Stereotyping

Lectures 3 & 4: Social Stereotyping Bargh, J.A. (1999). The cognitive monster: The case against the controllability of automatic stereotype efects. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual Process Theories in Social Psychology (pp. 361-382). New York: Guilford. Blair, I.V. (2002). The malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 242-261. Hilton, J., & Von Hippel, W. (1996). Stereotypes. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 237-271. Macrae, C.N., & Bodenhausen, G.V. (2000). Social Cognition: Thinking categorically about others. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 93-120. Lecture 1 – Stereotype Activation Lecture 2 – Stereotype Application

What Are Stereotypes? “There is neither time nor opportunity for intimate acquaintances. Instead we notice a trait which marks a well known type and fill in the rest of the picture by means of the stereotypes we carry about in our heads.” “Our stereotyped world is not necessarily the world we should like it to be. It is simply the kind of world we expect it to be.” Walter Lippmann (1922)

Stereotype Components Culturally shared beliefs cognitive component (beliefs) affective component (feelings) behavioural component (actions) Categorical associations men are …? accountants are…? Italians are…?

How De We Learn Stereotypes?

A Chilling Example! Children (24-28 months) touch more own sex gender-typed toys (Levy,1999).

Who Should Repair the Car? Levy, Sadovsky, & Troseth (2000) preschoolers (3-4 years) viewed men as more competent than women in male sex-typed jobs and women as more competent than men in feminine jobs.

Habits of Thought What happens if childhood socialization repeatedly furnishes one with stereotype-related beliefs? Do stereotypes become habits of mind?

Is Stereotype Activation Inevitable? “every event has certain marks that serve as a cue to bring the category of prejudgment into action…A person with dark brown skin will activate whatever concept of African American is dominant in our mind.” Allport (1954, p. 21) “the mere presentation of a stimulus person activates certain classification processes that occur automatically and without conscious intent.” Brewer (1988, p. 5)

“…because the stereotype has been frequently activated in the past, it is a well-learned set of associations that is automatically activated in the presence of a member (or symbolic equivalent) of the target group.” Devine (1989, p. 6)

The Basic Problem! On exposure to a target, what gets activated in mind?

Measuring Stereotype Activation: Semantic Priming Tasks

Measuring Stereotype Activation: Semantic Priming Tasks Forgetful skillful

Automatic Activation: Some Early Evidence Dovidio et al. (1986) stereotypes are knowledge structures associative networks semantic priming to access associative knowledge letter string task doctor/nurse doctor/butter

Dovidio et al’s (1986) Paradigm: Could X ever be true of Y? Task (verification task) participants presented with a priming label (i.e., black or white) followed shortly afterwards by a personality trait (e.g., musical) or non-person descriptor (e.g., metallic) Traits White Black ambitious musical practical sensitive conventional lazy stubborn imitative

Results participants responded more quickly when stereotypic than non-stereotypic items were presented Problems? task demands (triggering category activation) labels (or words and images functionally equivalent?)

The Invisible Prime: Purdue & Gurtman (1990) ‘kind’ is the word favorable or unfavorable? traits preceded by subliminal labels (old or young) Results - facilitatory priming observed Problems - words, evaluative (rather than semantic) priming

Devine’s (1989) Two-Process Model power of childhood socialization acquiring cultural beliefs societal knowledge vs. personal beliefs individual differences in prejudice high vs. low prejudice components of stereotyping automatic activation controlled inhibition replacing stereotypes with personal beliefs

Knowledge of Cultural Stereotypes Stereotype Contents bagpipes booze stingy bigots = humanitarians (Devine, 1989)

Evaluate Donald Paradigm (Devine, 1989) Tasks Phase 1: parafoveal vigilance task (Negroes, lazy, blues, Blacks, Africa, basketball) Phase 2: person evaluation (Donald - Srull & Wyer, 1979) - ambiguously hostile behaviours Results: high-P participants rated Donald to be more hostile than did low-P participants

Automatic Stereotyping: A Slight Modification Lepore & Brown (1997) categories vs. traits (Blacks vs. lazy) - what activates the stereotype? category primes: only high-P participants activate the stereotype trait primes: both high-P and low-P participants activate the stereotype individual differences in stereotype activation (Locke et al., 1994; Wittenbrink et al., 1997)

Challenging Orthodoxy: Is Stereotype Activation Really Inevitable? triggering stereotype activation (are images and words equivalent?) Belly Dancer

Determinants of Stereotype Activation: Target Salience frequency of occurrence are you unusual? immediate context are you contextually distinctive? processing goals are you relevant to my current processing concerns?

