Stereotypes are mental conceptions that can strongly influence the way we interpret the behaviors of individuals belonging to specific racial or ethnic groups. A stereotype is most similar to a?

perceptual set

Explanation:

Perceptual set: In psychology, the term perceptual set is also referred to as perceptual expectancy and is defined as the propensity to perceive different things in specific ways. An individual often tends to observe only a few aspects related to a situation or an object whereas he or she ignores other related details and it occurs in almost all different senses.

A perceptual set influences an individual's perception and every different person has their own perceptual set which is different from the other person.

In the question above, stereotype is most similar to a perceptual set.