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stereotype a prejudicial notion or set of notions a person uses to define members of an ethnic or other social group outside one's own direct experience. Introduced by Walter LIPPMANN, a stereotype is a simple and erroneous idea, gained secondhand, that negatively affects one's ability to understand members of other social groups and that is resistant to change. "Representations of various groups on TV reflect our cultural values," the professor was saying. "Our perception influences …

…psychologists versus a computer). The same pattern emerged when initial differences existed between the groups on two dimensions. Small differences between groups (group A is more intelligent and less social than group B) were accentuated, especially on the contextually more appropriate dimension (accentuation was larger on intelligence than sociability when groups were assumed to be genetically different, and, conversely, accentuation was larger on sociability than intelligence when groups were assumed to live under different climates).