In general, my findings were very similar to one another. There was very little variance between the different age groups and gender types. The most common word used to describe a man on welfare in my interviews was "dirty." This word occurred in five of my ten interviews and out of those five, women answered four of them. The one difference I found between the answers provided by men and women was that the women tended to focus more on the physical features of a man on welfare while men tended to focus more on the individuals status. There were no real differences in the answers provided by individuals of different generations. My seventy-eight year old grandmother gave almost the same answers as my eighteen-year old twin sister, this lead me to believe that people of all types are influenced by stereotypes.
             The characteristics found in my interviews were negative. The words used to describe "a man on welfare" were stereotypical and I feel that they were fairly valid. I feel that most of the characteristics given described only about half of the population of men on welfare however. Not all men on welfare have "poor attitudes" and "live on the street." Many of them are really trying hard to have a normal life and just need a little help from the government to get by.
             I feel that most stereotypes originate from strong feelings one has about another certain type of person. The individual then interprets everyone else who relates to that type of person as the same. This leads to everyone else stereotyping others because of what people have said in the past. Some of my interviewees believed that the stereotypes originated from watching T.V. shows like Maury and Jenny Jones or from movies. I feel that both of these are strong influences on stereotypical opinions.
             Plans that I would suggest to change these stereotypes would include changing the outlook that T.V. shows and movi...