Stereotyping

Stereotyping is the psychological process of applying a generalized belief about a category of people as an expectation about the personality, preferences, appearance or abilities of any individual member of that category, which allows a person forming an impression to rely on previously stored general knowledge about the category rather than on the specific information actually available about the individual. Stereotypes are commonly described as often inaccurate and resistant to being updated by new information that contradicts them, though research on the accuracy of particular stereotypes has produced mixed findings, with studies of stereotypes based on national origin or astrological sign found to be inaccurate while some studies of gender stereotypes have found them more likely to correspond to measured group differences. Stereotypes can carry negative, positive or neutral content, and psychologists distinguish explicit stereotypes, which a person consciously holds and can report, from implicit stereotypes, which operate below conscious awareness.