# Stereotypes that you have often found to be true **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 8, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408 "2017-06-08T01:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/21 "2017-06-08T17:22:25Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > I find it harder to mentally rotate the map to correspond to the outside world, but they seemed to have no trouble with it. But the map \*does \*correspond to the outside world! The world doesn’t rotate when you turn. > [@mixdenny](#): > > I recall a study comparing map use between men and women. They found a similar trend, men drew maps (for directions) with North up, and women preferred to draw one from the point of view. Interesting, my wife and I are a microcosm of that study. My wife likes the map to match her view of the road, so that when the little blue arrow is turning left on the map, she knows that she is supposed to turn left. She visualizes the area about 100 feet around her car, with her car being the center of the universe. I, on the other hand, after decades of learning to navigate using paper maps, like to use the GPS display like I use a paper map. What I visualize is the entire environment and imagine myself as I move through it, more Copernican-style. I have no trouble when I’m driving south and it shows an arrow going down and to the right, and I know that means I will turn left. When I drive my wife’s car, the map rotates every time I make a turn and it gives me vertigo. Now, to address the OP, to avoid making this a total hijack, stereotypes do not evolve in a vacuum but I am not a social scientist or psychologist and I cannot explain how they come about. But they are usually perpetuated by confirmation bias. If you get 100 Australians in your classes and one of them goes out to party, you’re going to say, “See! The Australians are the most likely to party!” Your observations are 100% subjective and unless you have objective data to back them up you don’t have any basis to reach any of those conclusions. Did you keep notes on the national origin and behavior of every person in your courses? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/22 "2017-06-08T17:26:33Z")
Threads like these, I’ve noticed, end up as train wrecks… ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/23 "2017-06-08T17:33:25Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Not a stereotype, but an odd trend (correlation?) > > I taught for years in a flight school that had students from all over the world. The GPS displays in the airplanes could be set for “North Up” or “Track Up”. The Track Up setting orients the map display to the same direction as the airplane, the way your car GPS probably does. The North Up (obviously) keeps North at the top, and doesn’t rotate as the plane turns. > > Almost everyone preferred the Track Up setting, except the students from India. If I got into a plane and had to change the setting, it was always following a flight by one of the Indian guys (I started checking the schedule logs when I first noticed this). > > I’ve always wondered what is different in the way they process graphic/chart information. I find it harder to mentally rotate the map to correspond to the outside world, but they seemed to have no trouble with it. Something I had to get used to in Indiana, and it took me forever, is that people in Indiana can always tell you where North is, and they give directions that way. This is how you get directions in Indiana: “Go a half-mile north, turn west, and go another mile, and you’re there.” And this would be for something in a town. If you ask for landmarks, they’ll still tell you “There’s a McDonald’s on the west side of the street about before the last stop sign.” In New York, if you ask where something is, they give you cross streets, and if you don’t know where those streets are, they tell you to walk in blocks, and to turn left or right, and what landmarks you will pass. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/24 "2017-06-08T17:41:08Z")
> [@](#): > > … > The Australians would be the most likely to party. > … > The Russians would be the mostly likely to end up drunk… For both of these to be true, the Australians would have to be going to an awful lot of dry parties. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/25 "2017-06-08T17:43:51Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Something I had to get used to in Indiana, and it took me forever, is that people in Indiana can always tell you where North is, and they give directions that way. This is how you get directions in Indiana: > > “Go a half-mile north, turn west, and go another mile, and you’re there.” And this would be for something in a town. If you ask for landmarks, they’ll still tell you “There’s a McDonald’s on the west side of the street about before the last stop sign.” > > In New York, if you ask where something is, they give you cross streets, and if you don’t know where those streets are, they tell you to walk in blocks, and to turn left or right, and what landmarks you will pass. To be fair, places like Indiana were often laid out on a true north-south-east-west grid. So using those orientations would work successfully. Whereas New York, not so much. You go with what you got. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/26 "2017-06-08T20:00:40Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Bang&Olufsen is my favourite stereotype. Mine is “with a faraway look in my eye”. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/27 "2017-06-08T20:10:06Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Bang&Olufsen is my favourite stereotype. Which just happens to prove my point that those who signed up before me are snobs who can’t write a post without being “ironic”. Thank God for me. ETA: Also, OP, disregarding Scandinavian students is so typical American. As if we can’t be students in America and stereotypical like everone else? