: Are these generalizations actually true? </p>
<p>Basically, every person at Harvard isn’t smarter than every person at LSU. But the stereotype that Harvard students are smart is true, though not every student there is actually intelligent (legacies, others).</p>
<p>Not really… I may have some instinctive reaction to stereotypes (getting more scared of black people, for example) but I know it’s illogical and try to mentally repress it.</p>
<p>I do believe in actual trends shown by good collected data though. For example, at least in the U.S. the average white person has a higher IQ than the average black person, so I believe in that. Note that this DOES NOT mean any white person is smarter than any black person; it just means that in the U.S. a randomly chosen white man will probably be smarter than a randomly chosen black man, all other things being equal (for example, if you compare a white high school drop out and a black university professor, the professor is probably smarter; hence “all other things being equal”).</p>
<p>Be careful with the IQ comment. I’ve gotten undeniable amounts of grief for discussing that on this forum.</p>
<p>But maybe we should avoid the intelligence stereotypes (i.e. blacks aren’t as smart as Asians). Let’s try to focus on emotional or behavior stereotypes.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure it’s illogical. If a stereotype doesn’t come out of the air, then it has some amount of truth in it. For example, you have to complain at the DMV and you barely have any time to file your complaint. You want to be in and out. There’s a black, white, and Asian person at three individual counters. Is it illogical to choose the Asian teller because most likely that person is more subdued than the other two?</p>
<p>Not really. You’re basically making a bet. One makes bets according to averages, which I believe are well represented in ethnic stereotypes. As yawn stated, the normal curve is present for every single ethnic group (no one argues that ethnicity doesn’t exist, some argue race doesn’t exist). A given ethnic group will have a certain average (let’s say Irish people can drink x amount per hour comfortably). Another group has the same normal dist, but a different average and thus it means one group is more or less likely to exhibit a certain behavior pattern than the other.</p>
<p>There are stereotypes for a reason. I don’t automatically believe every single stereotype because I know there are, obviously, exceptions. But still, it’s kind of goofy to completely disregard all stereotypes as untrue.</p>
<p>Except these trends rarely take into account that the average white person receives a better education than the average black person, which results in your statistic.</p>
<p>Or the idea that some people may unconsciously, or even purposefully evolve to fit a stereotype. I.E. In the case of a black person completely defying the black stereotype, then they’re seen as “acting white.” and may be isolated for it.
Or a white person going against the white stereotype and seen as acting black.
Some people may find it socially easier to just stick to their stereotype because they’re expected to. Not a way to live, but it happens.</p>
<p>PlattsburghLoser, if we accept that the IQ score is an accurate measurement of intelligence, that it is true a better education results in a higher score, then we still conclude based on the data that the average white person is smarter than the average black person in the US. That this difference is brought about by education is irrelevant for the purposes of the stereotype; it still exists and the statement is still true; you just provided a reason why. All your statement says is that intelligence can be influenced by education and that white people receive a better one, not that blacks are on average as smart as whites.</p>
<p>See graph below comparing racial SAT scores at a number of different economic levels. Still think the “better education” argument explains the disparity?</p>
<p>Considering how reliable Wikipedia is known to be nor do I consider the SATs to be an accurate measure of intelligence, to answer your question: No.</p>
<p>The fact that you equate going to school as having an equal education is disheartening. Compare an inner predominately black inner city D.C. school to a majority white one in the Virginia suburbs, for example. The quality of education the provide are not equivalent. </p>
<p>That chart is from the Collegeboard. I just found it on Wikipedia.</p>
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<p>Well from the passage you quote, you seem to believe IQ is a somewhat accurate measure of intelligence. I agree that SAT isn’t a prefect indicator of intelligence. But SAT score has a 0.8 correlation with IQ. I say that allows one to confidently conclude SAT score generally reflects intelligence.</p>
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<p>Who would disagree with this statement? I sure wouldn’t and I didn’t. The inner city school is surely worse. Blacks, on average, surely have a worse educational experience than whites. </p>
<p>I actually made a mistake in my last post. I meant to provide the following chart showing racial scores at given economic levels.</p>
<p>I think it’s safe to assume that students at a given economic level are receiving basically the same educational quality. Yet, despite this, the disparity is huge at every level.</p>
<p>Even comparing acorss income levels, the poorest Asians (basically dirt poor), score about 25 points better than the richest blacks. You’re telling me those Asians, undoubtedly mostly the children of poor, non-English speaking immigrants, living in ethnic ghettos, receive a commensurate education to that of a black person whose father got a graduate degree?</p>
<p>But the best comparison is in a given economic level, where blacks significantly lag whites and Asians. </p>
<p>I’m really curious what your explanation could be for this. (I’m honestly not being sarcastic.)</p>
<p>Haven’t read the thread, but I don’t think that anyone’s going to argue that stereotypes apply to every single individual.</p>
<p>I still maintain that the stereotypes exist because they have some degree of a valid basis to back them up; Asians do tend to be more high-achieving, and etc. Of course not every individual is going to conform to standards, but still, to a certain degree I find them amusing.</p>
<p>As for URMs not being as successful, I think a lot of it is culture/upbringing. I went to a HS ranked in the top 15 public schools in the U.S, everyone was at least upper-middle class, most were upper class. It was a small grade, we all knew each other from Kindergarten to 12. Maybe 10/127 kids in the grade were black, maybe 2 hispanics. I know for a fact only 1 ever took an AP class, whereas over half my grade took at least 5 (the school offered 15). None in my grade were in the NHS, or any of the Honor society clubs. They were very active in athletics, though. They were overrepresented in remedial classes. I don’t know why. Sadly, it made it easier for certain stereotypes and jokes to flourish in my grade…maybe it was just my class. I noticed in other grades it didn’t exist to this extent (meaning urm’s were inducted in junior NHS and French honor society rather than just basketball and track). </p>
<p>Class has nothing to do with it, they’re all rich - one was even the son of a famous rapper/actor and probably richer than all of us. Just based on my very limited, anecdotal experience, class has less to do with it than upbringing and culture. Raise a child of any color to value education and academics, and he will. The average kid of one race is born with the same potential as the average kid of another. upbringing and what values are instilled in us make a big difference. My dad came to America from a 3rd world country as a child, and most kids in his crappy Bronx HS didn’t make it to college…he worked from 14 until…now (recently left job). He got into Columbia,but went to a CUNY because of money. He managed to graduate with honors and make $120K…upbringing can occasionally overcome class. I understand why poor people are less likely to succeed though. I’ve noticed a lot of very successful black students are the descendants of African immigrants rather than african-americans who are descended from slaves…interesting. African immigrants are actually a very successful minority.</p>
<p>Yes they are. Immigrant Nigerians have the highest college graduation rate of any American ethnicity. But these individuals are chosen primarily on the basis of their high intelligence. Is it any surprise their children have comparable success?</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1995-SAT-Education2.png]File:1995-SAT-Education2.png](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1995-SAT-Education2.png%5DFile:1995-SAT-Education2.png){kind=link}
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1995-SAT-Income2.png]File:1995-SAT-Income2.png](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1995-SAT-Income2.png%5DFile:1995-SAT-Income2.png){kind=link}
