The danger of stereotypical descriptions

I.Introduction

II.Main body

1. Misunderstandings and differences in communicative behavior

2. Communication behavior on an interactive level

3. Culture shock

III.Conclusion

Introduction

A stereotype is a thought that may be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things,. These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality. However, this is only a fundamental psychological definition of a stereotype. Within and across different psychology disciplines, there are different concepts and theories of stereotyping that provide their own expanded definition. Some of these definitions share commonalities, though each one may also harbor unique aspects that may complement or contradict the others.

The term stereotype derives from the Greek words στερεός (stereos), "firm, solid

and τύπος (typos), "impression," hence "solid impression". The term comes from the printing trade and was first adopted in 1798 by Firmin Didot to describe a printing plate that duplicated any typography. The duplicate printing plate, or the stereotype, is used for printing instead of the original.

The first reference to "stereotype" in its modern use in English, outside of printing, was in 1850, in a noun, meaning "image perpetuated without change. But it was not until 1922 that "stereotype" was first used in the modern psychological sense by American journalist Walter Lippmann in his work Public Opinion.

The danger of stereotypical descriptions

1) Misunderstandings and differences in communicative behavior

- Individual level:

- Sender and receiver

2) Communication behavior on an interactive level

-Interaction sequences

- Turn-taking

- Feedback

- Influencing factors

3) Culture shock

The danger of stereotypical descriptions

Studies and teaching programs that deal with intercultural communication are often based on attempts to understand national cultures; therefore there is a great risk of neglecting the significant differences which exist between activities, groups and individuals on a non-national level. An orientation toward national cultures combined with efforts to find easily conveyed generalizations gives a further risk, namely that of taking over stereotypical notions of a “national character” that have arisen to serve what a certain group sees as its own or national interests. See Tingsten (1936). For example, Swedes may be characterized as envious, Scots as stingy, French as vain, Americans as superficial, etc.

The danger of misleading and biased generalizations is one of the greatest risks in research on intercultural communication, and that danger increases as soon as someone tries to describe the differences between groups from the perspective of a particular group's interests.

1. Misunderstandings and differences in communicative behavior

When people of different cultural backgrounds meet, all differences between them can potentially lead to misunderstanding. A way of grasping the problems that can arise in intercultural communication is thus to investigate the ways in which communication patterns can vary between different linguistic and cultural communities. A way of doing this is to utilize a model in which one 1) takes into account different communication behaviors, 2) takes into account what can influence these types of behaviors and 3) tries to analyze differences between linguistic and cultural communities with regard to communication behavior and influencing factors.