3 ms·
One point that is often overlooked is that, even if a stereotype tends to be accurate, there's, in many cases, no need to assume that it applies to a particular
by jamesrcole 11y ago
One point that is often overlooked is that, even if a stereotype tends to be accurate, there's, in many cases, no need to assume that it applies to a particular person.
That is, rather than making a judgement, you can, and often should, be agnostic until some definitive evidence comes to hand.
- eximius 11y agoThat is completely contradictory. If stereotypes tend to be accurate, then that is a reason to believe it applies to a person of that group. As the article states, people (rightly) abandon these when dealing with a specific person, but mathematically speaking, a Bayesian approach would assume the stereotype until evidence to the contrary (with varying degrees of conviction depending on the prior). As long as you do not have a ridiculously strong or weighted prior and don't act on this presumed belief before confirmation, it is a useful thing.
- jamesrcole 11y ago> As long as you do not ...act on this presumed belief And how exactly does that differ from what I said? What exactly is "a belief you don't act on"?