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Stereotype is a belief about a certain category of people with generalized attributes that they are expected to inherit. It could be the way they act, how they look or even how they sound when they talk. There are many ways a person or group of people can be stereotyped, for example, racial and gender profiling such as ‘All Asians are good at studies’ (apparently i’m not) or ‘Women can’t drive’ are some of the stereotypes that people believe in. However, these beliefs are simply not true and only constitute a small part of the group.

How does it affect they way people communicate?

Stereotypes can definitely affect the way one person communicates with one another in many ways, however most of it would be in a more harmful or negative way. It immediately gives an impression based on the other party’s looks, race, gender and their cultures compared to yours even before you speak to the person.

Even worse, people’s stereotyping beliefs in another person could end up hurting relationships more than helping in communication. Impressions based on stereotyping someone could end up being prejudiced or discriminatory. In that case, effective communication would be impossible to occur.

Past experience you had (or witnessed) in NS/school/daily life

In the army, there are many vocations that our fellow soldiers are posted to after completing their basic military training. Being a non-combatant soldier, I was posted to be a driver, a support vocation.

However, there is a stereotype in the army that certain vocations are more slack then others. That would mean that non-combat vocations like being driver, storeman or even a clerk in the army would guarantee an easy life. Although it is true that certain vocations have lesser outdoor exposure compared to another, each have their own unique responsibilities that has to be fulfilled to ensure the Army is operational. As a driver, although the activities I partake during outfield is limited, i have to ensure that the troops I ferry has to return to camp safe and sound after their outfield training. After that, there are paperwork such as driving records to be taken care of before the day is considered done.

Storyboard for the aforementioned scenario

Implications, reflections and conclusions

I feel that stereotypes are potentially a hindrance to effective communication. Although there are some benefits, but there are more consequences that outweigh the effect of stereotyping a person. In my case, the result of the stereotyping was not that severe, but it has an effect that undermines the effort of what a person did. Everyone plays a part in the grand scheme, no matter how insignificant it is.

It is impossible for people to stop forming impressions of others due to stereotyping. However, we can improve the way that people see us by breaking the norms that are stereotypically related to us, and also us viewing others as an individual unique to others.