5 ms·

What point am I missing? That we should ignore reality to avoid hurting people? I object to the article's claim that > the roots of many handicaps actually l

by rkts 19y ago

What point am I missing? That we should ignore reality to avoid hurting people? I object to the article's claim that > the roots of many handicaps actually lie in the stereotypes.... women’s performance on spatial and mathematical tasks is created by ... the stereotype of their spatial and mathematical inferiority Stereotypes may contribute slightly to group differences, but they are not the primary cause of them.

joshvf 19y ago
The point is that stereotypes are almost always spurious on account of being greatly oversimplified. There's a big difference between applying proper statistics to a situation and applying a stereotype.
yters 19y ago
I voted you up not because I necessarily agree with you, but because you make a good point. We do ignore the basis of stereotypes when we shouldn't. We need to realize there is such a thing as natural and good elitism. This is an important "thing that is not said." That being said, while stereotypes do have some kind of basis in reality (something has to perpetuate them) the problem comes when we say certain people are inherently inferior and do not have a free, moral accountable will.
- a-priori 19y ago
  The problem is that people are notoriously bad at inductive reasoning. They routinely ignore cases that contradict their hypothesis. If they see a woman who's bad at math, they think "aha! the stereotype is right!". If they see a woman who's good at math, they think, "oh well, there's bound to be exceptions" and promptly forget about her. They only remember the ones that fit the stereotype, so the stereotype is reinforced. You need to repeatedly hammer irrefutable evidence into people's heads before they'll start to forget stereotypes.
lutorm 19y ago
"Stereotypes may contribute slightly to group differences, but they are not the primary cause of them." No, they are probably not the primary cause. The proximate cause is probably bigotry, imho, with societal structure as the ultimate cause. It's definitely not genetic or something innate to the afflicted persons. In any case, an individual belonging to a group with a negative stereotype attached should not be punished merely for being a member of the group. In this case, yes, truth really can hurt you, and I don't think that's fair.

by rkts 19y ago

joshvf 19y ago

The point is that stereotypes are almost always spurious on account of being greatly oversimplified. There's a big difference between applying proper statistics to a situation and applying a stereotype.

yters 19y ago

I voted you up not because I necessarily agree with you, but because you make a good point. We do ignore the basis of stereotypes when we shouldn't. We need to realize there is such a thing as natural and good elitism. This is an important "thing that is not said." That being said, while stereotypes do have some kind of basis in reality (something has to perpetuate them) the problem comes when we say certain people are inherently inferior and do not have a free, moral accountable will.

a-priori 19y ago
The problem is that people are notoriously bad at inductive reasoning. They routinely ignore cases that contradict their hypothesis. If they see a woman who's bad at math, they think "aha! the stereotype is right!". If they see a woman who's good at math, they think, "oh well, there's bound to be exceptions" and promptly forget about her. They only remember the ones that fit the stereotype, so the stereotype is reinforced. You need to repeatedly hammer irrefutable evidence into people's heads before they'll start to forget stereotypes.

lutorm 19y ago

"Stereotypes may contribute slightly to group differences, but they are not the primary cause of them." No, they are probably not the primary cause. The proximate cause is probably bigotry, imho, with societal structure as the ultimate cause. It's definitely not genetic or something innate to the afflicted persons. In any case, an individual belonging to a group with a negative stereotype attached should not be punished merely for being a member of the group. In this case, yes, truth really can hurt you, and I don't think that's fair.