Stereotypes
What they are and what they do
Class Exercise:
 Write a definition of “stereotype”
 List some racial stereotypes of an out-group
 List some racial stereotypes of your in-group
 Underline (mentally, if you wish) stereotypes
that you endorse
Stereotypes are often (inaccurately) stereotyped
 Typical “mainstream” definitions

“a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified
conception, opinion, or image” (dictionary.com)

“a standardized mental picture that is held in common
by members of a group and that represents an
oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical
judgment” (webster.com)
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“a generalized image of a person or group, which does
not acknowledge individual differences and which is
often prejudicial to that person or group.”
(remember.org)
An activity from Remember.org
Have students complete the
following sentences, then
break up into small groups to
compare their answers and
discuss if there is any
prejudice and bigotry in their
answers or in those of their
classmates, as well as what
factors (e.g., television,
newspapers, friendships,
attitudes of their parents)
may have contributed to
such prejudice:
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a) All athletes are
b) People on welfare are all
c) He's a cheap
d) Drugs are used by virtually
e) All homosexuals are
f) All politicians are
g) All people with AIDS are
h) All people who sleep on grates are
i) All Christian Fundamentalists are
j) All male hairdressers are
k) All male ballet dancers are
l) All Jewish mothers are
m) All Harvard graduates are
n) All construction workers are
o) He's so dumb, he must be
p) He's so smart, he must be
q) He's quick-tempered, so he must be
r) He drinks like a fish, so he must be
s) He likes watermelon, and so does every
Why the definitions are misleading
 Stereotypes are not necessarily overgeneralizations
or over-simplifications. To the contrary, they are
often contextually based (Brown, 2000).
 Stereotypes are not necessarily false or erroneous
beliefs. They can be accurate statements about
base rates (McCauley) that represent real group
differences (i.e., many stereotypes are prototypes).
 Stereotypes have many useful functions
So…what are stereotypes?
 Stereotypes are

Automatic and sometimes unconscious cognitive
processes shared by many people and used by individuals
to perceive and make sense of their environment
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Shared group beliefs regarding specific traits that are
attributed to people based on group membership
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may be accurate or false
may be positive or negative
may be conscious or implicit (unconscious)
may be (consciously) endorsed or rejected
may or may not have an impact on behavior
have both positive and negative functions
may have either positive or negative outcomes
Related definitions
 Prejudice (affect)
An attitude (usually negative) toward a distinguishable group or
an individual member of that group based on group membership
and without just ground (i.e., pre-judging).
 Discrimination
Negative or harmful action (behavior) directed toward a
distinguishable group or an individual member of that group
based on group membership.
Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on
race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the
purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition,
enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural
or any other field of public life (UN International Convention)
Why are stereotypes shared?
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Two possible explanations
1.
Stereotypes as individual beliefs (social cognition):
A common environment provides similar stimulus experience
to different people and therefore similar stereotypes emerge.
2.
Stereotypes as collective belief systems (cultural perspective):
A shared cultural pool of knowledge, social representations,
ideology or culture from which different people sample and it is
this which produces the commonality of views.
Conclusion: Stereotypes are shared by members of
groups not just through the coincidence of common
experience or the existence of shared knowledge within
society, but because the members of groups act to
coordinate their behavior.
The benefits of stereotypes
 Helps one deal with the social world more efficiently by
simplifying the environment (cognitive miser hypothesis).
This is useful as long as our understanding of base rates
is relatively accurate.
 Helps people fit in and identify with social group by
underscoring the positive features of the in-group,
relative to out-groups (social identity theory).
