Transcript Stereotyping Lectures 3 & 4: Social Stereotyping Bargh, J.A. (1999). The cognitive monster: The case against the controllability of automatic stereotype efects.

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
ambitious
practical
conventional
stubborn
Black
musical
sensitive
lazy
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:
blues,
parafoveal vigilance task (Negroes, lazy,
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:
• trait primes:
only high-P participants activate the stereotype
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
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 AfricanAmerican stereotype was moderated by the context
in which targets were located.
Summary
Things Worth Knowing
1.
2.
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
D
A
R
I
N
G
H
P
E
N
P
C
M
A
V
L
M
M
C
L
P
M
Q
K
I
N
D
P
N
B
V
V
Y
Y
Y
I
Y
R
W
T
T
T
O
V
E
M
A
V
V
B
T
A
L
L
R
G
S
H
N
L
R
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O
Number of Words
Find the Words
Macrae et al.
Stimulus Identification
• repeated presentation of degraded words
dot density mask
• what’s the word?
number of trials taken
v
Number of Presentations
Identify the Word
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
(doctor)
Julian
(artist)
caring
honest
reliable
responsible
upstanding
unlucky
forgetful
passive
clumsy
enthusiastic
creative
temperamental
sensitive
unconventional
individualistic
fearless
active
cordial
progressive
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
(doctor)
Julian
(artist)
caring
honest
reliable
responsible
upstanding
unlucky
forgetful
passive
clumsy
enthusiastic
creative
temperamental
sensitive
unconventional
individualistic
fearless
active
cordial
progressive
generous
3 conditions:
(i)category-supraliminal
(ii)category-subliminal
(iii)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
Math Test:
Shih et al. (1999)
American & Canadian
samples
Asian vs. female identity
Task Performance
Summary
Things Worth Knowing
1.
When and Why Do People Stereotype Others?
Next Week
1.
The Automaticity of Everyday Life