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When scientists ignore evidence: Stereotypes hold kernels of truth

#1
C C Offline
https://aeon.co/essays/truth-lies-and-st...e-evidence

EXCERPT: There are good reasons for the bad reputation of stereotypes, which may give rise to malevolent propaganda about groups [...] But as biased and destructive as these images may be, many stereotypes – fixed characterisations of specific groups – turn out to hold kernels of truth. In fact, even if vicious stereotypes are always inaccurate, that hardly disproves what most everyday people think [...]

When I first began my research, I had assumed all those social scientists declaring stereotypes to be inaccurate were right. I wanted to know the basis for those claims – not to refute them, but to promote them and proclaim to the world the hard scientific data showing that stereotypes were wrong. So, when some published article cited some source as evidence that stereotypes were inaccurate, I would track down the source hoping to get the evidence.

And, slowly, over many years, I made a discovery: there wasn’t any evidence there. Claims of stereotype inaccuracy were based on… nothing. For example, a classic paper from 1977 describing research by social psychologists Mark Snyder, Elizabeth Tanke, and Ellen Berscheid stated: ‘Stereotypes are often inaccurate.’ Ok, but scientific articles are usually required to support such claims, typically via a citation to a source providing the evidence. This is important so that anyone can find the evidence for such a claim. There is no source here.

As I read more of the literature on stereotypes, I discovered that this pattern was pervasive. Every article or book that declared stereotypes to be inaccurate either similarly cited no source, or ended in an identical dead end via a slightly different route. Many researchers cite social psychologist Gordon Allport’s benchmark book, The Nature of Prejudice (1954) in support of the claim that stereotypes are inaccurate, or at least exaggerations of real differences. And Allport did declare that stereotypes exaggerated real differences. But, aside from an anecdote or two, which is hardly scientific evidence, he presented no evidence that they actually did so.

These practices created what I call ‘The Myth of Stereotype Inaccuracy’. Famous psychologists declaring stereotypes inaccurate without a citation or evidence meant that anyone could do likewise, creating an illusion that pervasive stereotype inaccuracy was ‘settled science’. Subsequent researchers could declare stereotypes inaccurate and could create the appearance of scientific support by citing articles that also made the claim. Only if one looked for the empirical research underlying such claims did one discover that there was nothing there; just a black hole....
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#2
Magical Realist Online
I agree that stereotypes hold a kernel of truth, much as say your shadow holds a kernel of truth about your physical appearance. But the problem isn't the accuracy of the stereotype, any more than it is the accuracy of the shadow. It is taking the stereotype as representative of the person behind it. Is it really WHO that person is? Or is it in fact who that person is NOT? All the peer enforced routines, fashion tastes, ways of speaking, hobbies, and beliefs that one has just sort of unconsciously picked up in the development of oneself over the years. Is not a stereotype more like the generic filler material or plaster that fills all the holes and nicks and crevices of one's persona and that got slathered on from one's environment over the years? Where does the adaptive social mask worn for survival end and the real self begin? That's the sort of questions we need to ask about stereotypes. What becomes of the stereotype when they change their economic status, or grow older, or move to another city and acquire different social circles?
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