Categories or Stereotypes? A guest post by Nicholas Imlach

Last week’s class on categories and categorization (the process by which categories are placed into groups) got me thinking about stereotypes and labeling. The topic of stereotypes has been brought up in other classes and I couldn’t help but see categories and stereotypes as synonymous. Both rely on past knowledge or top down processing to place members into a group based on similarities. Both are nothing more than an oversimplified explanation or a shortcut that allows us to simplify our lives at the cost of accuracy.

            The realization is that both are a part of most people’s lives, and they are both a bad habit to break. When people focus on categories they often find themselves stumped when something is not so clear cut. The truth is, life is not full of neat little categories that can be easily labeled and placed into a column. The same can be said for people and stereotypes. Yes the jokes may get a laugh at a party, but at what cost? It always seems easier to talk about someone or label him or her when they are not around. The point I am trying to get at is that categories, as well as stereotypes, are more of a hindrance than a benefit.

            Getting attached to neat little columns leads to complacency. In terms of criminal justice there is an idea called legalism, where the person who believes in it only sees right and wrong. An example of this would be a cop giving someone a speeding ticket when they were rushing to the hospital because their wife was having a baby in the car. Some may see that as a good enough reason to speed, some may use their discretion to identify the situation for what it was and understand that the person was justified. The world should not be seen in terms of black and white. I believe it was Einstein who once said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. How can things change when people are so used to doing things the same way.

            Categories, labels, stereotypes are all, in my opinion, counterproductive to change and growth. It allows people to make a knee jerk decision to write something or someone off instead of redirecting their attention and thinking. In my last post I alluded to the benefit of being able to make decisions based off of minimal information, and that can be a benefit; however, when it becomes a way of life then issues arise. When people allow themselves to go through the motions on an autopilot-like sequence, just fitting people and things into neat little categories, they are basically insulting their own intelligence. We, as a species, seem to have the uncanny ability to go thorough the motions as they were; many of us get into routines that become second nature. Going through the day from one task to another with minimal thought inhibits what makes everyone unique.

            The ability to see things in different perspectives is one of the most interesting things about people. If we all begin to fall into the neat little categories or succumb to stereotype threat, we lose the one thing that makes each of us an individual. There is something to be said about unity and its importance, but what makes unity strong is the ability of the individual to contribute his or her own strength, not that of everyone else.