4.5 Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behaviour

4.5 Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behaviour

How do stereotypes form?

Stereotypes are a salient part of our social and cultural environment. We learn them through daily interactions, conversations and through the media. Stereotypes are, to some extent, based on individual experiences but cultural and social factors also playa  role, i.e. stereotypes are contextualized and not simply the results of individual cognitive processing. Stereotypes can be shared by large sociocultural groups as social representations. The most common cognitive process involved in stereotyping is social categorization (Tajfel, 1969). Categorization (and stereotyping) seems to be fundamental to human nature and it helps to make the world more predictable Once stereotypes are formed they act as cognitive schemas in information processing.

Empirical research: The Princeton Trilogy

Study 1: Katz and Braley (1993) investigated whether traditional social stereotypes had a cultural basis by asking 100 male students from Princeton University to choose five traits that characterized different ethnic groups from a list of 84 words. The results showed considerable agreement in stereotypes, especially negative traits. 84 per cent of the students said that Negroes were superstitious and 79 per cent said that Jews were shrewd. They were very positive towards their own group (in-group) bias. Since most of the students did not have any personal contact with members of the ethnic groups they had to rate, it was suggested that stereotypes are learned (e.g. through the media or by gatekeepers, i.e. they are cultural products).

Study 2: Gilbert (1951) replicated the study of Princeton students. This time there was less uniformity of agreement, especially about unfavourable traits, than in the 1933 study. The stereotypes still demonstrated an in-group bias. Stereotypes about Japanese were extremely negative and this was explained by the negative press about Japan after Pearl Harbour, so the original hypothesis about stereotypes as cultural products was confirmed. Many students expressed irritation at being asked to make generalizations at all and this could indicate social change (e.g. that it was no longer as acceptable to express stereotypes openly).

Study 3: Karlins et al. (1969) replicated the study. Many students objected to the task but this time there was greater agreement on the stereotypes assigned to the different groups compared with the 1951 study. The researchers interpreted this as a re-emergence of social stereotyping but in the direction of a more favourable stereotypical image.

Devine (1989) argued that it is important to distinguish between knowledge of a stereotype and accepting it. According to her, the Princeton trilogy does not take this into account.

Stereotypes are simplified mental images, which act as templates to help interpret the social world (Lippmann, 1922).

Stereotyping is, to a large extent, an automatic cognitive process (i.e. it occurs without intention, effort, or awareness and it is not expected to interfere with other concurrent processes) (Posner and Snyder, 1975).

		Implicit personality theories (e.g. illusory correlations such as ‘blondes are stupid’)
		↕
Categorization: people are categorized based on shared characteristics (group membership) - stereotype (schema)	→	Generalization: attributes of the category (group) are generalized to all members of the category
↓		↕
In-group: group members seen as individuals + positive traits (→in-group favouritism		Schema processing: memory representations of stereotypes (schemas) influence perception and evaluation of stereotyped individuals. Stereotypes are often automatically activated.
↕		↕
Outgroup: group members seen as similar + negative traits		Confirmation bias: people tend to pay attention to information that confirms their beliefs - stereotypes resistant to change (stereotypes as defaults)

What is the effect of stereotypes on behaviour?

Social groups are categorized into in-groups and out-groups. Once people are categorized as belonging to one group rather than another they tend to emphasize similarities to individuals in that group and exaggerate differences between groups. Stereotypes of out-groups are often central to group identity. People tend to pay attention to stereotype-consistent information and disregard stereotype inconsistent information (confirmation bias). Negative stereotypes may be internalized by stereotyped groups (stereotype threat).

Empirical research

Darley and Gross (1983) performed an experiment where the researchers showed videos a girl to the participants. In vide 1, the girl was playing in a poor environment (poor stereotype); in video 2, the girl was playing in a rich environment (rich stereotype). Then they saw a video of the girl in what could be an intelligence test. When the participants were asked to judge the future of the girl they all said that the ‘rich’ girl would do well and the ‘poor’ girl would do less well. Based on a few salient details from the first video, participants formed an overall impression of the girl’s potential future based on stereotypes.

Steele and Aronson (1995) performed an experiment using African Americans and European Americans, who did a verbal performance test based on difficult multiple-choice questions. When told that it was a test on verbal ability, the African Americans scored lower than European Americans. When told that it was a task used to test how certain problems are generally solved, African Americans scored higher and matched the scores of European Americans. The researchers concluded that the stereotype threat could affect behaviour in any stereotyped group if the members themselves believe in the stereotype.