Some Critical Thoughts on “How Stereotypes Deceive Us”

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to identify and discuss the weaker aspects of some of the arguments in Kathy Puddifoot’s fascinating and thought-provoking book. Section 1 deals with Puddifoot’s treatment of the “single factor view” and the “dual factor view” of stereotyping. Section 2 deals with Puddifoot’s treatment of egalitarian attitudes. Section 3 deals with Puddifoot’s treatment of the moral encroachment approach to stereotyping. Finally, section 4 deals with Puddifoot’s theory of evaluative dispositionalism. The sections can be read independently.

Keywords

• stereotyping
• egalitarian attitudes
• moral encroachment
• pragmatic encroachment
• evaluative dispositionalism