 May serve a defensive function: stereotyping others may
make us feel better about ourselves (self-serving bias)
 In drama, allows quick introduction of characters that the
audience understands and relates to
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heroic_stock_characters)
The problem with stereotypes
 Stereotypes get in the way of critical and complex thinking and
can prevent us from more complex understanding
 Unexamined stereotypes may not represent all, or perhaps even
most individuals within a group and, therefore, lead to
misunderstanding
 Some stereotypes enhance our own self-identity by devaluing
others and, in so doing, serve as the foundation for prejudice
and discrimination
 Stereotypes can be obstacles in getting to know others as they
really are versus how we think they might be
 Stereotypes can Stereotypes can serve to maintain systems of
privilege and injustice
Development of stereotypes:
Psychodynamic approach (1940s-1950s)
 The authoritarian personality – ethnocentrism,
fascism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism part of
authoritarian syndrome
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Raised in a family highly structured and focused around
the traditional authority of the father (usually)
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Climate of repression prevents expression of hostility;
in order not to explode, hostility and aggression must
be projected
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Due to family background, thinking is rigid,
dichotomous, and stereotyped (i.e., the “closed mind”; )
Development of stereotypes:
Validity of psychodynamic approach
 Original studies promising, but...
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1958 southern state study:
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1952 Virginia mine study:
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White subjects showed high levels of anti-Black prejudice,
regardless of whether or not personality was authoritarian.
80% of white miners exhibited friendship and solidarity toward
Black co-workers at work
Out of the mines, < 20% of the white miners maintained
friendly relations with Black colleagues
Individual personality differences cannot explain why
prejudice is almost uniform in some cultures or predict
which target will be chosen and when.
Development of stereotypes:
Socio-cultural approach
 Social Learning Theory – stereotypes are learned
through direct observation of group differences or
from exposure to media and other information
(remember the Bobo doll studies?)

Illusory Correlations—tendency to see relationships
between events that are unrelated (e.g., Jane Elliot’s
exercise—we will watch this in class Thursday)
 Most likely to happen when an event stands out
 Woman who is a very aggressive CEO
 You may then notice women who are in positions of
power and who are aggressive
 Leads to illusory correlation between women leaders
and aggressiveness
Development of stereotypes:
Socio-cultural approach (cont.)
 Kernel of Truth Hypothesis – considers whether
stereotypes that people commonly hold may in fact
be partially accurate
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Racial stereotypes are formed in part due to group SES
differences; In the U.S., Blacks can be observed more
often than whites in roles that imply less competence
and less power. Due to conflation of race and class,
class differences are attributed to race

Stereotypes of Jews as “cheap” and as “trying to make
money”
 What’s the kernel of truth?
 Where does the kernel come from?
 What’s the rest of the truth?
Development of stereotypes:
Socio-cultural approach (cont.)
 Cognitive dissonance theory – tendency for
individuals to seek consistency between behaviors
and beliefs as well as among their different beliefs
and opinions.
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Information in conflict with belief system is unpleasant;
something must change to relieve dissonance
Information in contrast to belief is avoided, actively
refuted, or seen as an “exception”
Stereotypes are reinforced
Development of stereotypes:
Socio-cultural approach
 Mass media
 “Man bites dog” standard of what is newsworthy
leads to illusory correlations even in politically
unbiased media
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Black on white crime
Palestinians throwing
rocks at armed Israelis
 Most media outlets are
not politically neutral
Support for the Sociocultural theory
 Large numbers of observers share similar
stereotypes of a given target group and these
stereotypes are relatively stable over time but
also somewhat adaptive
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Example: Katz & Braly (1952/1933)--Princeton
students’ stereotypes of the Japanese
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In 1933: intelligent, industrious, progressive
In 1951: sly, shrewd
In 1969: same as in 1933
The Role of Social Cognition:
Categorization
 Categorization is the classification of persons into
groups, often on the basis of common attributes.
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Unintentional, effortless, automatic activity of the mind
Culturally shared
Assimilation vs. differentiation
 Key Points
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We create the categories; categories are not an essential part of the
natural world
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How we categorize tends to be culturally influenced and shared and has
social and political implications
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Items grouped together tend to be viewed more alike than actuality;
items in different categories may have their differences exaggerated.
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Once person is categorized into a group (e.g., gender, race), we bring
into play knowledge contained in the category (our schemas, our
stereotypes)
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Leads to ingroup/outgroup dynamics.
