Stereotypes of American people are the popularly-held generalizations of Americans and

American culture The culture of the United States encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and Social norm, norms, including forms of Languages of the United States, speech, American literature, literature, Music of the United States, music, Visual a ...

. These stereotypes can be found across cultures in

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

public opinion Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...

.American TV and Social Stereotypes of Americans in Thailand by Kultida Suarchavarat,

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

, '' Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly'', September 1988 65: 648-654Students face US stereotypes abroad
by Liz Wojnar - '' The Wesleyan Argus'',

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, October 21, 2008 Not all of the stereotypes are equally popular, nor are they all restricted to Americans; and although most can be considered negative, a few assign neutral, positive or admiring qualities to the stereotypical American citizen. Many of the ethnic stereotypes collide with otherwise unrelated political

anti-Americanism Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...

.Confronting stereotypes of culture: American Stereotypes
Mathilde Dodson,

University of Washington Tacoma University of Washington Tacoma (UW Tacoma) is a campus of the University of Washington, located in Tacoma, Washington, United States. The UW Tacoma campus opened its first classrooms in repurposed warehouses in downtown Tacoma in 1990 and opene ...

, ''The Ledger'', November 21, 2005; Accessed: 18.07.2012Cultural Stereotypes
by Lupita Fabregas -

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, ''The Newsline'', February 2012

Stereotypes with positive use

Stereotypes with negative use

Consequences of American stereotypes

Along with many other stereotypes, countries view the United States as one of the most powerful nations in the world as a consequence of its status as the sole superpower. However, this view is often coupled with the view that the United States is

corrupt Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

, arrogant, cold and/or bloodthirsty. Peter Glick, co-author of "Anti-American Sentiment and America's Perceived Intent to Dominate: An 11-Nation Study", conducted research on 5,000 college students from eleven countries using the

stereotype content model In social psychology, the stereotype content model (SCM) is a model, first proposed in 2002, postulating that all group stereotypes and interpersonal impressions form along two dimensions: (1) warmth and (2) competence. The model is based on the ...

(SCM) and the image theory (IT) measure. "Consistent with the SCM and IT measure was the view that the United States is a nation intent on domination also with predicted perceptions that the nation is lacking warmth, and that the nation is arrogant, but out of incompetence." As a result of similar views, anti-American sentiment can develop, and the United States’ security can be put at risk. For example, one of the most infamous anti-American acts against the United States were the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. American stereotypes were not the main proponent of these attacks, but stereotypes become self-fulfilling and normative. If America is seen as arrogant, power-hungry, intrusive, etc., then it is perceived that most American individuals exhibit this behavior, at least to some degree, and that the nation as a whole involves itself in situations in which it may have no business interfering.Glick, P. (2006). Anti-American Sentiment and America's Perceived Intent to Dominate: An 11-Nation Study. Basic & Applied Social Psychology, 28(4), 363-373.

Stereotypes with positive use

Stereotypes with negative use

Consequences of American stereotypes

See also

References

Further reading