Stereotyping - Tessa Perkins

Tessa Perkins (1979) Stereotyping is not simple and contains assumptions that can be challenged.
5 assumptions
Stereotypes are not always negative (e.g. 'The French are good cooks')
They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful (e.g. 'upper class twits')
They can be held about one's own group
They are not rigid or unchanging
They are not always false

Tessa Perkins says that stereotyping is not a simple process and has identified some of the ways that stereotypes are assumed to operate aren't true. 
As society changes its hard for stereotypes to change as they stick in society.
Not all stereotypes are bad or all good and we can categorise ourselves.

Stereotypes are always erroneous in content (usually wrong)
They are negative concepts
They are about groups with whom we have little or no social contact; by implication therefore they are not help about ones own group - Stereotype of a stereotype
They are about minority or repressed groups.
They are simple.
People 'hold' stereotypes of a group (believe them to be true) or do not.
Because someone holds a stereotype of a group, his or her behaviour towards a member of that group can be predicted.
Stereotypes are an innvaluble aid to understanding the world and all stereotypes must have a bit of truth or they would not have such and influence.