Toward a broader view of social stereotyping

Stereotyping effects are typically considered to be assimilative in nature: A member of a group stereotyped as having some attribute is judged to have more of that attribute than a member of some comparison group. This article highlights the fact that stereotyping effects can also occur in the direction of contrast--or even null effects-- depending on the nature and form of the outcome being assessed (from the researcher's perspective, the dependent variable of interest). Relying on theory and research from the shifting standards model (M. Biernat, M. Manis, & T. F. Nelson, 1991), this review highlights the different ways in which and the factors that determine how stereotypes influence judgment and behavior toward individual group members.     

Construal level mind-sets moderate self- and social stereotyping

Construal level theory suggests that events and objects can be represented at either a higher, more abstract level involving consideration of superordinate goals, desirability, global processing, and broad categorizations or a lower, more concrete level involving consideration of subordinate goals, feasibility, local processing, and narrow categorizations. Analogously, social targets (including the self) can be represented more broadly, as members of a group, or more narrowly, as individuals. Because abstract construals induce a similarity focus, they were predicted to increase the perceived fit between social targets and a salient social category. Accordingly, placing individuals into a more abstract construal mind-set via an unrelated task increased the activation and use of stereotypes of salient social groups, stereotype-consistent trait ratings of the self, group identification, and stereotype-consistent performance relative to more concrete construal mind-sets. Thus, nonsocial contextual influences (construal level mind-sets) affect stereotyping of self and others.     

Disinhibition of stereotyping: context,prejudice, and target characteristics

The present research examined the moderating influences of individual differences in sexism on the application of gender stereotypes to stereotypic versus nonstereotypic targets as a function of contexts that induced sex stereotypic or counterstereotypic responses. Specifically, participants first received an attribution task in which they were induced to explain a variety of gender relevant situations in gender stereotypic or nonstereotypic ways. Participants were then presented with an ostensibly unrelated person judgment task in which they were asked to judge two women who acted either ambiguously stereotypically or nonstereotypically. The initial opportunity to express stereotypes without censure accentuated stereotype application, but only for highly prejudiced participants rating a woman who acted in an ambiguously stereotypical (i.e. unassertive) manner. We consider the implications of these findings for processes of stereotype disinhibition, and the moderating influences of individual differences in prejudice, target characteristics, and local norms. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The social context of imitation in infancy

Infants increasingly generalize deferred imitation across environmental contexts between 6 and 18 months of age. In three experiments with 126 6-, 9-, 12-, 15-, and 18-month-olds, we examined the role of the social context in deferred imitation. One experimenter demonstrated target actions on a hand puppet, and a second experimenter tested imitation 24h later. When the second experimenter was novel, infants did not exhibit deferred imitation at any age; when infants were preexposed to the second experimenter, all of them did. Imitating immediately after the demonstration also facilitated deferred imitation in a novel social context at all ages but 6 months. Infants' pervasive failure to exhibit deferred imitation in a novel social context may reflect evolutionary selection pressures that favored conservative behavior in social animals.     

Intergroup differentiation: stereotyping as a function of status hierarchy

The authors explored how negative intergroup comparisons affect intergroup differentiation. More specifically, they tested the prediction that the in-group's negative intergroup comparisons with a high-status group would result in more negative stereotyping of a lower status out-group. The authors elicited stereotypes of a lower status university in 2 conditions. In the 1st, the participants judged only the middle-ranking university in-group and a lower status university. In the 2nd, those judgments followed comparison with a higher status university. In the 2nd condition, there was an increased differentiation between the in-group and the lower status out-group because of the more negative stereotyping of the lower status out-group. This evidence of intergroup differentiation was found only on the dimension judged most important and along which the in-group was negatively compared with the higher status group.     

The social context of undermining behavior at work

We developed a fairness theory perspective to explain the experience of being “singled out” for social undermining from supervisors and coworkers, and tested our predictions across four distinct social contexts. We argued and predicted that attitudinal and behavioral reactions to undermining (from supervisors and coworkers) would be strongest when a correspondingly low level of undermining was found in the social context. The hypothesized cross-level interaction was supported for supervisor and coworker undermining among a sample of officers from the national police force in the Republic of Slovenia (Study 1), replicated for supervisor undermining among soldiers in the US National Guard (Study 2), and further replicated with group-member undermining among a sample of individuals working in student teams (Study 3). We then predicted that justice perceptions would mediate the singled out interaction and tested the mediated-moderation model in a coworker-network context among employees of a restaurant chain (Study 4). The results substantially supported the mediation prediction. These findings from diverse settings demonstrate that considering the social context is important when trying to understand the effects of social undermining behaviors at work.     

