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It's not a stereotype. It's a feature in a statistical model. The only reason it receives a lot of weight is that the empirical evidence aligns with it.
by cbsmith 8y ago
It's not a stereotype. It's a feature in a statistical model. The only reason it receives a lot of weight is that the empirical evidence aligns with it.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoThat's pretty much a definition of stereotype. Humans too form statistical models in their head, even if they don't usually call them that.
- eeZah7Ux 8y ago"a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing" A statistical model is not an oversimplification.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoOf course it is. "Oversimplification" is like literally the definition of "statistical model" in layman's terms. Statistical models are useful precisely because they cut out almost all the details.
- eeZah7Ux 8y agooversimplification: "simplification of something to such an extent that a distorted impression is given."
- cbsmith 8y agoA stereotype needn't have a statistical significance. In fact, it often doesn't. You're right that it a human equivalent, but most people form their models from statistical samples that are woefully small, biased, and fail to control for other factors... and worse still, stereotypes aren't actually informed by their own observations, but mere hearsay.