Craig White's Literature Courses Terms / Themes Stereotype

Oxford English Dictionary 3b. A preconceived and oversimplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person, situation, etc.; an attitude based on such a preconception. Also, a person who appears to conform closely to the idea of a type.

Compare "racial profiling."

from Google web definitions:

Definitions of stereotype on the Web:

• pigeonhole: treat or classify according to a mental stereotype; "I was stereotyped as a lazy Southern European"
• a conventional or formulaic conception or image; "regional stereotypes have been part of America since its founding"
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
  
• A stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype
  
• A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image; A person who is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type . . .
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stereotype
  
• an exaggerated belief that can be positive or negative but generalizes without allowing for differences.
  www.louisianavoices.org/edu_glossary.html
  
• the process of attributing particular traits, characteristics, behaviors or values to an entire group or category of people, who are, as a consequence, monolithically represented; includes the process of negative stereotyping.
  www.understandingrace.org/resources/glossary.html
  
• An idea that many people have about a group of people that may often be untrue or only partly true.
  www.apheda.org.au/campaigns/burma_schools_kit/resources/1074040257_16812.html
  
• A simplistic, firmly held belief, often negative, about individual characteristics generalized to all people within that group.
  www.holocaustcentermilwaukee.org/education/resources/terms.php