Stereotyping

Catalog description

Stereotypes are socially shared and affect us collectively. At a personal level, they shape our self-concepts, abilities, social identities, and our social interactions. At the societal level, stereotypes pervade our culture, our institutions, and our science in subtle ways that often escape our awareness. In this course, we will explore the origins and the social transmission of stereotypes, the (often unconscious) processes by which stereotypes operate, and the way they are transmitted from person to person and from generation to generation. We will analyze the way in which stereotypes permeate all aspects of our society (including science) and how public policies can curtail their negative effects. These questions will be addressed from different vantage points and analyzed through existing and self-generated data able to uncover blatant and hidden stereotypes. Hands-on experiences will include data collection from different sources (publicly available statistics, google trends, etc.) as well as the design of a small-scale empirical study; this will allow you to gain familiarity with both correlational and experimental methods