Preconceived Notions

I've never been a big fan of South Park or The Simpsons, however, I love Family Guy. It is up there as one of my favorite TV shows. I came across this clip the other day on YouTube. It is a compilation of some of the stereotypes that the show has made fun of. 

After watching things, I realized how much TV makes fun of typical stereotypes. It is all in good fun and I am not offended by it in the slightest, but after reading a section in my textbook about stereotypes and how they influence the way we interact with others, it made me think. Do I have certain expectations about people I meet based on stereotypes?

I think that we all do. For instance I recently made a friend that is from Toronto, Canada. Based on what I've seen in the entertainment world about Canadians, I expected him to be ridiculously, overly nice and polite. While he is a very nice person, I wouldn't say that he's more polite or nice than my American friends. If I wasn't aware of that stereotype I may be disappointed by my friendship in him since I had such high expectations.

You would think that I would know better as a Chinese American, I've been subjected to stereotypes my entire life, some true and some not so much. I guess it goes to show that we really do need to be aware  of our perceptions of others to prevent preconceived opinions.