Interventions to Reduce Stereotyping Through Targeting Familiarity Preference

Abstract

As people perceive familiar and unfamiliar individuals, they may subconsciously be influenced by stereotypical information that is harmful to the target. Stereotyping affects everyone and is connected to innate biases, noting familiarity preference in particular. Given the pervasiveness of this, we investigate the impact of familiarity preference on stereotypes through discussing and referencing research related to the topics of stereotypes, familiarity preference, and interventions to reduce stereotyping through targeting familiarity preference. Indeed, the warm feeling of recognition builds a trusting bond between individuals with the possibility to reduce stereotypical assumptions by affecting familiarity preference; therefore, we consider interventions by way of social media, education, and in-person exposure. Our discussion is essential in enhancing the understanding of how both stereotypes and familiarity preferences affect individuals’ interactions and the necessity to reduce the damage that results from stereotyping.