In most cases, people confuse the usage of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination because they are often used interchangeably. However, the three terms have different meanings and usage. Stereotyping is more like stating or generalizing a certain group of people based on a particular belief or view (Fiske, 2000) . An example of stereotyping is all white girls are skinny. This stereotype generalizes all white girls as skinny girls even if not all of them are skinny. The main advantage of stereotyping is that it helps people not to get offended easily because they can relate to past experiences thus understanding that people do not mean harm. On the other hand, stereotyping has a disadvantage in that it generalizes people which make it difficult to understand differences between people. This makes it hard for people to learn that every individual is unique.
Prejudice, on the other hand, is basing an opinion about someone without reasoning (Fiske, 2000) . An example of prejudice is when someone classifies all men as unfaithful because of one bad past experience with an ex-boyfriend. Such an opinion is not pre meditated thus it does not prove that all men are unfaithful. The main disadvantage about prejudice is that it makes people develop a negative attitude towards a certain group of people. In most cases, it is an unfair and unjust treatment towards a certain group of people.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Lastly, discrimination is the act of either directly or indirectly treating others unfairly and it is brought about by either stereotyping or prejudice. For instance, if someone expects other people to act in a certain way because they are either white or black, or they are female or male or other aspects such as being a single mother, this is referred to as discrimination (Fiske, 2000) . Discrimination is harmful because it leads to the low self-esteem of the discriminated parties.
References
Fiske, S. T. (2000). Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination at the seam between the centuries: Evolution, culture, mind, and brain. European Journal of Social Psychology , 30 (3), 299-322 .
