Final answer:
A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a group that can become prejudice when it results in negative attitudes towards the group as a whole. Prejudice evolves into discrimination when it affects actions. This can sometimes reach the level of racism.
Step-by-step explanation:
A stereotype is a simplistic and often negative generalization about the characteristics that members of a group supposedly possess. It can be based on many characteristics like race, gender, age, and more. It does not take into account the individual differences people within that group might have. When a stereotype becomes a firm belief and invades an individual's thinking, causing them to have negative feelings toward individuals simply because they are part of a group, it transforms into prejudice.
Prejudice refers to negative views and attitudes towards a group based on these fixed stereotypes. Additionally, this prejudiced mindset can affect how we act towards others, which is known as discrimination, and can reflect beliefs as extreme as racism, which is the belief that one race is inherently superior to others.
For instance, believing that all older adults are slow and incompetent is a stereotype that gets ingrained as prejudice when it unjustly influences how we feel and act towards individuals from that group without considering their actual abilities or characteristics. Furthermore, the stereotype that Black athletes are more athletic but less intelligent is another example of how stereotypes can create prejudiced attitudes, often reinforced by confirmation bias when our preconceived notions seem to be confirmed by individual cases.