Stereotypes are like shortcuts that our brain takes to quickly make assumptions about people or situations (Carter, 2019). These assumptions can be positive or negative, and they can be about things like race or gender (Sue & Sue, 2016). For example, people might think that women can’t be good coaches for men, which is a stereotype based on gender (Carter, 2019). These stereotypes can be a problem because they aren’t always true and they can lead to unfair treatment of certain groups of people. Sometimes, people even try to find proof to support their stereotypes, which only makes things worse (Thomas et al., 2015).
Carter, L. (2019). In D. Hackfort, R. J. Schinke, & B. Strauss (Eds.), Dictionary of sport psychology: Sport, exercise, and performing arts. Academic Press.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2016). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Thomas, G., Good, J., & Gross, A. (2015). Racial athletic ste- reotype confirmation in college football recruiting. The Journal of Social Psychology, 155, 238254.
