Stereotypes

One thing behavioral economists and psychologist can (more or less) agree on is that the mind get's what it expects.  Previously held expectations can cloud our rational judgement. 

What about stereotypes, you ask?  

Well, the same principle applies.  We react differently based on the stereotypes we have of others. Is that good or bad?  Tricky question, but my best answer is that it depends. 

But interestingly enough, we react differently based on stereotypes about ourselves as well. 


It's a terrible fact, but some people will often perform worse on exams if they are asked to specify their race or gender beforehand.  In one experiment on Asian-American women conducted by researchers Shin, Pittinsky and Ambady, one group was given a math test, and asked questions related to their gender.  The other group was given the same test, and given questions related to their race.  The latter did better on the exams than the former did.   

Other tests have shown that African-Americans perform significantly worse on exams when asked to specify their race.

So I wonder, how much of these stereotypes are used in marketing?  Probably much more than we realize. Advertisers may want to convey a certain message that is better communicated through one type of people than another - and that is okay, as long as it does no harm. 
It is just one way they can work on their relationship with the customer.  
  
But apparently sometimes these stereotypes can do harm to people's opinions of themselves, and if that is the case, that is wrong.  We should not be putting people down.