Statistical Frequency: Langer et al. (1976)

Solo or Token Status: Taylor & Fiske (1978)

Processing Goals chronic states of the person (Moskowitz et al. 2004) traits, motives, goals transitory factors (Macrae et al., 1997) temporary goals

Stereotype Activation: Always or Sometimes?

Stereotypes as Mental Tools: Gilbert & Hixon (1991) “anyone who has ever lent a socket wrench to a forgetful neighbor knows that a tool is useful only if one can find it. Stereotypes are forms of information and, as such, are thought to be stored in memory in a dormant state until they are activated for use.” Gilbert & Hixon (1991, p. 510) attention and stereotyping

Gilbert & Hixon (1991): Busyness and Stereotyping Task participants observe a woman (Caucasian or Asian) turning over cards with a single word fragment written on each card. POLI_E complete the fragment with the first word that comes to mind (SHY, SHORT, RICE) - participants busy (digit rehearsal) or non-busy (control) Results: only non-busy participants activate the stereotype (i.e., conditional automaticity)

Processing Goals: The Inattentive Shopper (Macrae et al. 1997)

Processing Goals 3 Tasks: animacy (conceptual) dot (perceptual) ambitious (emotional) (flubitorso) 3 Tasks: animacy (conceptual) dot (perceptual) detection

Category Accessibility Macrae et al. (1997)

Accessing Stereotypical Knowledge Macrae et al. (1997) in ‘spot’ of bother “beyond the hopeful implication that dermatologists are unlikely to stereotype their patients, what is the real-world relevance of studies involving such pre-semantic processing goals?” Bargh (1999)

Context and Stereotype Activation: Wittenbrink et al. (2001) In an evaluative priming task, activation of African-American stereotype was moderated by the context in which targets were located.

Summary Things Worth Knowing What are stereotypes? Process and consequences of stereotype activation Next Week 1. Stereotype Application

Lecture 4: Stereotype Application

Why Do People Apply Stereotypes? ‘personality’ approaches ‘socio-cultural’ accounts ‘cognitive’ perspective

Applying Stereotypes: Possessing a ‘Dodgy’ Personality authoritarian personality (Adorno et al., 1950) intra-psychic conflict from childhood (internalized values of the father) is projected to other people (members of minority groups – ethnic, relgious, political) - societal scapegoating.

Applying Stereotypes: Learning to Discriminate socio-cultural approaches (e.g., realistic conflict theory, Sherif & Sherif, 1953) stereotypes are conceptualized as negative beliefs about a group that serve to legitimize the existing social structure (i.e., system justification)

Applying Stereotypes: Cognitive Efficiency cognitive perspective (Hamilton, 1981) stereotyping is a product of category activation and basic cognitive limitations.

Applying Stereotypes: Basic Paradox perils of stereotypical thinking discrimination prejudice legal sanctions benefits of stereotypical thinking cognitive efficiency

What Can Stereotyping Do For You? content-related effects structural effects (processing consequences) perception memory attention

Accessing Stereotype Contents: Target Enrichment semantic knowledge (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990) traits behaviours opinions lifestyle ‘indirect’ person knowledge

Stereotypes and Information Processing: Perceptual Effects does stereotype application moderate the ease with which people can detect information in the world? if so, which type of information is most facilitated?

Activating Social Stereotypes: A Functional Analysis stereotypical thinking is functional (Allport, 1954) reducing the information-processing burden ease of detection perceptual identification measurement issues - climbing inside the head

The Need For Speed: Categorical Person Perception is Efficient perils of a cluttered mind enter the cognitive miser target simplification/elaboration some cognitive benefits stimulus location stimulus identification category priming

Find the Word (Stereotype Priming): Congruent vs. Irrelevant Q H A P P Y T V D P V M N I O B A E L Q B Y V T R N M K V R E A I P M I V W M L N C C N Y T A L G M L D Y T V R G S H N L R I O

Find the Words Number of Words Macrae et al. (1994).

Stimulus Identification repeated presentation of degraded words dot density mask what’s the word? number of trials taken

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Identify the Word Number of Presentations Macrae et al. (1994)

Stereotypes and Information Processing: Attentional Effects does stereotype application preserve valuable attentional resources? if so, when does this take place?

