Blog #8 Defining Stereotypes

Thank you for Today's discussion in class. Please know that our classroom is a safe place. Our classroom is a place that is meant for us to learn, develop and grow. We will all learn from each other, so please let your voice be heard. 
 Thank you Kris for beginning our discussion on stereotypes. I would like to take that discussion a bit further and continue to discuss it on our blog.
 From now on you have until Thursday night at 11:30pm to complete your comment #1 and your comment #2 is due Monday at 11:30 pm. Please do plan accordingly and complete your assignment on time.

 

Defining stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination

Definitions

Stereotyping:

• Stereotypes involve generalizations about the "typical" characteristics of members of the groups. Jane is a female, so she probably has characteristics x, y, z, .......

Prejudice:

• attitude toward the members of some group based solely on their membership in that group (can be positive or negative)

Discrimination:

• actual positive or negative actions toward the objects of prejudice

Cognitive Sources of Prejudice: Stereotypes

Measuring stereotypes

Several ways of measuring stereotypes

For example:

(1) By measuring the straightforward attribution of characteristics to nominated groups

Baptists are....?Men are...?
Blacks are...?
Mormons are...?
Whites are...?
Doctors are...?
Women are...?
Professors are...?

(2) By identifying the salient characteristics attributed to groups (relative to other groups).

What characteristics "stand out" the most about the group?Football players?
Car salespeople?
Actors?

Where do Stereotypes Come From?

Cognitive sources

• Social categorization: classifying people into groups based on common attributes (back to the cognitive miser idea)
• Ingroup - outgroup & the outgroup homogeneity effect:

       Assuming greater similarity among       characteristics of the outgroup than ingroup ("us" vs. "them")

Based on several factors:

• We don't have as much exposure to members of the outgroup (compared to members of ingroup). So, we don't have chance to learn about individual idiosyncrasies in outgroup members

• Probably also a cultural phenomenon. Americans really show the outgroup homogeneity effect compared to other cultures. Americans like to see self as "individualistic"

What Impact do Stereotypes Have?

• Distort our perceptions: The contrast effect
• Once stereotype is activated, these traits easily come to mind
• Affect the information we attend to and, therefore, notice and quickly process

• We'll attend more to stereotype-consistent information
• Stereotype-inconsistent information activates attempts to disconfirm/reject it

Stereotypes obviously affect social judgments we make about other:

• They influence how much we like the person
• They are reflected in the mood the person "puts" us in
• Our expectations regarding probability of certain behaviors in the person

Now I would like you to read and watch all the videos provided at this website: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-racial-stereotypes.php Do you feel this is helpful or harmful and why?

Stereotypes develop for a reason but why and when  do they become dangerous? What can you do to educate yourself about race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion to see a person as an individual within these groups?

Blog #7: Leading your Team

In the next weeks ahead, each of you will have the opportunity to lead your team to accomplish a specfic goal that you have. This project should help solidify your group to become a true team. To accomplish this, several things must happen and your role as a leader is crucial in this development. You most consider several factors: gender, culture, backgrounds, religion, and ethnicity to name a few. Think about how these things will come into play as you lead your group. What can you do to become more aware about each of your group members?

Perhaps you have never taken a leadership role before and you are feeling uncertain how you will do this. I would like to you read this link and discuss what you will use to guide your team to successfully complete your project. Provide examples for each area listed in this article that you will use and how.

http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1119.aspx

Blog #6: Interfaith Being the Movement

Information taken from: http://www.ifyc.org/about

We live at a time when people of different faith backgrounds are interacting with greater frequency than ever before. We hear the stories of people who seek to make faith a barrier of division or a bomb of destruction all too often. Instead, we view religious and philosophical traditions as bridges of cooperation. Our interfaith movement builds religious pluralism.




We define religious pluralism as a world characterized by:

Respect for people’s diverse religious and non-religious identities,

Mutually inspiring relationships between people of different backgrounds, and

Common action for the common good.

We think pluralism is achieved by two things:



The science of interfaith cooperation: by creating positive, meaningful relationships across differences, and fostering appreciative knowledge of other traditions, attitudes improve, knowledge increases, and more relationships occur. These three are mutually reinforcing and backed by social science data, what we call the “interfaith triangle”.

The art of interfaith leadership: people who create and foster opportunities for positive knowledge and opportunities for engagement move others around the interfaith triangle and lead to a community marked by pluralism.

We believe that American college students, supported by their campuses, can be the interfaith leaders needed to make religion a bridge and not a barrier.

My hopes for you:

I hope today's presentation inspired you. I hope you are still thinking about what Eboo Patel discussed. I  hope that it has made the book, "Acts of Faith", more meaningful and not just another book that you place on your shelf that you felt forced to read. I hope you will take this book and use it as a reminder of what you can and will become.

Your assignment is two parts. First, you are to email me your  orginal paper on "Acts of Faith". On this orginal paper, I want you to revise in red areas that you you wish to add to, change and elaborate on from what you heard  Patel speak about.

Secondly, on this blog, I  I want you to ask yourself:  How can you an College Student, become an interfaith leader needed to make religon a bridge not a barrier?

Blog #5: Community Day

This was the first picture I was given of Cherie. She is 4 years old in this picture and still waiting for a family to call her own. At this time, Cherie had no language. They knew she was Deaf but did not attempt to teach her to sign. She did not even know her name. I brought Cherie home when she was 5 years old. She is now 10. She has taught me the importance of giving back and realizing you can make a difference. She has made the world of a difference in me. She has given me more than I can ever give to her. People tell me she is so lucky. Really? She is lucky to have been abandoned, lived in an orphanage for 5 years, not having a family of her own, not having any language? She is lucky? No, I am. My family is. We are the lucky ones. I love you Cherie!




This week on Wednesday, October 3rd is Community Day. I have always been so proud that our campus encourages our students, staff, and faculty to participate in this wonderful opportunity to give back. I am honored to be a part of this campus that finds this day so important that it cancels all classes so we can all participate. You may not realize now the scope of what you are doing and how people will be forever changed because of what you gave back to your community.





Everyday, I am grateful for what I have. Everyday I look at my two beautiful daughters and my heart breaks for their birth mothers and fathers for not having the same privileges that I have had. I cannot imagine desperately trying to find a family for my child because I am dying of a disease that no one should ever have to deal with. I cannot imagine birthing my child and leaving the hospital without her/him because I cannot afford to take care of them. I cannot imagine wondering how I will feed my child. I have been to their countries. I have seen the orphanages they were raised in. I promised that I would strive to make a difference in people’s lives. I promised that I would encourage others to give back. Thank you for taking the time on Wednesday to do something for someone or our community. Please remember to practice community day whenever you can. Even the littlest things make a difference. Bring a dish to an older neighbor, clean up your neighborhood, bring canned goods to the food shelters, help someone that needs it, or see what you can do by contacting people right here on campus to send you in the right direction. Contact Jay Newcomb at jnewcomb@css.edu or Lori Barnstorf at lbarnsto@css.edu.



Community means to pay it forward. It is well worth the time and energy; I promise. Enjoy tomorrow. Embrace what you are doing with your heart and soul. Giving back is one of the greatest things anyone can do.


Blog Assignment:  What does community mean to you? How will you continue to give back to your community? Share with the class your thoughts and ideas. How can one person make a difference and create a ripple effect?  Reflect on you experience working for Habitat. What has it taught you? How has it changed you? Find a video on community to share with the class and provide a link to it. When you respond to another student watch what they have provided and discuss what it mean to you, what it taught you, how you will apply it to your life.
Have a splendid week and take the time to really look around you. See how days like this truly do make a difference.