The spontaneous formation of stereotypes via cumulative cultural evolution

All people share knowledge of cultural stereotypes of social groups—but what are the origins of these stereotypes? We examined whether stereotypes form spontaneously as information is repeatedly passed from person to person. As information about novel social targets was passed down a chain of individuals, what initially began as a set of random associations evolved into a system that was simplified and categorically structured. Over time, novel stereotypes emerged that not only were increasingly learnable but also allowed generalizations to be made about previously unseen social targets. By illuminating how cognitive and social factors influence how stereotypes form and change, these findings show how stereotypes might naturally evolve or be manipulated

Impact of age norms and stereotypes on managers' hiring decisions of retirees

Purpose -Our study investigates the role of managers in the re-employment of early retirees and asks what the effect is of managers’ age norms and stereotypes on managers’ employment decisions. Design/methodology/approach- A combination of a factorial study and a survey was conducted. First, information on the age norms and stereotypes was collected. Secondly, profiles of hypothetical retired job applicants were presented to the employers, who were asked to make a specific hiring decision. The information collected during both studies was combined in the analysis and multilevel models were estimated. Findings -The results indicate that higher age norms result in a higher propensity to hire an early retiree. Stereotypes, by contrast, do not influence managers’ decisions. Early retirees’ chances for re-employment are also related to their own circumstances (physical appearance and relevant experience) and organisational forces, as they are hired when organisations face labour force shortages. Research limitation / implications – with the use of vignettes study we deal with hypothetical hiring situation. Originality value- Although the effect of age norms and age stereotypes has been often suggested, not much empirical evidence was presented to support this notion. Our study estimates the effect of age norms and stereotypes on hiring decision. key words: bridge employment; early retirees; age norms; age stereotypes; multilevel models.

Bootstrapping trust evaluations through stereotypes

Publisher PD

Quantifying and Reducing Stereotypes in Word Embeddings

Machine learning algorithms are optimized to model statistical properties of the training data. If the input data reflects stereotypes and biases of the broader society, then the output of the learning algorithm also captures these stereotypes. In this paper, we initiate the study of gender stereotypes in {\em word embedding}, a popular framework to represent text data. As their use becomes increasingly common, applications can inadvertently amplify unwanted stereotypes. We show across multiple datasets that the embeddings contain significant gender stereotypes, especially with regard to professions. We created a novel gender analogy task and combined it with crowdsourcing to systematically quantify the gender bias in a given embedding. We developed an efficient algorithm that reduces gender stereotype using just a handful of training examples while preserving the useful geometric properties of the embedding. We evaluated our algorithm on several metrics. While we focus on male/female stereotypes, our framework may be applicable to other types of embedding biases.Comment: presented at 2016 ICML Workshop on #Data4Good: Machine Learning in Social Good Applications, New York, N

Challenging the Stereotype – Greek Life in the Media

Stereotypes are an undeniable aspect of today’s society. As demonstrated through a variety of mass communication theories, stereotypes are often formed as a result of exposure to mass media images. This concept is especially important today, as media messages permeate daily life in a variety of ways. From the news, to social media, to movies and television – media messaging is everywhere and impacts people on a daily basis. The purpose of this study is to produce a documentary video which demonstrates how negative media portrayals of Greek life lead to the formulation of stereotypes about college students affiliated with fraternities and sororities nationwide. This study incorporates interviews from a cross section of Greek and non-Greek students who attend Bryant University. By contrasting these interviews with examples taken from popular movies and television shows, the aim of the study is to demonstrate that negative images contribute to negative stereotypes of Greek-affiliated men and women nationwide

Facial Discrimination: Darlene Jespersen’s Fight Against the Barbie-fication of Bartenders

Lambda Legal took up Darlene Jespersen\u27s case because restrictive, genderbased rules about personal appearance and deportment can pose particular burdens for anyone whose gender identity or expression varies from conventional stereotypes; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT ) people are disproportionately burdened by such rules.7 Many LGBT people cannot readily conform to conventional gender stereotypes. 8 For others, simply the process of coming out as LGBT or queer gives rise to a deep critique of the artificially restrictive gender stereotypes that pervade our modern lives and shape corporate marketing campaigns

Deconstructing the stereotypes: building mutual respect

Through a combination of a detailed literature review and structure online survey, the study seeks to establish the extent of interdisciplinary attitudes within built environment students at Kingston University, whilst building a picture of not only the stereotypes held amongst and between disciplines, but also the fundamental root of such perceptions

What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World: Clarifying Stereotypes About Muslim Women in Morocco

The stereotypes about Muslims in Morocco as well as Morocco in general are widespread and often incorrect. The present paper combines both scholarly review and personal experience to clarify stereotypes about public space, work, education, and personal life, focusing specifically on women. Hopefully, this analysis will assist in educating the public about Muslims in Morocco and reveal the under-appreciated similarities between Moroccan and American women

Not Defined By The Narrative

Student International Ambassadors confront stereotypes with film project as part of International Education Week