no.[666]bicycle
27th Oct 2011, 11:51 PM
So I have this essay due on stereotypes, specifically one I used to hold.....
Anyone wanna give it a once over and tell me what you think? if so, here it is:
Why can’t we be friends?
Have you ever stereotyped someone only to find out you were wrong? Well this is actually all about a time when I did. I passed judgment on a girl in my class before I knew her; she seemed to be one of those girls that were the rich, arrogant type. She dressed well and appeared to be what people would call “preppy”, she was very popular and with the fact of me perceiving her as rich that made me feel inferior because I was on that lower end of the income scale and felt as if I wasn’t good enough to even associate with her. The Social Comparison of the negative stereotype I held of this girl, the rich person, lead me to perceive her as unworthy to be my friend.
A bug project in my middle school science class happened to pair me up with this exact girl. I walked into the class with the stereotype that I had put upon her still running through my mind, giving me a negative attitude about what was to come. She was sitting there; I reluctantly made my way over to where she was sitting and sat down. She began to talk to me and I felt as if we were from two different planets she was the in-group I was the out-group. How could I ever relate to a person that I thought I had nothing in common with? After the class was over she invited me over to her house which shocked me, so I agreed and we walked to her house. After arrival, I just had to notice how nice her house was. It was making me feel like maybe I was right about her being rich, but was that enough to assume she was the same as stereotype I had?
I was weary about the whole thing but then we started talking over the project and suddenly smiled at me asking if I wanted something to drink, I politely said yes. The project that we had been working on turned into laughter and what seemed like common interests, instead of working on the project we were laughing about how we thought it was weird to be sticking dead bugs to a piece of cardboard. This led me to believe that maybe she and I had something in common. Was she actually not the arrogant person I thought she was? Maybe not, but was it okay not to stereotype her as stuck-up anymore. Were the points I had previously learned about rich people from my own Social group a fallacy of overgeneralization?
After all was said and done, after knowing her for a while, me and her became friends. Not just friends but best friends, I felt as if maybe instead of having this stereotype I could of just been more open minded to the fact she could have been out of the norm of the stereotype I labeled upon her. If I had not been paired up with her would I still hold this stereotype? I think I would of, and I would still be judging people today. After thinking about it though, is negative stereotyping really worth it?
Anyone wanna give it a once over and tell me what you think? if so, here it is:
Why can’t we be friends?
Have you ever stereotyped someone only to find out you were wrong? Well this is actually all about a time when I did. I passed judgment on a girl in my class before I knew her; she seemed to be one of those girls that were the rich, arrogant type. She dressed well and appeared to be what people would call “preppy”, she was very popular and with the fact of me perceiving her as rich that made me feel inferior because I was on that lower end of the income scale and felt as if I wasn’t good enough to even associate with her. The Social Comparison of the negative stereotype I held of this girl, the rich person, lead me to perceive her as unworthy to be my friend.
A bug project in my middle school science class happened to pair me up with this exact girl. I walked into the class with the stereotype that I had put upon her still running through my mind, giving me a negative attitude about what was to come. She was sitting there; I reluctantly made my way over to where she was sitting and sat down. She began to talk to me and I felt as if we were from two different planets she was the in-group I was the out-group. How could I ever relate to a person that I thought I had nothing in common with? After the class was over she invited me over to her house which shocked me, so I agreed and we walked to her house. After arrival, I just had to notice how nice her house was. It was making me feel like maybe I was right about her being rich, but was that enough to assume she was the same as stereotype I had?
I was weary about the whole thing but then we started talking over the project and suddenly smiled at me asking if I wanted something to drink, I politely said yes. The project that we had been working on turned into laughter and what seemed like common interests, instead of working on the project we were laughing about how we thought it was weird to be sticking dead bugs to a piece of cardboard. This led me to believe that maybe she and I had something in common. Was she actually not the arrogant person I thought she was? Maybe not, but was it okay not to stereotype her as stuck-up anymore. Were the points I had previously learned about rich people from my own Social group a fallacy of overgeneralization?
After all was said and done, after knowing her for a while, me and her became friends. Not just friends but best friends, I felt as if maybe instead of having this stereotype I could of just been more open minded to the fact she could have been out of the norm of the stereotype I labeled upon her. If I had not been paired up with her would I still hold this stereotype? I think I would of, and I would still be judging people today. After thinking about it though, is negative stereotyping really worth it?