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Argumentative Essay: The Utility of Stereotypes as a Valuable Tool

Nursultan Davletyarov

School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University

WCS 150: Rhetoric and Composition

Dr. Carlos Manuel Abaunza

October 15, 2023

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The Utility of Stereotypes as a Valuable Tool

Stereotypes are the evolutionary mechanism that first helped people to save their lives.

However now they are usually considered inaccurate preconceptions that discriminate against

particular groups of people, but what if they are necessary in the modern world? Nowadays, new

evidence is emerging that claims that stereotypes can be beneficial in many ways. Stereotypes

are simplified mental models that describe impressions about people and objects. Their origin

takes place in the primary people that needed to make their generalizations to define the danger

by distinguishing the innocent animals from predators, and poisonous plants from edible ones.

By this evolutionary mechanism, we have the stereotypes in modern society that play a

significant role in social interactions and individual development.

For many years, people have considered stereotypes completely negatively. But in fact,

there was no real evidence of the inaccuracy of the stereotypes. “Vanishingly few social

scientists performing research on stereotypes ever present such evidence; anyone subscribing to

the idea that we need empirical proof must conclude that work without it does not count”(Jussim,

2012, p.7). Even though many people understand stereotypes as biased generalizations, that

provide limited information about a collective, they can be totally removed when there is clear

and complete information about an object. In this essay, I will argue that stereotypes can be used

as powerful tools that can be beneficial because when there is little information about a topic

stereotypes give a general idea that can guide a person, they create positive discrimination that

allows us to favor one group over another and this preference has a positive outcome for us.

Stereotypes can often serve as cognitive shortcuts that help individuals navigate the

complex world and encounter new experiences. While stereotypes are often criticized for

perpetuating bias and prejudice, it is important to recognize that they can also serve adaptive

functions. Stereotypes can serve as a mental framework that allows us to categorize and

understand unfamiliar information or situations quickly. When confronted with something new,
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our brains instinctively look for familiar patterns to provide a basis for understanding. In this

sense, stereotypes can serve as initial reference points. According to Lee Jussim, a professor of

social psychology, in his 2012 work “Truth, Lies and Stereotypes: When Scientists Ignore

Evidence”:

The same logic applies to stereotypes. If you are asked to predict who has greater

yearly income, Leroy Jefferson, who is African American, or George

Billingsworth, who is a white American, what should you do? If you know

anything about the income of African Americans and whites in the US, you will

predict that George is richer. Stereotypes can foster a sense of belonging and

identity within particular social or cultural groups. (p.11)

In other words, when it comes to dealing with new experiences, stereotypes provide us with

security and cohesion. Also, this feature creates a phenomenon called positive discrimination

which is also useful in different spheres of life.

Another advantage of stereotypes can be seen in the preferential attitude towards one

group over another, which helps us to make correct decisions. That is how positive

discrimination is created, which leads to treating one person more favorably because of

characteristics such as age, gender, and religion which is logically not the best solution, but in

fact, in most situations, it leads to the best consequences. Positive discrimination may be faced in

the workplace often, when for example new employees are being selected. In this case, one of

the employees may be preferred based on their gender, ethnicity, or other personal

characteristics. For instance, there are two people who came to an interview, one is a male who

has Chinese origin and another is a woman from the UK. Of course, it would be incorrect to

make a decision only based on those facts, although in most cases, from the psychological side, a

man would be a bit more favorable, and it possibly would benefit the employer. Nevertheless, it

is important to balance between the potential benefits of positive discrimination and making a

decision based on the real skills, and qualifications of the workers.

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On the other hand, stereotypes represent only little information about an object which is

the main limitation of the stereotypes. This drawback of the stereotypes was called as “Danger of

single story” by Adichie, who claims that “The single stories create stereotypes, and the problem

with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete” (2009, 13:05). People

often might hear only one story of a person, thing, or place and it becomes the only way they

think about it. It might be dangerous to know only a single story of an object and struggle to

consider it from different perspectives. Another perspective for this side of stereotypes is making

a full consideration of a person based on their nation and where are they from:

The difference between "Where are you from?" and "Where are you a local?" isn't

the specificity of the answer; it's the intention of the question. Replacing the

language of nationality with the language of locality asks us to shift our focus to

where real life occurs. (Selasi, 2014, 10:56)

This means that considering only the nation of the person we will be too restricted in our

perception of this individual, while when we know every place he or she associates themselves

as a local we can get more information that will be more reliable.

In spite of the fact that stereotypes can limit our perception of an object, they only exist

unless we possess little information about the object of generalization. Although we possess only

limited data about an object as soon as we get more reliable information about it, al prejudices

can be removed. In cases where we have clear information about the person, the stereotypes

become unnecessary:

But, every once in a while, a truly short guy makes it into the National Basketball

Association. Spud Webb was a starting player in the ’90s, and he was about 5ft

7in. Now that you know his height, should your stereotype of basketball players

influence your judgment of his height? Of course not. (Jussim, 2012, p. 13)
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As we know the the Spud Webb plays in the NBA, his height becomes completely irrelevant.

Therefore, every time we have this kind of information obtainable all stereotypes mean much

less.

In conclusion, stereotypes can not be considered inaccurate generalizations as they in

most cases give the most appropriate impression when there is the absence of clear data, they

may function as positive discrimination, and if there is information known they can be removed.

While it remains uncertain whether stereotypes will ever completely disappear, it is essential not

to condemn them entirely. Instead, we can regard stereotypes as potentially helpful tools for

gaining initial insights about the world.

By acknowledging the limitations of stereotypes we can make an effort to reduce their

drawbacks. Stereotypes frequently result from a desire to help us to deal with unfamiliar

situations and simplify complex information. They can improve our comprehension of the

environment if we approach them with an open mind and a critical viewpoint. Our main

objective should be to welcome people of all backgrounds, to make everyone feel included, and

to respect each person's unique story. By doing this, we can use stereotypes to effect positive

change and recognize the diversity of people.

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References

Adichie, N. (2009). The danger of a single story | TedGlobal

[Link]

nscript?language=en

Jussim, L. (2021). Truth, lies and stereotypes: when scientists ignore evidence | Aeon Essays.

[Link]

Selasi, T. (2014). Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local | TedGlobal

[Link]

local/transcript