How Cultures and Stereotypes Influence People

People are shaped by their culture to a great extent because the culture has influenced us to think and conduct in a specific way and we’ve learned to believe our own culture since the day we were born. It’s universally acknowledged that humans cannot avoid an ideology. What I mean is society has been molded to a kind of that people trust social standard from the day born because of no opportunity to choose. Culture also impacts our cultural norms and cultural values. People are shaped by the stereotypes that surround them to a great extent as well. The reason is that stereotype affects people not only in a positive way but also in a negative way. Either way, both of negative and positive stereotypes could have a bad impact on another person by changing their feelings about themselves. The negative impact of stereotypes on individuals can lead to friction between potential relationships and stereotypes, and create an impossible standard for a person, then making one feel imperfect.

Culture shapes people’s mind. The essay starts with the research that Joe Henrich who is an anthropologist student that made an experiment on the Machiguenga people. The experiment actually is a game, which involved splitting a limit amount of money between two people. The outcome of a test completed on Americans is totally different from Peru. A lower quotation is given and the quotation that is usually seen when the experiment is performed is accepted. “It just seemed ridiculous to the Machiguenga that you would reject an offer of free money”. These tests are finished in Western civilization, so the results were unfounded.

Originally, it had been assumed that the culture of western was a good basis for human similarities. According to the tests above, researchers are beginning to realize that the West was generating remote data, “the very way we think about ourselves and others…makes us distinct from other humans on the planet. The lack of cross-culture has led the misunderstanding of human beings. Scientists have to reevaluate their views of humans’ brains because it is not as universal as they once thought. However, culture really shapes the minds of human beings.

Stereotypes have already sunk in the society and it does affect the Asians much. Any stereotype is based on prejudgments. People who consider stereotypes when judging a person can make assumptions about others from multiple sources, such as peers and the media. For example, in the article “Paper Tiger”, Asian American Wesley Young hints at how stereotyping affects his culture in a positive and negative way.

People always use their stereotypes as a fast natural distinct to identify animals — what kinds of animals are alarming or harmless. It affects both the judge and the mindset of those who are told that they are stereotypical through making assumptions about others immediately. If a person keeps judging others, then it may have a false expectation of the individual they judge. Yang indicates that how he “believe our roots necessarily define us. I do believe there are racially inflected assumptions wired into our neural circuitry that we use to sort through the sea of faces we confront.” 

Furthermore, Yang’s article mentions the term bamboo ceiling, which has its roots in the term glass ceiling, which refers to an employee or a group of employees who can only be promoted to a position, but due to corporate ethics, business practices and lack of skills, they cannot reach any level higher than the position. Bamboo ceiling is a more specific term; it refers to the practice of making Asians, especially Chinese, unable to apply for the higher-paying and more prominent work in the United States. From my perspective, there are several reasons for bamboo ceilings. The first reason is that the common prejudice and stereotypes. Many companies are simply not willing to consider Asians as leadership roles because of stereotypes. They are rather pursing diversity with African-American or Latino. Other companies believe that Asian workers may be skilled in certain areas but they lack in knowledge or leadership skills. Sometimes, Asian culture can encourage non-aggressiveness, which helps prevent Asians from striving for more prominent management positions. This is why stereotypes have such a large impact on people that Asians cannot stand with Westerners.

In conclusion, both of culture and stereotype affect human beings very much. Each of them has the different way to influence. For culture, it depends where the people live and what do they usually do in their daily life. For stereotype, it attaches in people’s mind in how they think and the people surrounded. 

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