Hawaiian culture is both diverse and unique, with its own language, traditions and beliefs. Despite these multifaceted characteristics, some broad stereotypes about the culture persist in the non-Hawaiian population. My article will explore the origin of race, prejudice, and cultural stereotypes and how both Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian cultures reinforce these stereotypes. According to Dictionary.com, a stereotype is something that conforms to a fixed or general pattern, especially a mindset that is often overly simplified or distorted. image considered to characterize the typical individual of a group (dictionary.com). The term “stereotype” originally referred to a stamp used in the printing industry to make multiple copies from a single block. The first to adopt this notion, to describe the way society classified people, was the social psychologist Walter Lippmann in 1922, in his book on media democracy, Public Opinion. He described the term as “the image (of the world) that a person has in his head.” He was convinced that the image was defined and reduced the world to simple characteristics that are represented as permanent by nature (Lippmann, 1997 [1922], p. 233). Hawaii is a major vacation destination for many tourists around the world. . When Hawaii comes to mind, many different people and cultures imagine sandy beaches, warm blue waters, lush green backdrops, Hula dancers in grass skirts with flowers in their hair and necklaces around their necks. These visual representations are iconic symbols of Hawaii and what many define as Hawaiian. These images and ideas painted by the visitor industry very often come at the expense of historic Hawaiian culture. These stereotypes evoked by the tourism industry...... middle of paper...... I. McCubbin (2008). International and Cultural Psychology: The Kanaka Maoli: Native Hawaiian and Heir Testimony to Trauma and Resilience Mayeda, D.T., Chesney-Lind, M., & Koo, J. (2001, September). Storytelling with Hawaii youth: Confronting violent and sexualized perceptions of ethnicity and gender. Youth and Society, 33(1), 99-128.McCubbin, L.D. (2002). Resilience among Native Hawaiian adolescents: Ethnic identity, psychological distress, and well-being. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI.McGovern, Gerry: National Stereotypes, (March 22, 1999) (www.gerrymcgovern.com)Okamura, The Illusion of Paradise, supra note 21, 275-276. McGregor, Davianna Pomaika'i. 1980. "Hawaiians: Organizing in the 1970s." Amerasia Journal 7(2):29-55.http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=stereotype 2001-2011 Douglas Harper