stereotype , in psychology, a fixed, oversimplified, and often biased belief about a group of people. Stereotypes are typically rationally unsupported generalizations, and, once a person becomes accustomed to stereotypical thinking, he or she may not be able to see individuals for who they are. Stereotypes can legitimize hostility against a whole social group. In addition, because stereotypes are ingrained in the culture—people begin learning stereotypes during childhood—they tend to ... Defining Stereotype Dictionary Definition A stereotype is a widely held, but often simplified or generalized idea about a particular group or category of people. These ideas may be based on characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, age, or religion. Scientific Definition In the realm of science, particularly social psychology, stereotypes are defined as a cognitive shortcut that individuals use to categorize and process information more efficiently. These cognitive shortcuts are usually ... The stereotypes are characteristics imposed on groups of people because of their race, national origin and sexual orientation, these features tend to be An explicit stereotype is a belief about a group that a person is consciously aware of and knowingly uses to judge others. If person A is making judgments about a particular person B from group G, and person A has an explicit stereotype for group G, their decision bias can be partially mitigated using conscious control; however, attempts to offset bias due to conscious awareness of a stereotype often fail at being truly impartial, due to either underestimating or overestimating the amount of ...