Public Opinion — Chapter VII Stereotypes as Defense

1. 1. Stereotypes are the core of personal tradition and defenses of our position in society, providing an ordered picture of the world to which our habits and comforts have adjusted.
2. 2. Aristotle's defense of slavery in his Politics was a stereotype that justified the institution by claiming slaves are naturally intended to be slaves.
3. 3. The stereotype is a form of perception that imposes character on sensory data before it reaches the intelligence, making it resistant to education or criticism.
4. 4. During World War I, German atrocity stories about Belgian snipers were refuted by German Catholic priests (Pax) to protect Catholics from backlash.
5. 5. The atrocity legend spread because it allowed Germans to see Belgians as sub-human, justifying their actions and soothing their conscience.