Stereotyping and being stereotyped

Why do psychologists study stereotyping despite ethical concerns?

To understand the cognitive processes behind stereotyping so their harmful effects can be reduced; understanding function but this doesn’t justify it morally

How is stereotyping related to categorisation?

Stereotyping is an extension of categorisation: once someone is placed in a social category, attributes are inferred

Why might stereotyping be cognitively functional?

It enables prediction, organises information, and can increase cognitive efficiency- though often at the cost of accuracy and fairness

Are stereotypes always inaccurate?

No. Some stereotypes may describe group averages, but they are rarely reliable at the individual level

Why do people over-rely on weak category-attribute associations?

Because some prediction may feel better than none, even if it increases error

How might stereotypes be defined?

As attributes believed to be associated with social categories

Which social categories are prioritised and heavily stereotyped?

Race (coalitional alliance)

Gender

Age

Why are there categories especially prone to stereotyping?

They are prioritised in perception and highly essentialised

How can stereotyping reduce cognitive load?

Category labels allow schema-based processing, freeing resources for other tasks

What did participants have to do in Macrae et al. study?

Were presented with lists of several individuals’ traits, and were instructed to form an impression of these individuals (impression-formation task)

At the same time, completed an unrelated cognitive task (information-monitoring task)

What was the key manipulation in the dual-task stereotyping study?

Presence vs absence of category labels

What were the two DVs?

Cued recall of traits- participants tried to list as many traits as possible for each target individual

Multiple-choice test- 20 questions about Indonesia after listening to audio

Main findings of study?

Better recall of stereotype-consistent traits and improved performance on an unrelated task when labels were present

What do subliminal category labels show?

Stereotyping can operate automatically and still affect cognition

What do the findings imply?

That trying not to stereotype may be cognitively demanding

What are other ways in which stereotyping may be functional?

Tendency to perceive the social worlds in terms of coalitional alliances appears to be evolutionary ancient, reflecting long history of intergroup conflicts

What types of stereotypes are linked to threat perception?

Those implying danger (e.g. hostile, aggressive)

How does vulnerability affect stereotyping?

Heightened vulnerability increases stereotyping of threatening out-groups

Give examples of vulnerability manipulations

Sitting in a dark room (Schaller et al., 2003)

After watching a scary movie clip (Maner et al., 2005)

After reading news about terrorism (Das et al., 2009_

What did Katz and Braly (1933) demonstrate?

Stereotypes contain evaluative (positive/ negative) traits linked to prejudice

What is the Stereotype Content Model? (Fiske et al., 2002)

Groups are perceived along warmth and competence dimensions, producing four stereotype types

What are the four stereotype types?

Ambivalent- low competence, high warmth

Positive- high competence, high warmth

Negative- low competence, low warmth

Ambivalent- high competence, low warmth

What are the primary emotions predicted to accompany perceptions of these four types?

Ambivalent = pity

Positive = admiration

Negative = contempt

Ambivalent - envy

What is the one group not placed into one of the four types in American survey (2003)?

Homeless people

What is sex-age stereotyping?

Stereotypes specific to intersections of sex and age (e.g. adolescent males)

What is one finding linked to category perception using the memory confusion paradigm?

Greater tendency to confuse individuals who are both same sex and same age

Examples of age-related mating stereotypes?

Younger people → short term mating

28-40 → long term mating

How can linguistic framing influence stereotyping?

Abstract descriptions make traits seem defining and stable

What is Linguistic Intergroup Bias?

Describing in-group positives and out-group negatives more abstractly

Why does abstraction matter?

Abstract traits generalise more easily to groups and persist over time

What was found when examining US newspaper coverage of in-group and outgrip individuals

Negative behaviour was described more abstractly for both in-group and out-group

Description of positive behaviour- clear intergroup bias (in-group abstract, out-group concrete)

What are the effects of being stereotyped?

Unjust to treat someone based on their social category- further damaging effects psychologically

What is stereotype threat? (Steele & Aronson, 1995)

Performance impairment caused by the awareness of negative stereotype about one’s group

Key findings from Steele & Aronson (1995)?

Black students performed worse when tests were framed as diagnostic or race was primed

What is one cognitive mediator (method) of stereotype threat?

Word-completion task

What were the findings in Steele & Aronson’s word-completion task

When told that the test is diagnostic of ability, Black students made more racial stereotype and self-doubt word completions

What are cognitive mechanism of stereotype threat?

Activation of self-doubt and stereotype-related concepts; reduced working memory

How does stereotype threat affect women in maths?

Performance decline when gender differences are emphasised (told that men usually outperform women on the test)

Who is most affected by stereotype threat?

Those high in stigma consciousness and gender identification

What did Dar-Nimrod & Heine, 2006) find?

Reading an essay claiming that women do worse in maths because of genetic difference impairs performance more than the essay claiming women do worse due to experimental differences

How do teachers influence gender stereotypes?

Female teachers’ maths anxiety predicts girls’ stereotypic beliefs and lower performance

What evidence shows stereotypes affect girls’ performance?

Girls endorsing gender stereotypes (drew picture of girl for reading and boy for maths) perform worse in maths

Why do biological explanations worsen performance

They reinforce essentialist beliefs, increasing threat

What concerns exist about stereotype threat research

Replication issues and possible publication bias

Optimistic explanations for weaker effects today?

Reduced cultural endorsement of negative stereotypes

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Expectations based on stereotypes elicit stereotype-consistent behaviour

Can stereotyping be eliminated?

Probably not- it reflects fundamental categorisation processes

Why might awareness campaigns backfire>

Highlight prevalence can normalise stereotyping

How does stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination differ?

Stereotyping (cognitive), prejudice (affective), discrimination (bheaviour)

What is the distinction between stereotype activation and application?

Activation is automatic; application is more controllable

How do factors influence the extent to which each step occurs

Category perception → stereotype activation → stereotype application → discriminatory behaviour

What are two possible benefits of stereotyping?

Stereotype lift

Stereotype boost

What is stereotype lift?

Improved performance due to negative stereotypes about an outgroup

What is stereotype boost

Improved performance due to positive stereotypes about one’s own group