Social Psychology W6 P2

The survival of stereotypes is a frustrating issue, and unlearning stereotypes is extremely difficult, even if a person is aware that they are drawing upon stereotypes to make conclusions about people. Most of these stereotypes are taught or learned, and part of the challenge of erasing stereotypes is changing the way people are portrayed in media. For example, in many headshots of American politicians, the face of a male politician will take up almost all of the photograph. This suggests a focus on their expression or their brain. However, in many of the headshots of female politicians, they are framed more as a bust, suggesting a focus on their bodies rather than their brains. It's a subtle difference, but it still perpetuates traditional ideas of gender roles today.

Part of what makes stereotyping so frustrating is that the brain draws on them almost automatically. We use schemas to associate groups of people to traits, and it's something that we do completely without thinking about it. Even if a person is consciously aware and guilty of the fact that they judged someone based on a stereotype, it's hard to tell the brain to stop drawing these conclusions without a great deal of relearning.