Doesn't the need to find a "counter-example" itself depend on the stereotype?
[WS:] This reminds me of a scene from the film _A beautiful mind_ in which Nash is saying to his hallucinations that they have not aged since he "met" them many years ago, therefore they are not real. The hallucinations were there, whether he liked them or not, but he used the power of his mind to discredit them, which I guess is what made his mind beautiful. Most in such situations would not even try.
Ditto for the situation that I described, except that the stereotypes were there not because I imagined them, but because they were enacted by people around me. Every reasonable person would reach similar conclusions, but not every reasonable person would take an extra step to deconstruct those conclusions.
Sorry for overposting.
Wojtek