Stereotypes

The negative effect of intergroup relations can be seen in people’s use of stereotypes and interactions between cross cultural relationships. Stereotypes in themselves may not be the instigator of negative behaviours but they are the cognitive element that influences thoughts. Stereotypes are mental shortcuts, which can be explained by Tolman as the principle of least effort (Tolman, 1932, as cited in Deckers, 2005), in which a person will take the easiest path to obtain an outcome, or as a cognitive miser: defined as a person’s reluctance to do extra thinking (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). Either way, the use of stereotypes is based on a human’s natural tendency to group or categorise things (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008).

Although stereotypes can be positively or negatively related towards a group of people based on their shared traits, they generally provide negative beliefs toward a specific group of people and can foster discrimination. Shamefully, this has been observed in recent times within Australia with the Cronulla riots on 11 December 2006 (Four Corners, 2006). In this incident 5000 Australians and hundreds of Middle Eastern men gathered at Cronulla beach to invoke revenge by random savage attacks on anyone appearing to belong to the opposite party (Four Corners, 2006); which corresponds with Tajfel and Sheriff’s research into an individual’s bias or favouritism to their group.

These attacks sent shocking images of racial-hatred inspired riots internationally through the media and created social outrage in Australia, so much so that the Australian Government announced the introduction of a citizenship test emphasising the importance of Australian values and the need for Australian values to be taught in Australian schools. The citizenship test was introduced on 10 September 2007 in accordance with an amendment to the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 requiring applicants for Australian citizenship to successfully complete a citizenship test in order to be eligible to become an Australian citizen (Parliament of Australia, 2007). And the National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools was introduced in September 2006 to ensure students followed the Australian values (Department of Education and Training, 2007). These actions not only condemned the violent and racially inspired actions of the Cronulla riots but instilled the need for Australia’s social values.