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/28 "2017-06-08T20:44:27Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > A stereotype: I’ve found that people who consider themself a genius – enough to put it in their user name – are usually not as smart as they think they are. In a similar vein I’ve noticed that people who are self proclaimed “perfectionists” are usually the farthest thing from it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/29 "2017-06-08T20:47:49Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Bang&Olufsen is my favourite stereotype. My stereotrope is that LPs sound better than CDs. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/30 "2017-06-08T20:55:54Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > A stereotype: I’ve found that people who consider themself a genius – enough to put it in their user name – are usually not as smart as they think they are. The other day, my neighbor claimed to have an IQ of 160. I generally like the guy. I have drinks and cigars with him sometimes. Let’s say I’m a little skeptical that he’s in the top, what?, 0.03% of the population. I didn’t inquire as to his ethnicity, though. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/31 "2017-06-08T21:12:39Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Not a stereotype, but an odd trend (correlation?) > > I taught for years in a flight school that had students from all over the world. The GPS displays in the airplanes could be set for “North Up” or “Track Up”. The Track Up setting orients the map display to the same direction as the airplane, the way your car GPS probably does. The North Up (obviously) keeps North at the top, and doesn’t rotate as the plane turns. > > Almost everyone preferred the Track Up setting, except the students from India. If I got into a plane and had to change the setting, it was always following a flight by one of the Indian guys (I started checking the schedule logs when I first noticed this). > > I’ve always wondered what is different in the way they process graphic/chart information. I find it harder to mentally rotate the map to correspond to the outside world, but they seemed to have no trouble with it. I don’t fly, but I prefer north up orientation on my GPS driving, and I know several others who do, too. I am not Indian. With track up orientation, I have a much more difficult time understanding where I am, which direction I’m going, and where two points are relative to each other. With north up orientation, I always know which direction I’m going in and can visualize on a map where I am. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/32 "2017-06-08T21:20:57Z")
I live in an area with a heavy population of Asians. The vast majority of the Asians are driving just like anyone else but if you do come across a slow, overly polite, overly cautious driver chances are he or she will be Asian. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/33 "2017-06-08T21:27:10Z")
I think a lot of folks tend to revel in the stereotypes of their people, thus perpetuating them. This includes stereotypes that outsiders might see as negative, such as being cheap (they are thrifty!). Obviously, not all of any given group. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/34 "2017-06-09T01:33:38Z")
New Englanders really do rarely talk to strangers. But not because they’re impolite - not talking to strangers without a fairly good reason to bother them _is_ considered being polite here. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/35 "2017-06-09T04:28:56Z")
Verified German stereotypes by Patton Oswalt [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/P_LA_Pt7pKs/maxresdefault.jpg "Germany") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_LA_Pt7pKs) Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/36 "2017-06-09T05:14:09Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > To be fair, places like Indiana were often laid out on a true north-south-east-west grid. So using those orientations would work successfully. Whereas New York, not so much. You go with what you got. Yeah, when I was growing up in Indianapolis, I thought I had an excellent sense of direction. NOPE! It’s just that Indy’s built on a grid. Now in Hampton Roads, I have no idea where the hell anything is. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/37 "2017-06-09T08:27:33Z")
Bad drivers: still stereotypes. Ridiculous drivers: UBER drivers trying to follow the computer. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/38 "2017-06-09T13:03:16Z")
Stereotype I’ve found to be true: Korean shopkeepers are cold, taciturn, brusque and surly to the point of rudeness. UNTIL you’ve been coming to their store for many years. Then, long after you’ve gotten used to them being unsmiling, icy automatons, they’ll surprise you by relaxing and turning into cut-ups. They’re hilarious once they let their guard down. But they may take a decade to let their guard down. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/39 "2017-06-09T15:41:28Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I live in an area with a heavy population of Asians. The vast majority of the Asians are driving just like anyone else but if you do come across a slow, overly polite, overly cautious driver chances are he or she will be Asian. There is a large population of upper-middle-class Koreans in the city where I work, a fact that has no proven connection to the uncannily high frequency with which I find myself stuck behind a Lexus doing 10 miles under the speed limit. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408/40 "2017-06-09T19:20:31Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > My stereotrope is that LPs sound better than CDs. If I didn’t know better, I would assume you have a handle-bar moustache, wear a fedora and a vest over tee-shirts with ironic slogans and ride a single-speed bike all around Portland. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stereotypes-that-you-have-often-found-to-be-true/788408.md?page=3)