Even though most of us can recognize that stereotyping isn’t right, it still happens to the best of us. So this is a good question to figure out: why do people stereotype? I believe people stereotype because of natural instincts to protect and help the success of their own group. All of us divide each other into social groups in some way, whether it has to do with your interests, where you live, how much money you make, or what religion you identify with. Naturally, we associate with people more like us and tend to shun the ones who are the most unlike us. Even more, we all want our own group that we associate with to succeed. So a lot of times this turns into stereotyping other people because of competition for protection. Of course any logical person can recognize that this doesn’t make stereotyping okay, but it definitely explains how it can happen even when we know it’s wrong.