Why Is Our Urge to Stereotype So Strong?

Comedian Bill Maher’s recent sweeping generalizations of Islam created an outcry against such religious stereotyping. But it wasn’t the first time someone publicly stereotyped an entire religion, and it likely won’t be the last. So why do we do it?

It’s part of a basic human urge to communicate, said Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University and a professor of psychiatry. And people may be even more likely to stereotype when it comes to religion, Koenig said, because of the intense passion around the subject.

It’s also part of human nature to categorize, said Stephanie Madon, a professor of psychology at Iowa State. In fact, it’s an essential component to learning from experience.

“I have here on my desk a pencil,” she said. “The minute I see it, I recognize that, 'A ha! It is a pencil!' based on certain features I recognize. Now, I’ve been exposed to a whole host of knowledge about pencils -- I can sharpen them, they probably have an eraser -- so there are inferences I can make after I’ve categorized it as a pencil. The alternative is I see it lying there and I don’t know what it is, so I have to look at it and study it and figure out what it will offer me. You can see how inefficient it would be to get through a day.”

Take an early human who consumed a poisonous berry plant and got sick. The person may generalize that experience and avoid similar plants in the future. Of course, not all berries are poisonous.

Still, that "overuse of a rule was probably pretty good," Madon said. "It’s more beneficial than harmful to the berry eater because if you make a mistake and it’s not poisonous, well, no harm, no foul. But if you don’t apply the rule, you might get very sick or die."

In the modern world, people are able to make the subtle distinction between categorization and stereotyping.

“Categorization is the placement of an object or person in a category based on category-defining features,” explained Zlatan Križan, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State. “Stereotyping is inferring or assuming that an object or person has features that may be common in that category. For example, identifying an individual as ‘Asian’ is categorization, and assuming they are smart would be stereotyping.”

So while it made good sense for ancient humans not to eat that berry, it doesn’t make sense for an employer to hire a man instead of a woman because he thinks men are better leaders, Madon said. In fact, categorization and stereotyping gets a lot dicier when moving from objects to people.

“There’s a tremendous variability between people of any group,” Koenig said. “To pin a label on a certain person when someone else of that race or ethnicity or religion does something stupid is just not accurate. Equating ISIS with all Muslims is just flat out wrong. It’s far beyond being even remotely sensible for anyone who knows anything about the Muslim religion and what is in the Koran.”

Controlling that urge to generalize and stereotype in today’s society is critical to living together peacefully, Koenig said.

“Statements (like Maher’s) can incite people to do harm to others,” Koenig said.

Even making an accurate assumption based on a stereotype can be offensive, Madon said.

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