ISSUE 14. Is Stereotyping Inevitable?
YES: PATRICIA G. DEVINE, FROM “STEREOTYPES AND PREJUDICE: THEIR AUTOMATIC AND CONTROLLED COMPONENTS,” JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 56, 1989)
NO: LORELLA LEPORE AND RUPERT BROWN, FROM “CATEGORY AND STEREOTYPE ACTIVATION: IS PREJUDICE INEVITABLE?” JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 72, 1997)
Social psychologist Patricia G. Devine argues that some forms of racial stereotyping may be automatic and therefore inevitable. In order to prevent these automatic stereotypes from biasing judgments of others, whites must make a conscious effort to avoid responding in a prejudicial manner. Social psychologists Lorella Lepore and Rupert Brown believe that automatic stereotyping may not be universal among whites. Some whites may be more likely to engage in automatic stereotyping than others, and as a result stereotyping is not necessarily inevitable among all whites.