When stereotypes get in the way: stereotypes obstruct stereotype-inconsistent trait inferences

There is a growing body of evidence indicating that people spontaneously make trait inferences while observing the behavior of others. The present article reports a series of 5 experiments that examined the influence of stereotypes on the spontaneous inference of traits. Results consistently showed weaker spontaneous trait inferences for stereotype-inconsistent behavioral information than for stereotype-consistent and stereotype-neutral information. Taken together, the current results suggest that specific spontaneous trait inferences become obstructed by inhibitory processes when behavior is inconsistent with an already activated stereotype. These findings are discussed in relation to stereotype maintenance processes and recent models of attribution in social judgment.     

自发特质推理中的社会刻板效应

近来, 考察自发特质推理中的社会刻板效应, 成为自发特质推理研究的一个新趋势。在介绍自发特质推理及其研究范式的基础上, 概述了刻板印象与特质的概念联系, 并阐明了考察自发特质推理中的社会刻板效应的理论依据和方法。接着, 对自发特质推理中的职业、种族和性别刻板效应研究进行了回顾, 发现刻板印象对自发特质推理的影响主要通过它对自发特质推理的阻碍作用体现出来, 在高认知负荷下, 这种阻碍作用更为明显。最后, 从研究对象、研究方法、研究内容三个方面对该领域的研究进行了评价和展望。     

The automatic and co-occurring activation of multiple social inferences

People make a variety of automatic inferences when observing others' actions. These include inferences about stable dispositions as well as transitory goal states and social situations. However, models of social inference have rarely considered whether different types of automatic inferences can co-occur. We present three experiments in which participants were incidentally exposed to texts depicting behaviors that afforded inferences about actors' traits and the social situations these actors were experiencing. Results from lexical decision and probe-recognition tasks revealed heightened activation of both trait and situational inferences; furthermore, this co-occurring activation was spontaneous, unconscious, and independent of processing resources or specific impression-formation goals. A fourth experiment extended these findings by showing that when participants were asked to make deliberate attributional judgments of the same set of behaviors, typical goal-directed biases reflecting the selection of either trait or situational interpretations emerged. Implications for social inference processes are discussed.     

Spontaneous goal versus spontaneous trait inferences: How ideology shapes attributions and explanations

Past research documented liberals’ greater tendency than conservatives to take situational determinants of others’ actions into account when forming causal attributions, and conservatives’ greater tendency to seek consistency. We hypothesize that liberals (vs. conservatives) should be more likely to make spontaneous goal inferences (SGIs). Conservatives, however, should tend to implicitly infer invariant rather than variant characteristics from others’ behaviors, drawing spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) rather than SGIs. Experiment 1 and 2 supported those hypotheses by illustrating differences in the type of implicit inferences formed by liberals and conservatives in a false recognition paradigm common to the STI literature. Experiment 3 revealed similar differences in conservatives’ and liberals’ goal and trait inferences when making open-ended causal explanations for others’ actions.     

Smart and easy: Co-occurring activation of spontaneous trait inferences and spontaneous situational inferences

Social perceivers have been shown to draw spontaneous trait inferences (STI’s) about the behavior of an actor as well as spontaneous situational inferences (SSI’s) about the situation the actor is in. In two studies, we examined inferences about behaviors that allow for both an STI and an SSI. In Experiment 1, using a probe recognition paradigm, we found activation of both STI’s and SSI’s. In Experiment 2, using a relearning paradigm, we again found activation of both STI’s and SSI’s, regardless of temporarily activated processing goals. Results are discussed in light of three-stage models of the process of social inference.     

Measures of national stereotypes as predictors of the latencies of inductive versus deductive stereotypic judgements

According to Taifel's accentuation theory, national stereotypes can be thought of as the correlation between trait dimensions and national affiliations, This correlation is high when the trait shows high homogeneity within and high distinctiveness between the national groups. The present study tested the hypothesis that a trait's distinctiveness would facilitate inductive stereotypic judgements (inferences from trait to nationality) whereas homogeneity would facilitate deductive stereotypic judgements (inferences from nationality to trait). The latencies of inductive and deductive stereotypic judgements of 48 German subjects were assessed for 39 traits and three foreign nationalities (English, French, Italian). Multiple regression analyses using latencies for both types of judgements us criterion variables and both distinctiveness and homogeneity as predictor variables were conducted. The stereotype measures of Katz and Braly and McCauley and Stitt served as additional predictor variables. As expected from accentuation theory, distinctiveness predicted inductive but not deductive latencies, whereas homogeneity predicted deductive but not inductive latencies. For the latencies of deductive stereotypic judgements, the stereotype measure of Katz and Braly as well as that of McCauley and Stitt also proved to be significant predictors. The results are discussed and recommendations are given with respect to the assessment of national stereotypes.     

