Communication Stereotypes

Abstract

If Blacks and Whites are ever to engage in genuine communication, many barriers or obstacles must be removed. One of the more pervasive hindrances to authentic interracial relations is stereotyping. Blacks and Whites hold a variety of stereotypes of each other, often negative, and these racial stereotypes have generally remained unchanged over the years. Katz and Braly (1933) tackled the question of racial stereotypes early. They asked 100 White college students to choose from a prepared list of traits those that characterized certain racial groups. These-Princeton University students characterized Negroes as superstitious, lazy, happy-go-lucky, ignorant, musical, ostentatious, very religious, stupid, physically dirty, naive, slovenly, and unreliable. Eight years after the Katz and Braly study, Bayton (1946) suggested that, although several studies had been conducted in which White students were asked to assign traits to Blacks and other racial groups, few studies investigated how Blacks and other racial minorities viewed Whites. His study, conducted at Virginia State College, a Black school, questioned 100 students using the Katz and Braly list of traits. Bayton found that Black students characterized Whites as intelligent, industrious, scientifically minded, progressive, ambitious, peace loving, sportsmanlike, sophisticated, conceited, and neat. He also found that Black students shared many of the White stereotypes of Negroes. The Black students attributed traits to themselves such as musical, superstitious, very religious, happy-go-lucky, loud, lazy, progressive, imitative, intelligent, and