Person Impressions: With and Without Stereotypes Nigel Julian (doctor) (artist) caring creative honest temperamental reliable sensitive responsible unconventional upstanding individualistic unlucky fearless forgetful active passive cordial clumsy progressive enthusiastic generous

Facts about Indonesia

Person Memory Macrae et al. (1994)

Knowledge about Indonesia? Macrae et al. (1994)

Efficiency and Automaticity stereotypical efficiency - conscious or unconscious? overt or covert allocation of attention? probe-reaction tasks turn off the sound

Person Impressions: With and Without Visible and Invisible Stereotypes Nigel Julian (doctor) (artist) caring creative honest temperamental reliable sensitive responsible unconventional upstanding individualistic unlucky fearless forgetful active passive cordial clumsy progressive enthusiastic generous 3 conditions: category-supraliminal category-subliminal no category Auditory Probe Reaction Task

How Quickly Can You Turn Off the Sound? Macrae et al. (1994)

Stereotyping is Efficient Stereotypes (i) guide perception (ii) organize memories (iii) preserve attention Is stereotyping Intentional? awareness consent

When are Stereotypes Most Likely to Be Deployed? Stereotypes save people the ‘trouble of thinking’ (Gilbert & Hixon, 1991) Stereotypes as judgmental heuristics motivation (e.g., involvement) speed (e.g., times pressures) attention (e.g., competing tasks)

Stereotype Application: A Brief Review Task Complexity simple vs. complex judgments (Bodenhausen & Lichtenstein, 1987) information overload (Bodenhausen & Wyer, 1985) Time Pressures Dijker & Koomen (1996) Dual Tasking cognitive load (Gilbert & Hixon, 1991) Involvement with Target outcome dependence (Neuberg & Fiske, 1987) accountability (Tetlock, 1983)

Are You A Morning Person? Bodenhausen (1990)

Reaching Your Peak attention and stereotyping stereotypes as heuristics laboratory manipulations naturalistic factors circadian variations morning vs. evening people

Meeting Linda Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations. Which of the following is more likely to be true? Linda is a bank teller. Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.

Conjunction Fallacy the erroneous belief that the joint probability of two events is greater than the probability of either of the constituent events separately.

Committing the Conjunction Fallacy Bodenhausen (1990)

Unresolved Issues: So What Exactly Gets Activated?

The Problem of Multiple Construal categorical competition the winner takes it all but where do the losers go? consequences of category dominance

A Wee Digression - Is That My Beer? The Case of Competing Actions

Is That My (Car) Parking Space? The Case of Competing Memories

What Does It Mean? Linguistic Ambiguity Under cover of darkness, Brian slipped into the port. It can be fun playing with your hair. It happened at the bank.

Resolving Mental Conflict: Inhibition evolved solutions cognitive inhibition dampening competing representations conflict resolution inhibition and category activation

The Case of the Asian Woman: Macrae et al. (1995)

Priming Categories dynamics of multiple construal priming categories winners & losers are the losers inhibited?

Experiment 1: Parafoveal Priming Phase 1 - parafoveal priming (women or Chinese) Phase 2 - view videotape (Chinese woman reading a book) Phase 3 - lexical decision task (category accessibility)

Stereotype Accessibility Macrae et al. (1995)

Priming Through Behavior

Experiment 2 Phase 1 - view videotape eating with chopsticks vs. applying cosmetics Phase 2 - lexical decision task (category accessibility)

Stereotype Accessibility Macrae et al. (1995)

Inhibition and Category Selection dealing with conflict cognitive inhibition nature of inhibition lateral vs. strategic role of processing goals Sinclair & Kunda (1999)

Motivation and Inhibition: Sinclair & Kunda (1999) Favorable feedback - activate doctor, inhibit Black Unfavorable feedback - activate Black, inhibit doctor

Consequences of Category Activation identity salience which identity dominates behavioral consequences stereotype threat scholastic performance (Steele & Aronson, 1995) math test, diagnostic of abilities competing identities performance conflicts

Asian vs. female identity Math Test: Shih et al. (1999) American & Canadian samples Asian vs. female identity

Task Performance

Summary Things Worth Knowing When and Why Do People Stereotype Others? Next Week The Automaticity of Everyday Life