Gender Typed Advertisements and Impression Formation: The Role of Chronic and Temporary Accessibility

In this research, we tested the effects of chronic and temporary sources of accessibility on impression formation. Although some research suggests that chronicity amplifies temporary effects because of greater susceptibility to external primes, other research suggests that chronicity masks temporary effects because of redundance. We demonstrate in a thought listing study that in the domain of gender stereotypes, trait stereotypes may be routinely applied by those with a medium or high tendency to stereotype women, making external primes redundant. Based on this redundancy, we proposed that gender stereotypical primes will have little influence on subsequent judgments of those with a medium or high tendency to gender stereotype. In contrast, gender stereotypical primes will result in the classic assimilation effect for those with a low tendency to gender stereotype. We tested these propositions in the domain of female role portrayals in advertising and examined the effect of advertisements that feature women as homemakers (vs. do not feature women) on trait judgments of a target woman whose behaviors are ambiguously described. Results from 2 experiments show that, as predicted by the redundancy hypothesis, judgments of medium and high tendency to stereotype participants are not affected by advertisements portraying homemakers. Also as expected, judgments of low tendency to stereotype participants are assimilated to the homemaker prime. These results hold across tendency to trait stereotype (Experiment 1) and tendency to role stereotype (Experiment 2) and for trait judgments as well as gift choice. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

社会层级的内隐刻板印象：权力与地位的不同作用

采用探测词再认范式,考察社会层级的内隐刻板印象。结果发现,在能力推理上,无论地位高低,个体对高权力推理为积极的反应时显著长于消极,对低权力推理为消极的反应时显著长于积极;在热情推理上,无论权力高低,个体对高地位推理为积极的反应时显著长于消极,对低地位推理为消极的反应时显著长于积极。这表明,权力和地位在热情和能力维度的刻板印象中起着不同的作用,其中权力正向预测能力,地位正向预测热情。     

刻板印象威胁：新议题与新争议

刻板印象威胁是指当个体或群体感知到情境中有关所属群体消极刻板印象存在时, 由于担心和焦虑反而会验证自己或所属群体的消极刻板印象这一过程。大量的实证研究证实, 消极刻板印象的存在会损害个体或群体在相关领域的表现。但新近研究在影响因素中出现了许多新的议题, 如外溢效应、交互作用力和系统性等。在刻板印象威胁的应对和干预策略中也突破了以往的研究路线, 围绕认同融合与认同分离、否定策略的适用性、促进效应与窒息效应、角色榜样策略的矛盾性、认同转换策略和弱化群体边界的有效性以及群体互动改善效果等展开了新的讨论与纷争。通过对这些新议题和新讨论的梳理与阐释, 提出了未来研究可尝试的路径。     

内、外归因个体自发特质推理与自发情境推理的比较

通过探测词再认范式的变式,考察了个体的自发特质推理与自发情境推理。实验1发现,当给个体呈现既隐含特质又隐含情境的行为句子时,个体既进行自发特质推理又进行自发情境推理。实验2表明,内、外归因的个体均能够进行自发特质推理和自发情境推理,但内归因个体的自发特质推理与自发情境推理无显著差异,而外归因个体的自发情境推理强于自发特质推理。     

Spontaneous goal inferences are often inferred faster than spontaneous trait inferences

We present four experiments in which participants were exposed to texts depicting behaviors that afforded inferences about actors' traits and goals. Results from a false recognition task with varying response deadlines revealed heightened activation of goal inferences already within a 350 ms response deadline. In contrast, trait inferences were made only when there was no response deadline, and when the behavior also implied a goal. These results indicate that spontaneous inferences on goals are often encoded more strongly in memory and are reactivated much more quickly in comparison with spontaneous trait inferences. Moreover, spontaneous trait inferences are often facilitated when an inference is first made on the goal of the behavior. These findings are discussed in light of recent developmental and neuroscientific evidence on social inferences, and current theories on impression formation.     

