Textbook List
Listed below are American stereotypes about different types of Americans collected by and included in: Rathus, Spencer A, & Nevid, Jeffrey S., (2003). Psychology and the Challenges of Life, 8th edition, Wiley&Sons, Inc, New York. These authors reference two other works as their sources.
African Americans
• Physically powerful and well-coordinated
• Unclean
• Unintelligent and superstitious
• Musically talented
• Excellent as lovers
• Lazy
• Emotional and aggressive
• Flashy (gaudy clothes and big cars)
Chinese Americans
• Deceitful
• Inscrutable
• Wise
• Cruel
• Polite, quiet, and deferential
• Possessing strong family ties
• Law-abiding
Latino and Latina Americans
• Macho
• Unwilling to learn English
• Disinterested in education
• Not concerned about being on welfare
• Warm, expressive
• Lazy
• Hot-tempered and violent
Irish Americans
• Sexually repressed
• Heavy drinkers
• Overly religious
• Political and nationalistic
• Outgoing, witty, and literary
• Hot-tempered (fighting Irish)
Italian Americans
• Overly interested in food
• Ignorant, suspicious of education
• Clannish
• Great singers
• Great shoemakers and barbers
• Hot-tempered and violent
• Connected to the Mafia
• Talk with their hands
• Cowardly in battle
Japanese Americans
• Ambitious, hardworking, and competitive
• Intelligent, well-educated
• Obedient, servile women
• Sneaky
• Poor lovers
• Possessing strong family ties
• Great imitators, not originators
• Law-abiding
Jewish Americans
• Cheap, shrewd in business
• Clannish
• Control banks, Wall Street, and the media
• Wealthy and showy
• Big-nosed
• Pushy
• Smothering mother
Polish Americans
• Unintelligent and uneducated
• Overly religious
• Dirty
• Racist, bigoted
• Boorish, uncultured
White Angle-Saxon Protestants (WASPS)
• Hardworking, ambitious, thrifty
• Honorable
• Wealthy, powerful
• Insensitive, emotionally cold
• Polite, well-mannered, genteel
• Snobbish
• Guilt-ridden do-gooders
