Suppose an African-American woman is in a situation where she could justifiably show anger, but knows that society has the “angry black woman” stereotype and therefore purposefully suppresses any public expression of anger - is there a term for this behavior? (that is, knowing what people would expect to happen, and therefore deliberately not doing it?)
Ditto for any other stereotype or preconceived notion - a Jewish person who refuses to go into the banking/finance industry, or a black guy who doesn’t want to play basketball because of the stereotype, or an Asian who refuses to talk about math, etc.
It’s the opposite of what you’re looking for, but there’s a psychological phenomenon called stereotype threat. It refers to a situation where a person’s awareness that failure would confirm some negative stereotype creates anxiety and stress that lead to underperformance (relative to that person’s true individual potential).
I’ve heard the phrase “acting against stereotype” for when someone intentionally avoids choices that would make them seem like they were being stereotypical. I believe the context where I came across it was racial, similar to your black man/basketball example.
Would this apply to me refusing to learn to play the Barney Miller theme because whenever someone found out I play bass they’d nearly always want me to play it? Or a drummer refusing to learn “Wipeout”?
I can’t think of a single term for it. Betraying expectations might be used. Along with adjectives from stubborn to resolute.
“Contrarian” for what’s stated in the title.
For the specific examples in the OP, I’d use a hyphenated term like “contra-stereotype”, “stereotype-avoidant” or “stereotype-conscious.”
Confounding expectations is the more common expression, I think.
To confound stereotype is the most concise expression I can come up with. Combining with the prior poster’s comment, perhaps a contrarian desire to confound stereotype if clarity is preferred over brevity.
Breaking out of the mould? Going against the grain?
Expectation subversion?
Contrarianism?
That’s probably the closest. I was definitely being contrarian when I decided I definitely wasn’t going to apply for Oxford or Cambridge precisely because my teachers (at a state school) kept telling me that I must. Instead I went to a middling red-brick university and no doubt missed out on becoming some high-powered captain of industry :dubious:
Do you mean like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFxcJp2VQPU
or this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJfRlAdkQWwThe thread title sounds a lot like “non-conformism”. But the OP example, not so much. At least as the term was used in the 50s for beatniks and such.
I kind of see where the OP is coming from though; contrarian doesn’t quite describe it- that always struck me as a term describing a intentionally contrary pattern of behavior. Contrarians are typically people who do the opposite of what they’re told/expected to do, just for the sake of being contrary. I mean, I’ve known people who’d go out of their way to do something stupid like not eat vegetables, because the government and doctors told them they should.
The OP’s talking more about intentionally not meeting stereotypical expectations because they’re stereotypical. That’s different by my reckoning, since it’s more focused than garden-variety contrarianism.