Stereotypes Influence Destination Memory In Normal Aging

Background/Study Context: A substantial body of literature suggests that stereotypes can play a determining role in making judgments about the source of information. This study investigated this issue for destination memory or remembering to whom information has been previously told.

METHODS

Younger adults and older adults told six medical and six mechanical facts to a picture depicting a physician, and also told six different medical and six different mechanical facts to a picture depicting a mechanic. On a subsequent recognition task, participants had to decide to whom each fact had been previously told.

RESULTS

Analysis showed better destination memory for destination-consistent facts than for inconsistent facts, a stereotypical tendency that was more apparent in older adults than in younger adults. Difficulties in attributing facts to their fact-inconsistent destination were reliably correlated with executive functions in younger adults and older adults.

CONCLUSION

Executive functions are likely to be required to monitor discrepancies between facts and their inconsistent destination, whereas no such monitoring is required when statements are consistent with their destination.

Rethinking the Link Between Categorization and Prejudice Within the Social Cognition Perspective

For the past 40 years, social psychological research on stereotyping and prejudice in the United States has been dominated by the social cognition perspective, which has emphasized the important role of basic categorization processes in intergroup dynamics. An inadvertent consequence of this approach has been a disproportionate focus on social categorization as a causal factor in intergroup animosity and, accordingly, an emphasis on approaches that minimize category distinctions as the solution to intergroup conflict. Though recognizing the crucial function of categorization, we question existing support for the hypothesis that the perception of strong group differences necessarily results in greater intergroup bias. Given that it is neither feasible nor ultimately desirable to imagine that social categories can be eliminated, we suggest that a more useful approach is one that promotes intergroup harmony even while recognizing and valuing the distinctions that define our social world.

Do The Bsri and Paq Measure the Same or Different Concepts?

The present article assesses Frable's (1989) contention that the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) measures only desirable instrumental and expressive characteristics, whereas the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) measures gender schema and related gender concepts. Comparison of the two instruments indicates, first, that they are similar in content and that the parallel M and F scales are substantially correlated. Further, the results obtained with the two instruments in three areas (self-esteem, sex-role attitudes, and gender-schematic processing) suggest that both are valid measures of desirable instrumental and expressive traits. Sex-role attitudes, however, tend to have small and typically nonsignificant relationships with both sets of scales, whereas few studies of gender schematic processing have produced replicable results even with the BSRI. However, Bem and her associates have reported positive results using other designs that have yet to be replicated using either the BSRI or the PAQ. Thus, in response to Frable's (1989) assertion, it seems at best premature to come to any conclusion about whether one, both, or neither of the questionnaires measure broad gender constructs.

Stereotype Accessibility and Information Processing

The stereotyping literature heretofore has not fully addressed individual differences in the relative construct accessibility of social stereotypes. Stereotyping research has tested the influence of explicitly activated stereotype knowledge on information processing, but paid little attention to the spontaneous application of stereotypes when stimulus information is processed. Although stereotypes are known to influence both encoding and response stages of information processing, the latter effect has received little attention in comparison to the former. The present research tested the hypothesis that gender stereotypes would affect how individuals encode and respond to gender-related behaviors and that individual differences in the construct accessibility of gender-stereotypical attributes would moderate these effects. Subjects saw a series of behavioral descriptions, some of which were stereotypically masculine or feminine, performed by two men and two women, and then participated in a recognition memory test. Subjects were more likely to report stereotype-consistent (versus inconsistent or irrelevant) behaviors as having been seen and also made more within-sex than cross-sex false alarms. Supporting the hypothesis that stereotype accessibility is an important individual-difference variable, individuals who displayed high (versus low) levels of individual construct accessibility for gender showed a greater tendency to respond consistently with gender stereotypes and made more within-sex (versus cross-sex) false alarms. These results suggest that highly gender-accessible individuals were especially likely to process stimulus information in terms of gender.