Context-dependent variation in social stereotyping 1: The effects of intergroup relations as mediated by social change and frame of reference

During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf conflict an experiment was conducted with Australian university students (N = 200) to investigate whether the social stereotyping of Americans varied with social contextual manipulations related to the hostilities. The study, conducted in two phases at the start and end of the conflict, examined how the assignment of standard stereotypical traits to Americans was affected (a) by the large-scale social change constituted by the war and (b) by variation in the frame of reference provided by relevant comparison groups. The elicited stereotypes were sensitive to both of these contextual variables, demonstrating significant variation and fluidity. Overall, stereotypes of Americans were relatively negative. They were significantly more negative (a) at the end of the war than at the beginning in the restricted frame (when Australia and Britain were comparison groups) and (b) in the first phase of the conflict when the frame was extended to include Iraq as a comparison group. The findings were in line with expectations derived from self-categorization theory (Turner, 1985) that the social categorization of self and other into ingroup and outgroup is inherently variable, comparative and context-dependent. They question the long-held view of stereotypes as fixed, rigid and resistant to change.     

When the mind is otherwise engaged: resource depletion and social stereotyping

This study investigated the effects of resource depletion on stereotyping. Participants were instructed to form an impression of a target, and whilst performing this task, they overheard a tape-recorded conversation. The conversation was manipulated so that it was more or less relevant to the participants. Results in general supported the prediction that when participants eavesdrop on a relevant conversation, attentional capacity will be diminished, and target evaluations will be stereotypic in implication. Findings are discussed in terms of contemporary treatments of stereotyping. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The colour of gender stereotyping

Despite legislative attempts to eliminate gender stereotyping from society, the propensity to evaluate people on the basis of their sex remains a pernicious social problem. Noting the critical interplay between cultural and cognitive factors in the establishment of stereotypical beliefs, the current investigation explored the extent to which culturally transmitted colour-gender associations (i.e., pink is for girls, blue is for boys) set the stage for the automatic activation and expression of gender stereotypes. Across six experiments, the results demonstrated that (1) consumer choice for children's goods is dominated by gender-stereotyped colours (Experiment 1); (2) colour-based stereotypic associations guide young children's behaviour (Experiment 2); (3) colour-gender associations automatically activate associated stereotypes in adulthood (Experiments 3-5); and (4) colour-based stereotypic associations bias impressions of male and female targets (Experiment 6). These findings indicate that, despite prohibitions against stereotyping, seemingly innocuous societal practices may continue to promote this mode of thought.     

The social context of trust: The role of status

The current paper examines how status, a universal feature of organizational life, affects people’s initial trust in others. In three experiments – which employ a range of status manipulations and trust measures – we consistently observed that the possession of high status led individuals to trust others more. In addition, our results help shed light on why this occurs. Namely, mediation analyses illustrated that having status alters how we perceive others intentions, such that the belief that others have positive intentions toward us (i.e., benevolence) accounted for the relationship between status and trust. These findings contribute both to our knowledge of the contextual features which impact trust and provide insight into the psychological consequences of status.     

Context-dependent variation in social stereotyping 2: The relationship between frame of reference,self-categorization and accentuation

This paper examines the hypothesis that patterns of stereotypic accentuation reflect the degree to which judged stimuli share the same social category membership as the stereotyper, Following self-categorization theory, the degree of this shared identity is operationalized in terms of the meta-contrast ratio as a function of the positions of (a) stereotyper and (b) stereotyped target relative to (c) the stereotyper's frame of reference. Three experiments are reported which sought to manipulate shared category membership either by extension of subjects' frame of reference or by extremitization of target and subject with respect to that frame. As predicted, greater shared identity was associated with stronger assimilation of the target to subjects' own position and with change in stereotype content. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of personality, social judgement and social cognition. Like the accentuation processes which underpin them, it is proposed that stereotypes are sensitive to comparative context and that they reflect veridically the social self-categorical properties of stimuli.     

