Description

Discussion: Stereotypes: Categories and Concepts for Understanding the World

To prepare for your Discussion:

• Review Chapter 6 in the course text.Pay particular attention to the section on stereotyping and the list of cultural categories. Have you seen or heard anyone stereotype any of these cultural categories either in the media or in your own experience?
• Locate common stereotypes about your culture on the Internet. Do any of them surprise you? What is true about these stereotypes? What is untrue?
• Find three common stereotypes of your culture in the media, or, using the cultural categories in Chapter 6 of the course text, think of a personal experience where you were stereotyped by your membership in one of those categories. Do you feel you are stereotyped in specific ways by certain cultural categories?
• Reflect on a personal experience or an example in the media where your culture has been stereotyped by another culture. How does stereotyping by the sender or receiver of the message in this situation affect the intercultural communication?

By Day 3

Post a 2- to 3-paragraph description of two examples of a stereotype of your culture that is found in the media or that you experienced personally. Explain the effects that true and untrue aspects of the selected stereotypes have on intercultural communication. Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to at least one of this week’s Learning Resources. Additionally, you may opt to include an outside academic resource that you have identified.

By Day 5

Respond to the posts of at least two different colleagues in one of the following ways:

• Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
• Expand on your colleague’s posting by providing additional examples on stereotypes found in the media or experienced personally.
• Offer an alternative view on the selected stereotype portrayal.