Activating Social Stereotypes: A Functional Analysis

Abstract

The present research investigated the effects of thinking about a category label on the ease with which perceivers could process stereotype-related information on subsequent tasks. Study 1 investigated the ease with which subjects could detect degraded stereotypic traits, Study 2 the ease with which these traits could be located in a complex stimulus array, and Study 3 the efficiency with which they could be represented in memory. In each case, subjects who had previously had their stereotypes activated showed more efficient processing of the trait terms. These results demonstrate the extent to which category activation produces an information-processing advantage for stereotypical traits. Discussion centers upon these processing advantages and their implications for our understanding of stereotypical thinking.