In-group & Out-group Dynamics
 In-group: group with which an individual
identifies and feels a member of (ILL-INI)
 Out-group: group with which an individual does
not identify (“Muck Fichigan”)
 In-group bias: Positive feelings and special
treatment for people defined as part of our ingroup
Class Demonstration
1. Distribute $1000
2. Rate how much you like group members
3. Rate group members: personality, academic performance
4. Distribute unpleasant task (e.g., transcribing video)
Tajfel (1982) Minimal Group Experiment
 Placed complete strangers in groups based on
trivial criteria (e.g., a coin toss). Results indicated:
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More liking for members of own group
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Rated ingroup members more positively (on
personality and work performance)
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Gave more money and rewards to ingroup members
 Why?
Drawbacks to Social Categorization
 Outgroup homogeneity: the perception that
individuals in the outgroup are more similar to
each other than they really are
 Leads us to overestimate the difference between
groups and underestimate the differences within
groups
 Reinforces stereotypes
 Reinforces: “Us versus Them” mentality
The Cognitive Miser Hypothesis
 Bodenhausen (1990)
 189 students: Considering only your own
“feeling best” rhythm, at what time would you get
up if you were entirely free to plan your day?
(6 AM, 8 AM, 11 AM)
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Students divided into two groups: Morning-type
person or evening-type person
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Morning types: High attention early in day; Low
attention later in day
Evening types: Low attention early in day; High
attention later in day
Cognitive Miser Hypothesis (cont.)
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Students asked to read about a campus crime
in which the evidence was mixed and then
rate the guilt of the suspect who was either
White or Latino. Ratings occurred either early
in the day or late in the day.
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What would we expect based on the cognitive
miser hypothesis in terms of when
stereotyping would occur?
Who should stereotype more late in the day?
7.00
Guilt
6.50
6.00
Hispanic
White
5.50
5.00
4.50
Morning Type Evening Type
Who should stereotype more early in the day?
7.00
Guilt
6.50
6.00
Hispanic
White
5.50
5.00
4.50
Morning Type Evening Type
Are stereotypes automatic?
 Groups can prime stereotypical thoughts and
thoughts can prime stereotypical groups
 Automatic processing: occurs when stimulus
is encountered causing the stereotype to be
accessed. Happens without conscious
awareness
 Controlled processing: occurs with
awareness; conscious choice to disregard or
ignore the stereotyped information
 “Hard choice” (Fiske, 1989)
2002 Institute of Medicine Report
 When Latinos and African Americans were treated by
physicians for a broken bone in their leg, they
received pain medication significantly less often than
white patients with the same injury. … Minorities are
less likely to be given appropriate cardiac
medications or to undergo bypass surgery, and are
less likely to receive kidney dialysis or transplants. By
contrast, they are more likely to receive certain lessdesirable procedures, such as lower limb
amputations for diabetes and other conditions.
The Implicit Association Test
 Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but
only his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not
reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But
there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and
every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his
mind (Dostoyevsky)
Take the IAT at
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
 Demonstration video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RSVz6VEybk
IAT over the lifespan
Replicated with preferences for flowers vs. insects
IAT results
Implicit and Explicit Attitudes, by Race
The IAT effect (a D score)
has a possible range of -2
to +2. Break points for
‘slight’ (.15), ‘moderate’
(.35) and ‘strong’ (.65) were
selected conservatively
according to psychological
conventions for effect size.
Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M., &
Greenwald, A. G. (2002).
Harvesting implicit group
attitudes and beliefs from a
demonstration web site. Group
Dynamics: Theory, Research,
and Practice, 6(1), 101.
Political ideology and the Race IAT
Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M., &
Greenwald, A. G. (2002).
Harvesting implicit group
attitudes and beliefs from a
demonstration web site.
Group Dynamics: Theory,
Research, and Practice,
6(1), 101.
