Influences of Stereotypes on Intercultural Communication

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LI Hao

（School of Foreign Languages， Northeast Normal University， Changchun， Jilin 130024）

Abstract This paper aims to provide a snapshot of different aspects of stereotypes from the perspective of intercultural communication. It touches on the definition and classification of stereotypes， introduces contemporary empirical studies on stereotypes at home and abroad， and highlights influences of stereotypes on intercultural communication. Paradox of cross-cultural communication is cited to clarify the correlations between the advantages and drawbacks of stereotypes in the process of intercultural communication.

Key words stereotype； intercultural communication； influences

中图分类号：G424 文献标识码：A

0 Introduction

In a globalized era， it stands to reason that increasing importance need be attached to the study of intercultural communication. Stereotypes， considered as a common occurrence in intercultural communication， are products of close-ended， narrow， and misleading perceptions in most circumstances. They are obvious， pervasive phenomena and more often than not are neglected in one way or another by communicators of different cultural backgrounds. The reason for the pervasive nature of stereotypes is that human beings have a psychological need to categorize and classify. The world is too complex and too transitory for us to know it in all its details.

1 Stereotype

1.1 Definition of Stereotype

The earliest version of the definition of stereotype was introduced in 1922 by the American Journalist Walter Lippman in his Public Opinion. He refers to stereotype as exaggerated “pictures in our head”（Lippmann， 1922）. Stereotypes are a means of organizing our images into fixed and simple categories that we use to stand for the entire collection of people （ibid）. Stereotyping is a complex form of categorization that mentally organizes your experience and guides your behavior toward a particular group of people （Samovar， Porter， Stefani， 1998）. Klineberg in 1966： “stereotype refers to the images which persons or groups have of each other， the pictures in their heads that they have of one another” （Kim & Yeh， 2002： 18）. Stereotyping is an over-generalization about an identity group without any attempt to perceive individual variations within the identity category （Ting-Toomey， 2007： 161）. Psychologists Abbate， Boca， and Bocchiaro offer a more formal definition： “A stereotype is a cognitive structure containing the perceiver’s knowledge， beliefs， and expectancies about some human social groups.”（cf. Samovar， Porter， McDaniel， 2009： 170） Stereotype is “a fixed idea or image that many people have of a particular type of person or thing， but which is often not true in reality.”（Hornby， 2009： 1979）