Spontaneous Goal Inference (SGI)

When people learn about or observe the behaviors of others, they tend to make implicit inferences from these behaviors (e.g., Uleman, Saribay, & Gonzalez, 2008). Such inferences are an essential part of a person's ability to understand his/her environment and to prepare appropriate behavior within that environment. In the present paper, we review the conditions under which people are more likely to make implicit goal inferences versus implicit trait inferences. The distinction between these two ways of understanding the behavior we observe has important consequences for how we make predictions about future behavior, set expectations for our interaction partners, and how we choose to behave. It can determine when we stereotype. However, until now, the literature has focused on trait inference as the dominant way perceivers make sense of their environment, with little discussion of inferences concerning a person's goals.     

What will Phil do next? : Spontaneously inferred traits influence predictions of behavior

Past research has shown that perceivers intentionally may make trait inferences about others and use this information to make predictions about these others' future behaviors. Other research has also shown that people can make trait inferences without intent—that is, spontaneously. However, one unexplored avenue is whether spontaneous trait inferences (STI), affect how perceivers predict others' will behavior. Three studies explored this issue. Results from Studies 1 and 2 showed that: (1) exposure to trait-implicative behaviors describing an actor influences subsequent behavior predictions made about the actor in a trait-consistent manner, and (2) predictions occurred regardless of behavior recall, implying that the behavior predictions were derived from prior trait inferences and not from behavior recall. Results from Study 3 bolstered this conclusion by showing that behavior predictions were similar regardless of whether subjects were explicitly instructed to make inferences or not, but that a manipulation known to interfere with inference generation (lie detection instructions) muted behavior predictions. Results from Study 3 also suggested that the prediction effects had both automatic and controlled components, and that reductions observed in the lie detection condition of Study 3 were caused by alterations in the automatic influence of trait knowledge to the behavior predictions. These results suggest that STI may be causal inferences about the actors' dispositions.     

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The impact of the activation of positive and negative components of an ethnic stereotype on judgments of responsibility for both positive and negative stereotypic behaviors was considered. Overall, stereotype activation biased judgments in a stereotype-consistent manner, across both positive and negative scenarios. Generalization of these judgments to more global trait perceptions of the target was limited to the negative scenario. Results are discussed in terms of both the use of stereotypes as inferential shortcuts and in-group favoritism mechanisms.     

The role of construal processes in overconfident predictions about the self and others

Overconfident behavioral predictions and trait inferences may occur because people make inadequate allowance for the uncertainties of situational construal. In Studies 1-3, Ss estimated how much time or money they would spend in various hypothetical, incompletely specified situations. Ss then offered associated "confidence limits" under different "construal conditions". In Study 4, Ss made trait inferences about someone they believed had responded "deviantly"--again with situational details unspecified and construal conditions manipulated. In all 4 studies, Ss who made predictions or trait inferences without being able to assume the accuracy of their situational construals offered confidence limits no broader than those of Ss who made their responses contingent on such accuracy. Only in conditions where Ss were obliged to offer alternative construals did they appropriately broaden their confidence limits or weaken their trait inferences.     

The influence of sex stereotypes and gender roles on participation and performance in sport and exercise: Review and future directions

The role of sex stereotypes and gender roles in the sex differences observed in sport and exercise has been extensively investigated in sport psychology, past studies showing that stereotypes are internalized into the self during the socialization process. Although this research has provided clear evidence of the psychosocial roots of sex differences in athletics, focusing exclusively on an internalization explanation may not allow a complete understanding of the influence of stereotypes in this domain. This article presents two approaches that have been developed in mainstream psychology and discusses their relevance in sport psychology: (1) the situational approach, which considers that the mere presence of stereotypes in the environment is sufficient to affect individuals (e.g., stereotype threat theory); (2) the content of stereotypes approach (e.g., stereotype content model), which suggests that stereotypes about a particular group may be ambivalent, and that this ambivalence may serve to legitimize the status quo.     

Implicit open-mindedness: Evidence for and limits on stereotype malleability

Although stereotypes have traditionally been regarded as stable, research has documented their considerable malleability. One potential source of such malleability is intrusion into the stereotype of other concepts also activated when the stereotype is activated. In three experiments we assessed the extent to which stereotypes were influenced by stereotypic, stereotype-unrelated, or counter-stereotypic traits activated in a completely unrelated context immediately prior to stereotype measurement. Across experiments, priming of stereotype-unrelated traits increased their inclusion in the stereotype, whereas priming of counter-stereotypic traits had no effect in the subsequently assessed stereotype. In Experiment 3 we collected perceived dispersion measures and showed that although priming counter-stereotypic traits had no effect on overall characterization of the target group, it boosted perceptions of the group's variability. We accounted for these results by extending Higgins' (1989) Synapse Model of knowledge accessibility to the stereotype domain.