Stereotype

a set of cognitive generalizations (e.g., beliefs, expectations) about the qualities and characteristics of the members of a group or social category. Stereotypes, like schemas, simplify and expedite perceptions and judgments, but they are often exaggerated, negative rather than positive, and resistant to revision even when perceivers encounter individuals with qualities that are not congruent with the stereotype.

Contemporary social psychology typically defines stereotypes as mental representations of a group and its members, and stereotyping as the cognitive activity of treating individual elements in terms of higher level categorial properties