In social psychology, a stereotype is a thought that can be adopted about specific types of

individuals or certain ways of doing things.[1] These thoughts or beliefs may or may not
accurately reflect reality.[2][3] However, this is only a fundamental psychological definition of
a stereotype.[3] Within psychology and spanning across other disciplines, there are different
conceptualizations and theories of stereotyping that provide their own expanded definition.
Some of these definitions share commonalities, though each one may also harbor unique
aspects that may contradict the others.

Contents
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1 Etymology

2 Relationship with other types of intergroup attitudes

3 Content

4 Functions
o 4.1 Relationship between cognitive and social functions
o 4.2 Cognitive functions
o 4.3 Social functions: social categorization

4.3.1 Explanation purposes

4.3.2 Justification purposes

4.3.3 Intergroup differentiation

o 4.4 Social functions: self-categorization

o 4.5 Social functions: social influence and consensus

5 Formation
o 5.1 Correspondence bias
o 5.2 Illusory correlation
o 5.3 Common environment

o 5.4 Socialization and upbringing

o 5.5 Intergroup relations

6 Activation
o 6.1 Automatic behavioral outcomes

7 Accuracy

8 Effects
o 8.1 Attributional ambiguity
o 8.2 Stereotype threat
o 8.3 Self-fulfilling prophecy
o 8.4 Discrimination
o 8.5 Self-stereotyping

9 Role in art and culture

10 See also
o 10.1 Examples of stereotypes

11 References

12 Further reading

13 Antonym

14 External links

Etymology[edit]
The term stereotype derives from the Greek words (stereos), "firm, solid"[4] and
(typos), impression,[5] hence "solid impression on one or more idea/theory."
The term comes from the printing trade and was first adopted in 1798 by Firmin Didot to
describe a printing plate that duplicated any typography. The duplicate printing plate, or the
stereotype, is used for printing instead of the original.

Outside of printing, the first reference to "stereotype" was in 1850, as a noun that meant
image perpetuated without change.[6] However, it was not until 1922 that "stereotype" was
first used in the modern psychological sense by American journalist Walter Lippmann in
his work Public Opinion.[7]

Relationship with other types of intergroup

attitudes[edit]
Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination are understood as related but different concepts.[8]
[9][10][11]
Stereotypes are regarded as the most cognitive component and often occurs without
conscious awareness, whereas prejudice is the affective component of stereotyping and
discrimination is one of the behavioral components of prejudicial reactions.[8][9][12] In this
tripartite view of intergroup attitudes, stereotypes reflect expectations and beliefs about the
characteristics of members of groups perceived as different from one's own, prejudice
represents the emotional response, and discrimination refers to actions.[8][9]
Although related, the three concepts can exist independently of each other.[9][13] According to
Daniel Katz and Kenneth Braly, stereotyping leads to racial prejudice when people
emotionally react to the name of a group, ascribe characteristics to members of that group,
and then evaluate those characteristics.[10]
Possible prejudicial effects of stereotypes[3] are:

Justification of ill-founded prejudices or ignorance

Unwillingness to rethink one's attitudes and behavior towards stereotyped groups

Preventing some people of stereotyped groups from entering or succeeding in

activities or fields[14]