Polarization-- Defining everything as either/or
Contributing factors
Neglect of the Middle Ground- The failure to notice that everything is not black and white.
Women in the public are either attractive or not attractive, supportive or not, fat or thin etc.
Conditioning- Individuals are conditioned, or taught, to believe certain things about certain groups of people due to the environment in which he/she was raised.
Often, when one sees things in one way (i.e. women in video games) one is conditioned to believe that that is how women are. A young child for instance may only see his mother and, if allowed, the woman on the video game with skimpy clothing and a low IQ, the child is then conditioned to believe all other women who are not his/her mother, wear skimpy clothing and have a low IQ.
Correctives
Detect the contrary- Noticing when things are different and that things can be different.
Young children who are only exposed to one group, or type, of people may believe those people to be the one way things should be but it is important for those children, as well as adults, to note that things do not always have to be one way.
Tyra Banks is not fat. She is not skinny. Tyra Banks is a healthy woman who is completely content with a body that the public dubs as 'fat'. There is an in-between from fat to skinny and it is important to note that with public figures.
Guard against the Pendulum Effect- As consumers,(as well as members of a very diverse society) we need to be careful that we do not believe that we know everything about anything, this causes a vicious cycle where blanket statements rule lives.
All women should be domesticated and all men should provide for their family. This is a blanket statement that is more common than one realizes. It is so much more complex than that and when one realizes that he/she is making the statement, that is when he/she can fix it.