Stereotypes and Biased Processing
 Stereotypes impacts processing of new
information
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Biased information seeking
Biased attention to information
Biased memory for information
Biased attributions for behavior
(fundamental attribution error)
Confirmatory biases
 Stereotypes resistant to change
Stereotype Suppression
 Stereotype suppression: trying to consciously avoid using a
stereotype.
 Suppression can be counter-productive
 Macrae et al. (1994) – Participants wrote 5-minute stories
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Phase 1: write a story about a day in the life of a skinhead
 Group 1 told to suppress stereotypes  wrote less
stereotypic passages
 Group 2 no instructions about stereotypes (control group)
Phase 2: Tell another story about a day in the life of a
skinhead
 Participants who had suppressed wrote more stereotypic
second passages  A rebound effect
Macrae, Bodhenausen, Milne, Jetten (1994)
Review
 Stereotypes are often inaccurately stereotyped
 Stereotypes have negative and positive features
 No single pathway to stereotype development
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Psychodynamic theory (authoritarian personality, lacking empirical
support)
Social learning theory (illusory correlations)
Sociocultural theory (kernel of truth)
Social categ./identity theories (minimal groups)
Cognitive miser (early birds vs night owls)
 Stereotypes are automatic…but can be rejected
 Stereotypes are self-reinforcing (cog. dissonance)
 Stereotype-suppression can lead to rebounding
The issue of “internalization”
The big issue: Do targets of prejudice and
stereotyping accept the negative evaluations and
beliefs directed toward them?
1. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs interfere with
individual achievement and lower self-esteem?
2. Can being a target of racial stereotypes elicit actual
“stereotypical” behavior from targets?
3. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs lead members of
subordinate groups to “accept” their subordinate
position?
The long-term effects of exposure to
prejudice and stereotypes
 Common Assumption: Negative stereotypes should
result in lower self-esteem among members of
stigmatized groups.
BUT
 Crocker and Major (1989) reviewed 20 years of research and found
no evidence that members of stigmatized or subordinate groups had
lower self-esteem.
 Targets of prejudice and stereotyping can defend themselves in
three ways…
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By making ingroup comparisons only
By attributing negative outcomes to discrimination rather than
personal failure
Through “disidentification”
Stereotype Threat
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjn6ZSU_z
S0
Stereotype Threat
 Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995): The threat of
confirming as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype
about one’s group.
 Steele & Aronson (1995):
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White and Black students took a brief test based on GRE
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Randomly assigned to three conditions:
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Diagnostic condition: “The test is diagnostic of intellectual ability”
Non-diagnostic condition: “The test is a tool for studying problemsolving”
Non-diagnostic challenge condition: “The test is problem solving
and challenge”
Steele and Aronson (study 1)
Steele and Aronson (Study 3)
57 items about
things you
enjoy (e.g., rap,
classical music,
basketball,
tennis)
1. _ _ CE
2. _ _ ACK
3. MI_ _ _ _ _ _
1. DU_ _
2. SHA_ _
3. _ _ _ ERIOR
Steele and Aronson (Study 3, cont.)
Steele and Aronson (Study 4)
Question:
Is it sufficient simply to prime “race” in a context in
which racial stereotype threat is thought to exist?
Ryan and Anthony (2006)
Question:
Would
stereotype threat
also emerge on
actual IQ tests?
Martens, Johns, Greenberg, & Schimel
(2006)
Question:
Is it possible to reduce stereotype threat?
Study 1
Study 2
Implications of stereotype threat
 Racial disparities in IQ and academic achievement may be
PARTLY explained by negative racial stereotypes
 Programs designed to help disadvantaged groups may also
present threats to self
 Affirmative action programs imply that its recipients are inferior
and can’t get by without special help (Shelby Steele, 1990)
 Evidence
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Schneider et al. (1996) – Compared to those who didn’t, Blacks
who received unsolicited help from a White student reported
depressive feelings and lower self-esteem.
Nacoste (1985) – Women who gained access to a group simply
because they were women expressed fewer positive emotions
and thought the admission procedure was less fair.