Categorization and Stereotypes about Men and Women

This experiment examined the relationship between categorization by gender and stereotyping of men and women. After listening to a recorded discussion, college students tried to match up the male and female discussants with their statements. They then evaluated on stereotype measures either these speakers or men and women they had not seen before. Results showed that categorization, that is, the difference between intra -and intersex recognition errors, was correlated with sex-stereotyping of discussion participants on one of two stereotype measures. Categorization was unrelated to stereotyping of individuals whose behavior was not observed. These results suggest that categorization may produce different impressions of individuals from different categories by biasing the specific information associated with them, but that these impressions may not generalize to stereotypes about category members in general.

Context Effects on the Application of Stereotype Content to Multiple Categorizable Targets

Two studies examined how the content of the stereotype of a multiple categorizable group differs depending on the comparative context in which this group is judged. In the first experiment, participants could categorize the target (either an individual or group) in terms of study major or in terms of university affiliation. The comparative context was manipulated to enhance the salience of one of the two categories. The results revealed that the stereotype content depends on the relative salience of the categories as determined by the comparative context. These results were replicated in a second study employing a checklist procedure showing that people actually assigned different stereotypic traits to the same group depending on the salient comparative context.

Minding the Gap: Narrative Descriptions about Mental States Attenuate Parochial Empathy

In three experiments, we examine parochial empathy (feeling more empathy for in-group than out-group members) across novel group boundaries, and test whether we can mitigate parochial empathy with brief narrative descriptions. In the absence of individuating information, participants consistently report more empathy for members of their own assigned group than a competitive out-group. However, individualized descriptions of in-group and out-group targets significantly reduce parochial empathy by interfering with encoding of targets’ group membership. Finally, the descriptions that most effectively decrease parochial empathy are those that describe targets’ mental states. These results support the role of individuating information in ameliorating parochial empathy, suggest a mechanism for their action, and show that descriptions emphasizing targets’ mental states are particularly effective.

Differential effects of an adult observer's presence on sex-typed play behavior: A comparison between gender-schematic and gender-aschematic preschool children

The present study examined the differential effect of an adult observer's presence on the sex-typed play behavior of gender schematic and aschematic preschoolers. A total of 116 Israeli preschoolers (M age = 64.9 months) participated in the study. Children were classified as either gender schematic or aschematic based upon responses to a computerized measure of different sex stereotype components. Children's play behavior with gender typical and atypical, attractive and unattractive, toys was videotaped. An observer was present for half the children's play and absent for the other half's play. Observation status affected the aschematic, but not the schematic, children's play with gender typical toys. For example, observed aschematic boys spent a greater percent of time playing with the unattractive masculine toys compared to unobserved aschematic boys. This difference was not apparent for schematic boys. Additionally, a difference found for schematic boys was not apparent in schematic girls, i.e., when unobserved, schematic boys tended to spend a greater percent of time playing with the unattractive masculine toy than aschematic boys. Further, some differences were found for unattractive, and not attractive, toys. For instance, observed aschematic boys spent a greater percent of time playing with the unattractive masculine toy than did the unobserved aschematic boys. This gap was not found for the attractive masculine toy. Results are discussed with reference to the accessibility and complexity of gender schemas.

Complicating race: the relationship between prejudice, race, and social class categorizations

Although racial stereotyping and prejudice research have received considerable attention, the important element of social class has been largely excluded from social psychological research. Using the Statement Recognition Procedure, two experiments investigated social categorization along race and social class dimensions, the influence of racial and social class prejudice on these categorizations, and differences between White and Black perceivers. Analyses conducted at the subtype of race and social class memberships demonstrated differing patterns of categorization based on subtype membership. For example, lowerclass Black targets were primarily categorized by race, whereas middle-class Black targets were primarily categorized by social class. The results demonstrate the importance of considering social class membership independent of and in conjunction with race. Theoretical and methodological implications regarding the study for race and social class categorizations are discussed.

