How Stereotypes Shape the Language People Use

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How Stereotypes Shape the Language People Use 
As the United States celebrates its the second year with Juneteenth as a federal 
holiday, many articles will be written about race relations. But I’d like to broach 
one topic that often falls under the radar: stereotypes.
From the first instant our eyes alight on a television or phone screen, we are 
inundated with a curated set of images that (supposedly) depict the world around 
us. These images often show people of color through a stereotypical lens, and 
these stereotypes bleed into our everyday lives—our workplaces, our social lives, 
our politics. As a social psychologist at Yale University, I am figuring out exactly 
how stereotypes hold us back, and what we can do about it.
When I was a young Black girl growing up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, 
I loved the movies. Each year, my brothers and I would gleefully wait in line to 
get the best seat in the theater for the latest Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or 
superhero film.
Even then, I was struck by the characters I saw. Few looked like me or my family. 
Those that did were one-dimensional, with limited speaking roles, often playing 
supporting roles to White characters. They were disproportionately poor and often 
criminal. They were rarely desired, easily disposed of, and never granted the 
nuanced and flawed inner worlds granted to White characters.

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These stereotypes puzzled me. Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a 
majorityBlack county—home to doctors, lawyers, politicians, and other Black 
professionals. The Black characters I saw on television didn’t reflect the rich, 
diverse, and joyful lives I saw around me. Why does the media put people of color 
into boxes? How do these stereotypes harm us as individuals and a society?
I became a social psychologist to answer these questions. Twenty years later, I 
now study stereotypes, determining how they maintain inequality and worm their 
way into day-to-day interactions. Across dozens of studies featuring thousands of 
participants, I find that stereotypes influence how we relate to others, leaking into 
conversations through the very words that people use.
In one test, I focused on White Americans. White people are subject to 
stereotypes, too. They’re labeled as more competent than Black people and 
Latina/os, and White people think that other racial groups see them as racist and 
entitled. I predicted that White Americans, particularly those who want to connect 
across racial divides— White liberals—try to reverse these stereotypes through 
the very words that they use.
I focused on those who are more conservative because they tend to have more 
positive attitudes toward White Americans and negative attitudes toward their 
own racial group.
I found that Black Americans and Latina/os who were more conservative used 
more competent language than their more liberal peers in these mostly-White 
settings. (There was no such effect among White politicians, or when I asked 
Black people to talk to other Black people.) These data suggest that people have 
a profound desire to reverse negative stereotypes, and this desire shows up in 
everyday conversation. Stereotypes force us into rigid boxes, and we try to break 
free of them using the most primary tool available to us: our words.
Now an adult, I still love mainstream television and movies—and I am still largely 
disappointed by what I see. Most characters are White, the vast majority of spoken 
lines go to White characters, and many Black characters are rooted in stereotypes. 
(The latest season of Netflix’s hit Stranger Things provides a vivid example.) 
Awareness and research can help us understand what stereotypes are and how they 
are harmful, but until we enact large-scale, cultural changes that challenge these 
stereotypes, we will all continue to be shackled by them.
I asked over two thousand White Americans to introduce themselves to a Black 
or White person online. As predicted, White liberals used fewer words related to 
competence (like “competitive” or “powerful”) when speaking to a Black person. 
This “competence downshift” isn’t limited to a lab. I analyzed over 20 years of 
campaign speeches by White Democratic and Republican presidential candidates 

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and found that White Democrats used fewer words related to competence when 
addressing mostly-minority audiences (e.g., NAACP ) versus mostly-White ones
(e.g., American Federation of Teachers). White Republicans didn’t downshift 
competence, likely because they’re less interested in getting along with people of 
color. Sure enough, White Democrats were more likely to address audiences of 
color than Republicans.
For White liberals, this behavior may backfire. My colleagues and I are now 
testing whether White liberals who use less competent language are seen as 
patronizing by Black observers. If so, they may reduce, rather than improve, their 
chances of crossracial connection by downshifting competence. Do people of 
color also counter stereotypes using language? To find out, I analyzed 250,000 
congressional remarks and one million tweets by Black and Latina/o politicians 
in Congress and Twitter. I focused on Black Americans and Latina/os because 
they tend to be stereotyped as lower in status and power than White Americans.