BUT
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Pratkanis and Turner (1996) – Effect of affirmative action on
recipients depends on how program is “framed”. If presented as
a way of removing or offsetting past discrimination, it doesn’t
lower recipient self-esteem.
The issue of “internalization”
The big issue: Do targets of prejudice and
stereotyping accept the negative evaluations and
beliefs directed toward them?
1. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs interfere with
individual achievement and lower self-esteem?
2. Can being a target of racial stereotypes elicit actual
“stereotypical” behavior from targets?
3. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs lead members of
subordinate groups to “accept” their subordinate
position?
Stereotypes & Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
 Person X has stereotype of out-group member
 Person X interacts with out-group member based
on stereotype
 Out-group member responds to Person X
 Person X interprets out-group member’s behavior
as consistent with stereotype
 Snyder (1984): Men who anticipated talking
with an attractive woman perceived the woman
to be more sociable and tended to act in a
warm and friendly manner
 Men who spoke to an unattractive woman
behaved in a more cold and reserved manner
Racial stereotypes and the selffulfilling prophesy
Word, Zanna, & Cooper (1974)
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White participants interviewed both Black and White
interviewees.
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The White interviewers sat farther away, conducted
shorter interviews, and made more speech errors when
interviewing Blacks.
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As a result, Black interviewees were seen as more
nervous and less effective.
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But in a second study, both Black and White
interviewees did worse when interviewers were told to
sit farther away, conduct shorter interviews, and so on.
Self-fulfilling Prophesy: Research Summary
 Teacher perceptions predict student
achievement more for low performers than
high performers (strong effect)
 Teacher perceptions that overestimated
students were more powerful than teacher
perceptions that underestimated students
(weaker effect)
Maddon, Jussim, & Eccles 1997
Limits of the self-fulfilling prophecy
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Hilton and Darley (1985) – self-fulfilling
prophecy effects go away when the target
knows of the perceiver’s stereotypical
expectations
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Jussim and Fleming (1996)…
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Reviewed all published studies of the self-fulfilling
prophecy
The effect occurs reliably, but it is weak – accounts
for only about 4% of stereotype-confirming behavior.
The issue of “internalization”
The big issue: Do targets of prejudice and
stereotyping accept the negative evaluations and
beliefs directed toward them?
1. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs interfere with
individual achievement and lower self-esteem?
2. Can being a target of racial stereotypes elicit actual
“stereotypical” behavior from targets?
3. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs lead members of
subordinate groups to “accept” their subordinate
position?
Disidentification
 Disidentification as a social problem…
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Disidentification protects self-esteem, but undermines
academic success.
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This can reinforce inequalities already produced by a
history of discrimination.
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How can it be dealt with? Steele suggests…
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Optimistic guidance
Challenge over remediation
Stressing the expandability of intelligence
Affirming domain belongingness and role models
Political responses to being a target of
prejudice and stereotyping
 Theories of internalization suggest that targets should accept their
subordinate position, but this doesn’t always happen.

e.g., Schuman et al (1997) – Blacks are far less likely to endorse
negative evaluations of their own group and are far more
supportive of policies aimed at reducing racial inequality
 A stronger sense of group identification – and acts of political
resistance – are just as likely.
 When do members of subordinate groups accept their fate, and when
do they resist?
Political responses to being a target of
prejudice and stereotyping

Doosje and Ellemers (1997)…
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Highly-identified members are more likely to
stick with the ingroup and take collective
action when others attribute low status to
their group.

Low identifiers individually dissociate
themselves from the ingroup when faced with
low status.
Stereotypes in the news
Ok or not Ok?
A marketing campaign
 "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two
Wongs Can Make It White."
 "Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash -- Get
Your Buddha on the Floor"
Halloween Displays
More displays
The news coverage
 http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-
us&brand=msnbc&vid=41d2a3de-9c97-493f8322-10d18bac0541
 http://www.truveo.com/Was-Halloween-
noose-racist/id/2554693601