can human beings function without stereotyping?

Stereotyping is normal to a certain level.

And I think it’s OK as long as you notice that you are stereotyping and as long as you do not believe your stereotypes to be absolute truths.

The problem is, when you first meet a person, you don’t really know them. But there are certain thinks you know about the person. Their style of clothes, their hair and skin color. A scent that goes with them. Maybe their name or the sound of the voice.

You brain uses the few scatters of information to form an image about the person. If the person reminds you of someone else that you know, you’ll automatically assume they are similar. You get those impressions from everywhere - from TV, from what you read, from people you know, from people you’ve heard about.

A couple of days ago I met a guy who wore dirty Jeans and a flannel shirt who smelled of tree gum. I thought that he was a harsh and taciturn person. Why? Because my gandpa was harsh and taciturn and always wore dirty Jeans and Flannel shirts and always smelled of tree gum. But actually when got to know the guy better, I found he was a rather jovial man

And you automatically assume inner similarities when you spot outer similarities.

So when you get to know someone, and you assume any attribute of them - just stop and think about where that attribute came from - it might be someone elses attribute.