September Blog Post

Stereotypes/Stereotyping. No one wants to be put into a group and have assumptions made about their lives based on appearance, gender, or interests. We all say that we don’t stereotype, but it is a natural thing to automatically do. It is not a bad thing (to an extent) because you subconsciously do it, however when you apply the stereotypes and act on those, that is when it becomes bad. Stereotyping is putting people into a box and basically telling them “hey you, you appear to be this, so you obviously fit into this group and act in certain ways.” Stereotyping in the world of cultural communication retracts our ability to properly communicate with others. When we make assumptions about someone, our brain shuts off the ability to communicate without any barriers between you and the other.

(Forgive me because what I am about to talk about may have been mentioned in class)         

Now, I am a HUGE fan of the television show, The Office. It is one of my go-to shows whenever I cannot decide what to watch on Hulu or Netflix. My husband and I have seen the complete series multiple times (don’t judge me). In season one, episode two (I Googled it, I am not that crazy of a fan…) Michael (Steve Carell) holds a “Diversity Day” (you can watch this scene in the link that I provided to help you better understand what I am talking about) training seminar where he tries to teach about the stereotypes with different cultures/races within the office. He later assigns each staff member an index card that is taped to their foreheads that has a different race/gender/culture on it. The staff goes around talking with one another trying to guess what is taped to their foreheads. The staff members are not into the ‘exercise’ because they see that stereotyping is wrong and inappropriate. They are going around and helping the others guess what is on their forehead by talking like the stereotypes that have been assigned to those cultures/race/etc. Obviously, this is highly inappropriate for any setting, especially a place of business. But it is a great example to show how stereotypes are seen and how they can build up a wall that blocks the field of communication between two people.