
Social categorisation and stereotype threat
Social Categorisation of people into different groups like ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, caste, language or any other, also associates them with stereotypes. Stereotype Threat, is when people belonging to these categories internalise the stereotype. Let’s understand this better. Have you ever been judged? Well if you think this is a stupid question to ask, you’re right. We’re always being judged, on our gender, place where we belong, educational qualifications, height, weight, skin colour … just about everything. Some of the common stereotypes : Women can’t drive – A very popular stereotype and no one Men are better engineers Millennials are impatient Start-ups are by Millennials People above 60 years of age are not technologically savvy Stereotype are defined as assumptions or fixed generalised belief that we have about groups of people. Stereotypes are harmful, because we analyse individuals not based on their talents but on the groups they belong to. […]