11. Stereotypes I

Question 1

Stereotypes definition

Answer 1

“Generalized beliefs about or expectations from members of a group”
(not necessarily fixed or innacurate)

Question 2

Why do we form and use stereotypes?

Answer 2

• Schemas - cognitive frameworks for organizing, interpreting and recalling information (Fiske & Taylor, 2008)
• We like to expend as little mental energy as possible understanding the world (evolutionary advantage to use less energy)

Question 3

Stereotyping and limited resources (Bodenhausen 1990)

Answer 3

We are more likely to stereotype when we have limited resources

• ‘Evening’ people and ‘morning’ people are more likely to make a prejudiced judgement in a court case at the opposite time of day
• They are more tired & have less mental resources to make a logical judgement so use (faster) schemas

Question 4

Who came up with the stereotype content model?

Answer 4

Fiske et al. (2002)

Question 5

Stereotype content model

Answer 5

Consists of two dimensions:

• competence
• warmth (morality, friendliness)

Question 6

What are the four states of the model?

Answer 6

• Low competence, low warmth = contempt (people on benefits)
• Low competence, high warmth = paternalism (elderly, homeless)
• High competence, low warmth = envy (higher class, CEOs)
• High competence, high warmth = admiration (ingroup members)

Question 7

Costs of “positive” stereotypes

Answer 7

Deutsch, Lebaron, & Fryer (1987)

• Women are stereotyped as warm
• A photo of a woman not smiling was rated as less happy than men
• Harsher critique when you don’t live up to “positive” stereotypes

Question 8

How do stereotypes influence cognitive processing?

Answer 8

• we attend to stereotype-consistent information (Cohen, 1981)
• we interpret ambiguous information in line with stereotypes (Darley & Gross 1983)
• we recall more stereotype-consistent information, forget otherwise (Snyder & Uranowitz, 1978)
• we ask questions to confirm our beliefs (Snyder & Swann, 1978)

Question 9

How do stereotypes influence how we gather info?

Answer 9

• participant ‘interviewers’ were led to believe that an interviewee was either introverted or extroverted
• they were given a prepared list of questions – they chose ones that would confirm expectations