The effects of group membership and social context on information organization

Self-categorization theory posits that the perception of group members is flexible and determined by the comparative social context as well as by group membership. Subjects read about either four ingroup or outgroup target persons in the context of four additional stimulus persons who were members of either the same group as the target persons (intragroup context) or the other group (intergroup context). Individualized and attribute-wise information organization was assessed on the basis of information clustering in free recall. As predicted, differential processing of ingroup information occurred as a function of the salient social context; in an intragroup context, ingroup information was organized significantly more by person than in an intergroup context. Conversely, ingroup information tended to be clustered more by attribute in an intergroup than in an intragroup context. Clustering of outgroup information was not sensitive to changes in the social context. The results indicate that the perception of group members may be based on more than group membership alone. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond attitude consensus: The social context of persuasion and resistance

The current research presents a new type of social context effect on attitude certainty. It is proposed that when people receive persuasive messages, they appraise their attitudes not only in terms of whether they are shared or not shared by others, but also in terms of whether they are based on similar or dissimilar assessments of the information presented. In two experiments, participants were presented with persuasive messages. In Experiment 1, they were induced to perceive that they responded favorably (persuasion) or unfavorably (resistance) to the message arguments. In Experiment 2, they were allowed to vary in their actual message responses. In both experiments, message response similarity—the degree to which people perceived that their evaluations of persuasive arguments were shared or unshared by others—moderated the classic effect of attitude similarity on attitude certainty. In particular, attitude similarity only affected attitude certainty under conditions of message response similarity. When message responses were believed to be dissimilar, attitude similarity had no effect on attitude certainty.     

Attitudes and beliefs in a marching band: stereotyping and accentuation in a favorable intergroup context

Inter‐group perception was examined in a context characterized by positive interdependence and extensive contact across group boundaries. The attitudes and beliefs of the woodwind, brass, and percussion sections of a university marching band were examined using measures of ingroup favoritism, outgroup homogeneity, and 12 scales assessing adult temperament. Although there was no evidence of ingroup favoritism or outgroup homogeneity, and few actual temperament differences across groups, stereotypic expectations based on temperament characteristics were strong. For each target group, strength of stereotype was accentuated by ingroup judges and, most strongly, by outgroup judges. Accentuation of differences between groups occurred when the expectation, and not the reality, of group differences were present. Correlations between contact measures and individual measures of perceived ingroup–outgroup differences were generally low, but suggested that degree of contact correlated positively, rather than negatively, with the magnitude of perceived differences between groups. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crossed categorization and stereotyping: Structural analyses, effect patterns, and dissociative effects of context relevance

Based on the “Who said what?” paradigm, a new method is proposed for investigating social categorization and non-evaluative stereotype application in crossed categorization. The method is applied in 5 studies that manipulated relative context relevance of crossed age and gender categories. Social categorization is characterized by 2 indices: Relative subgroup memory assesses the amount of subgroup formation represented in memory, and relative category dominance the relative weight of each dimension of categorization. Both indices were affected by context relevance. There was strong evidence for social categorization at the subgroup level, whereas stereotype application followed a simple pattern of category dominance, in which only the context-relevant dimension exerted an effect. The results bear on current models of category-based impression formation and intergroup perception, and on category-activation cum stereotype-inhibition models.     

Compassionate stereotyping of elderly patients by physicians: revising the social contact hypothesis

Departing from previous research on age stereotypes, this study examined degree of contact with elderly patients as a factor affecting age stereotyping by physicians. Included are measures of behavioral intentions as well as more traditional attitudinal measures. A total of 63 rheumatologists completed a brief questionnaire on which they rated a 53- or an 83-year-old target patient on a number of dimensions including psychological adjustment and need for support and information. Patients' age and physicians' degree of contact with elderly patients had few direct effects on physicians' ratings; their interaction, however, yielded a strong and consistent finding: The elderly patient was rated as less adjusted, autonomous, and instrumental and in greater need of support and information by high-contact physicians. These findings suggest that although negative age stereotypes are less prevalent than has previously been indicated, rheumatologists, particularly those who treat elderly patients, may draw on compassionate stereotypes in their care of elderly patients.