What is the difference between stereotypes and prejudices?

Answer 1

Prejudging a person implies that they are considered guilty of something negative. When a person is stereotyped, it can unfairly attribute either good qualities or bad qualities.

...For instance...

• If you think that all blondes get confused eating m&m's because they find w's in the bag, you are demonstrating prejudice.
• If you think that all 7-footers are automatically good at Basketball, you are demonstrating stereotyping.

Answer 2

A stereotype is a view that all or the overwhelming majority of a certain racial, ethnic, religious, or other group have a certain defining characteristic as a result of being members of that group. Stereotypes generally concern negative qualities, but can sometimes concern good qualities instead. Prejudice is the personal application of a stereotype to evaluate a person prior to actually meeting them.

Stereotype examples: Blonds are dumb. Jews are miserly. Arabs are violent. Asians are smart. Blacks are poor.

Prejudice example: Marcia is a blond, so she must be dumb. Mike is a Jew, so he must be miserly. Ahmed is an Arab, so he must be violent. Yu Qing is an Asian, so she must be smart. Roger is Black, so he must be poor.