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Thank you for bringing attention to this important topic. Have been pondering why boys of color, in particular may still under perform even when exposed to the best schools, best neighborhoods along with other comforts of a higher social economic status and a high IQ. Somehow I naively thought my son would “redefine” stereotypes. Just purchased the author's book to learn more!

As a owner of a hair salon, I actually retired from doing hair over a decade ago and spend my days marketing my business and figuring out business strategies to survive in this crazy economy. However, I am often introduced as a hairdresser. I really dislike that term and find it so outdated. In certain intellectual settings, I often feel that people assume that since I'm "just a hairdresser or salon owner" that I'm an air head or superficial, but definitely not intellectual.

I am black. Whenever I'm in close proximity to white people, I keep my hands where their eyes can see them. Often I find that if I'm a little too close for comfort, they will instinctively reach into their pockets (before I do?) or hold their pocketbooks a little bit closer. So if I'm on a crowded subway for example, I make sure one hand is holding the pole and the other is holding my mp3 player, or a book, or something.

Sorry for singling out white people, but this type of thing hardly ever happens when I'm in close proximity to other people.

Literary stereotypes anger me more than any other kind because no one is there to correct the reader.
My constant question of the teaching profession is do they point them out to students. Willa Cather, Iris Murdoch, One odious reference in Jane Eyre totally shocking for the rest of the book is innocent of such references. The other two are worse because ehey draw a character from the stereotypical "characteristics." So that means to me that they can't write certain characters in any other way.

I am aware that after Bernie Madoff got busted, there was a spike in anti-Semitism stereotyping about Jews and money. People seem to forget (or maybe enjoy) that he scammed and ruined many Jews. I don't believe the issue of "anti-Christian" came up after the horrors of Enron, Tyco and World Com.

Re caller, a black man who worries about white woman's reaction to him on the elevator, even getting off the elevator so white woman won't be nervous.
I as a white woman find myself striving to come across as really not uncomfortable in a situation like an elevator with a non white man so that they won't feel stereotyped.

I hope that the caller who gets off elevators late at night in order to avoid stressing out white women stops doing that. She's safer with him on the elevator, regardless of perceptions

whew, i was worried as a 60 year old white guy who doesn't play golf or even like watching it.

i was struck that the rather wonderful guest in his early list of stereotyped identities neglected to mention GENDER, by which among other things i decided he was likely to be black, because that is such a potent identity subject to stereotypes, but Brian, when TWO women called in in relation to sexist assmuptions, you glossed over their remarks and did not pass them along for comment to the guest. Can you rectify this?

'You just don't look disabled' ...

TED Talks Tues ... All about stereotypes and how they can create who we are/aren't ... check it out, it's worth the 15mins of the video.... really...

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/09/mullins.beyond.disability/index.html?hpt=C2

whew, i was worried as a 60 year old white guy who doesn't play golf or even like watching it.

I'm olive skinned with black hair. Years ago I wore my hair long and parted in the middle. It made me look a bit like something out of a Gaugin painting. Problem was when I met men they all seemed to be looking for an "exotic" woman. It got annoying, so I got a more mainstream haircot (with bangs). It was amazing how differently I got treated. Also people stopped thinking I was the nanny when I'd walk with my white friend and their children.

i am from the south and work in the art world and i have and southern accent and there have many been times liberal urbane new yorkers switch me off as soon as they hear my accent and way before i finish what i an saying.
they glaze over.
then later when i demonstrate intelligence they seem surprised.

I have heard the same complaint from other immigrants. Their young kids start out excelling in school, but when they are teenagers (specifically the boys), they begin "acting American" and stop studying because they want to fit in. The pressure of the urban American culture.

Everyone is affected by stereotypes...the opposite group is always thinking the obvious about the opposing group.

Jen, be yourself, the non-whites in the supermarket and elsewhere, are fully aware when you are not.

All Americans have had their own version of whistling Vivaldi in sewing on Canadian flags to their backpacks while traveling through Europe.

I'm a white guy who lives in Brooklyn. I know that I have ancestors who were slave owners. I find the stereotypes I'm working hardest against are the ones that I have about myself. I almost feel like I need to apologize for what my family has done.

When I moved to a new condo in Morristown NJ in 1992 as a young black woman. A neighbor asked me if I was a nanny or housekeeper for another neighbor (mentioned her name) as I walked into the complex during my first week in my apt.

I wonder if the caller on Jewish stereotypes and the financial crisis was referring to how now in the recession it's suddenly cool to be frugal?

We often like to focus on stereotyping due to the clear morality involved. However, I think that too much attention to narrow stereotypes obscures structural economic inequality in the United States. We just discussed Wall Street reform without addressing how the impacts of the recession are being more intensely felt in minority communities. I think that economic inequality is the most important problem that America faces today.

Re Yvonne,

i don't mean to disparage Yvonne in any way (as I don't have to live with the stereotype day in and day out), but i wonder if Yvonne "dressing up" so that the kids won't think she's a nanny, in fact reinforces the stereotype? If Yvonne would dress "normally" and inform the kid (and the parent) that she was in fact a resident, this might present an opportunity to change the kid's perception that all black women who dress "normally" are nannies instead of capable of being residents just as they are.

