Identity in Sociology and Psychology - Essay Example

It is also possible for women to make it to the professional level of the game thus breaking the stereotype that being a woman you can only be a spectator. Through a broader focus as well as access to quality education, these stereotypes are being broken. Thus through focusing on higher education, significant stereotypes can be done away with. Stereotypes are not mutable and therefore stereotypes applied to particular groups do not alter over time. This, therefore, means that we rarely change our stereotypes frequently.

This is so even in the wake of disconfirming information; people often tend to cling to their obviously-wrong convictions If at all people can change their stereotypes, then they do so in 3 ways; Bookkeeping model-as people learn more contradictory information, they incrementally change the stereotype to align with the new information. Thus individuals usually need a lot of information for every incremental change. Secondly, is the conversion model whereby individuals throw away old stereotypes and start all over again, frequently used when there is important disconfirming evidence.

Thirdly is the subtyping model which creates a stereotype that is new, mostly a sub-classification of the current stereotype (Rupert, 2010). Yes, I have had an experience where someone applied a stereotype due to their interpretation of my skin color. I was on a tour in Africa and someone thought I am a Mexican and therefore asked much about Mexico. I had to kindly explain myself before they finally understood me and apologized profusely. Some of the authors discuss areas of misconception such as being mistaken for a waitress or a whore, for instance, in The Myth of the Latin Woman/Just Met a Girl Named Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer gives several instances where she has been taken to be a waitress simply because she is Puerto Rican.

She recounts another incident where a man blocked their way (with a companion) to their hotel room and started bellowing “Don’t cry for Me, Argentina.” He then changed to “La Bamba” trying to woo her. The other incident took place on her first day of public poetry reading which took place in Miami in a restaurant in which she was staying. As she walked with her notebook in her hand, an elder woman motioned Judith to her table and ordered a cup of coffee, obviously thinking she was a waitress.

The other instance is narrated in Inside Toyland: Working, Shopping, and Social Inequality by Christine L. Williams. In this particular work, Christine narrates several instances of racial discrimination on account of one’s color. We see whites being treated better than blacks when shopping at the same store. Whites get preferential treatment in this case.