A justification-suppression model of the expression and experience of prejudice

The authors propose a justification-suppression model (JSM), which characterizes the processes that lead to prejudice expression and the experience of one's own prejudice. They suggest that "genuine" prejudices are not directly expressed but are restrained by beliefs, values, and norms that suppress them. Prejudices are expressed when justifications (e.g., attributions, ideologies, stereotypes) release suppressed prejudices. The same process accounts for which prejudices are accepted into the self-concept The JSM is used to organize the prejudice literature, and many empirical findings are recharacterized as factors affecting suppression or justification, rather than directly affecting genuine prejudice. The authors discuss the implications of the JSM for several topics, including prejudice measurement, ambivalence, and the distinction between prejudice and its expression.

GENDER AS SCHEMATIC CATEGORY: A ROLE CONSTRUCT APPROACH

This study was designed to examine the hands of unprimed constructs people use in an openended social perception task (Kelly Rep Test, Kelly, 1955). Three samples of subjects used their own natural categories or person schemes in judgments of familiar others. Results indicated that whereas the most prevalently used constructs with familiar others are best described as idiosyncratic, gender related trait sets of Agency and Communion were used widely by most subjects, with some individual differences associated with gender role. Masculine and Feminine subjects used constructs consistent with their own gender role (Agency and Communion, respectively) more than gender role inconsistent constructs (Communion and Agency, respectively), or constructs unrelated to gender Androgynous subjects were equally likely to use Agentic and Communal categories when describing others, and used gender-related categories overall more than Undifferential subjects. Results are discussed in relationship to gender schema and self-schema theory predictions.

GENDER SCHEMATIC PARAPRAXES IN THE ARTICULATED THOUGHTS OF EX-SMOKERS

The Articulated Thoughts during Simulated Situations (ATSS) para digm for cognitive assessment may be useful for identifying gender schematic information processing. In a study of smoking relapse, several ex-smokers articulated thoughts indicating that they mistook the gender of audiotaped actors whose roles violated sex role stereotypes. The same speakers were never misidentified when portraying more traditional roles. Discussion focused on (a) the possible utility of this finding for research on Gender Schema Theory, and (b) the value of open-ended cognitive assessment methods such as ATSS for enhancing the likelihood of serendipitous findings.

Cognition and affect in evaluations of stereotyped group members

The contribution of cognition and affect to evaluations of stereotyped group members was examined. Subjects were American male undergraduates who evaluated a male homosexual or a male heterosexual applicant to a program in elementary education or fine arts. Cognitive measures used to predict evaluations were the discrepancies between stereotype components for the social category and stereotype components for the occupation; affective measures were four dimensions of mood-affect. Results indicated that negative affect predicted evaluations of homosexuals but not heterosexuals. Homosexuals were evaluated less favorably than heterosexuals for both occupations, despite the fact that homosexuals were perceived as less discrepant from occupational members than heterosexuals.

Some effects of sex-linked clothing and gender schema on the stereotyping of infants

Two predictions were evaluated: first, that given minimal information about an infant, individuals would use sex-related cues (i.e., clothing) to categorize, evaluate, and make attributions about the infant, and second, that gender schematic individuals would be more likely than gender aschematic individuals to use such sex-related cues. On the basis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory, American college students were classified as either gender schematic (masculine or feminine) or gender aschematic (undifferentiated or androgynous). The students categorized, evaluated, and made trait attributions about an infant dressed in male, female, or ambiguous clothing. Both gender schematic and gender aschematic individuals relied on sex-related cues in their perceptions of the infant.

SOCIAL COGNITION AND THE STUDY OF CLOTHING AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR

This paper integrates theoretical and methodological perspective involved with research in social cognition with literature from the clothing and human behavior area. It is found that theory and research from cognitive psychology serve as a suitable and relevant framework for the study of clothing and human behavior. Recommendations are made to researchers with regards to the effective integration of these two areas.