Brian, I know that being a housekeeper isn't the same as living in the building, but it seems a little hurtful to people who do make a living as housekeepers that their occupation is perceived by you and your guest as a "negative stereotype". That must make it even tougher to go to work, yeah?

I'm African-American and teach at a university where. typically, most of my students are white. The class is a social policy class so a lot of issues having to do with race, "social problems," etc. come up. I find that I'm careful regarding how I talk about race so I won't raise any concerns about my being an "angry black man." This is because I don't want how I talk about race, given who I am, to prevent white students from feeling "safe" enough to say what they truly think about the issues discussed in the course.

Brian,

Call me crazy, but the guy who called about Jewish stereotypes seemed to have a NY Jewish accent. I don't think he attempted to make a slur on Jews, I think it was asking about the common slurs that are made against Jews regarding money vis a vis the recent Wall Street crisis. That you and your guest are not familiar with these unfortunately rather common stereotypes is odd.

BTW, evaluating accents is not stereotyping...

Brian, I heard a caller's question regarding how Jewish people are managing with the financial crisis we are currently experiencing. There is a stereotype that Jewish people tend to be better off than their neighbors, so maybe he wants to know how they are fairing.

The person who just talked about Italian Americans was full of stereotypes herself. Too bad you didn't call her on it.

It just struck me that my own life has elements of both the stereotype discussion and the bilingual one. As a Puerto Rican who moved to the Deep South at a young age, I dealt with alot of stereotyping and outright descrimination. Although I already spoke English before the move, I threw myself into it fervently afterwards, and am now your typically well-read, well-spoken English Lit grad, and hardly anyone ever thinks I am anything other than a mainland-born American. It's somewhat depressing to think that my love English might have been born from fear.

When I was at the polls this week I had a stereotype about elderly people that affected my experience. I was aware of how many older people were in the room and thoughts were running through my head that because they were older they would be voting "no" on the budget. Obviously, not true in all cases and I definitely felt uncomfortable that these thoughts were even in my head at all. I also found myself agitated because I really wanted to the budget to pass and I felt that this outcome was less likely just because of who was in the room at the time I happened to vote.

I wonder how often people become comfortable with the stereotypes they inhabit.
I grew up very poor, but as a white female who eventually got into an Ivy League school, most of the time I look like any other upper-middle class 20-something. This often makes me uncomfortable, especially when I am in poor areas, but just in general. I took great pride in those random moments when I could defy judgements strangers had just made about me based on what I was wearing. I can't shake the feeling that by "posing" I am betraying others that share my background.

When I studied stereotyping in law school, I learned that grouping people into categories is something our brains have always done as a shorthand way to identify friend vs. foe. Yet as a society we talk about stereotyping as an individual weakness and try to shame people out of stereotypical observations. Can your guest comment on how the idea of stereotype threat can help us be less defensive about this tendency and to work collectively to address the negative consequences of stereotyping?

I know it is in no way as damaging or as prohibitive to my quality of life as stereotypes experienced by african americans, but when I shop at the supermarket in my nabe, I am the only "white" person in the market usually. I find, unfortunately, I adjust myself at times to make myself less of a pariah to be avoided (it's very lonely!) and/or less of a hated being to be hostile towards (please don't be mad at me! I get why you're mad!). Depending on my mood, that is. Sometimes I am falling over myself to be amenable and friendly (and I see other whites doing this and hate it, but I do it) and, if I am especially tired or grumpy, I either freeze into my own head while I do my shopping or get angry at the hostility or exclusion I am feeling. Of course this is not across the board, some folks speak to me like I am just a fellow human being. And thank goodness for this. I am always grateful not to be treated like either I am hated or like some caucasian prize. (but I must admit I understand the hate)

I am a white female and in school was considered to be 'gifted'---not wanting to be stereotyped as the 'nerd' or, rather, just wanting to be accepted by the majority in high school--I definitely underperformed. who needed the ivy leagues when there was the weekend to think about?

There is a large practice in commercials where men are stereotyped to be total dopes and their girlfriends/wifes always being the smart ones, putting down their husbands. It's maddening. I wish the topic was a whole show - it's that prevalent.

thanks

As a white guy living in New York, the stereotype threat that I worry about most is "racist". I often find myself double checking my behavior on the subway, to see if it could be misinterpreted as disrespectful of the non-whites around me. For instance, when less crowded seats become free, I sometimes hesitate to move if it might seem like I'm uncomfortable sitting next to my current neighbor.

Is it just me? These "experiments" don't appear to directly correlate to any of the "findings" that this author and other researchers seem to have drawn from them.

Hey Brian, Your guest is speaking the truth.
Everyday I'm out in my Park Slope neighborhood, I see and feel the fear of my neighbors. I call it the "deer stare".
When I had a job in downtown New York and couldn't get a cab, many late nights. I noticed when I had the Sunday Times in my hands, I would get a cab to stop much sooner.

How about linguistic stereotypes? In NYC, I often find myself suppressing my native southern (U.S.) accent for fear of being treated with the dismissive contempt New Yorkers often have for people they often view as a sort of gauche cultural enemy.

Re: laundry room

I am black.

When I moved into a fancy building I dressed really well, Gucci loafers, etc. so that I would not be mistaken for a housekeeper.
One kid thought I was a nanny.

I read a cool article that talks about this subject in a cool way.

http://3rdsmartestman.com/2010/03/20/voldemort/