ABSTRACT
The well-known journalist and writer Walter Lippmann called "these pictures in our heads" stereotypes. Basically, a stereotype is an exaggerated belief, over simplification, or uncritical judgement about a category. The category may be a neighbourhood, a city, a newspaper, members of a profession, believers in a religion, or even a highway. When people employ stereotypes they are usually making judgements about a given individual's potential to fit into a certain category based upon that person's racial or ethnic origins. Stereotypes are often vicious and can be exceedingly dangerous. The stereotypes themselves are based both on general impressions and scientific studies that show how different groups are perceived by Americans. Some of the stereotypes exist in the country from which the people came, while others do not. The focus here is on how Americans see them. The first group to be considered is one of the oldest and most often stereotyped peoples in the world-the Jews.
