Formation of stereotypes ERQ

What are stereotypes?

Fixed, oversimplified beliefs about members of a group that influence how we perceive and remember information.

How do stereotypes form?

Through cognitive mechanisms like illusory correlation and confirmation bias, which lead to false associations between traits and groups.

What is illusory correlation?

A cognitive bias where people mistakenly perceive a relationship between two unrelated variables, especially when they co-occur rarely.

What was the aim of Cohen (1981)?

To investigate whether stereotypes influence how people encode and recall information.

What was the method in Cohen (1981)?

96 college students watched a video of a woman having dinner. Half were told she was a librarian, half a waitress. They were later asked to recall specific details.

What were the findings of Cohen (1981)?

Participants recalled more stereotype-consistent details (e.g., librarian = glasses, classical music; waitress = beer, TV).

What did Cohen (1981) conclude?

Stereotypes influence memory by acting as schemas, guiding attention and recall toward stereotype-consistent information.

What is a strength of Cohen (1981)?

Provides support for schema theory; shows how stereotypes affect memory encoding; simple, controlled design.

What is a limitation of Cohen (1981)?

Low ecological validity; artificial setting; lacks long-term applicability; possible demand characteristics. Stereotypes about waitresses and librarians may be culturally specific and results therefore not applicable to non-western settings

What was the aim of Stone et al. (1997)?

To investigate whether racial stereotypes influence how people perceive athletic performance.

What was the method in Stone et al. (1997)?

Participants listened to a basketball game and were shown a photo of the player as either Black or White. They then rated the player's performance.

What were the findings of Stone et al. (1997)?

Black players were rated as more athletic; White players were rated as more strategic — even though the game was identical.

What did Stone et al. (1997) conclude?

Stereotypes can unconsciously influence perceptions, showing that prior beliefs affect how we interpret ambiguous behaviour.

What is a strength of Stone et al. (1997)?

High internal validity, as the picture was the only thing changed shows how stereotypes were the only thing changing the participants perception

Deceptive element reduced demand characteristics

What is a limitation of Stone et al. (1997)?

Lab setting limits ecological validity; doesn't account for individual differences in bias awareness.

May also reinforce racial stereotypes

What do both studies show about stereotype formation?

That stereotypes are formed and reinforced through schema-based processing and biased interpretation of behaviour.

What is a key implication of stereotype formation research?

It shows how quickly and unconsciously people can form or apply group-based generalisations, often without evidence.

What is a major strength of both Cohen and Stone's studies?

Both provide strong experimental evidence for the cognitive basis of stereotype formation, showing how expectations influence perception and memory.

Why is illusory correlation a useful explanation for stereotype formation?

It explains why people form stereotypes even when there's no actual link between traits and group membership—through biased perception and recall.

How does the artificiality of the research limit its conclusions?

It makes it harder to generalise the findings to natural social environments where stereotype formation is more complex and influenced by multiple factors.

Despite limitations, what do these studies still help demonstrate?

They provide clear evidence that cognitive processes like illusory correlation and schema activation contribute to how stereotypes form and are reinforced.

What is the value of experimental control in these studies?

It allows researchers to isolate variables and establish a cause-effect link between stereotype labels and biased perception, supporting the cognitive explanation.

To what extent can we conclude that stereotypes form purely through cognition?

While these studies support a cognitive basis, real-world stereotype formation is also influenced by social, cultural, and environmental factors beyond lab settings.

What does this imply for the theory of stereotype formation?

That cognitive explanations are useful and supported by evidence, but need to be integrated with social and cultural perspectives for a more complete understanding.