Showing papers on "Stereotype published in 1992"

Good-looking people are not what we think.

Abstract: Meta-analysis was used to examine findings in 2 related areas: experimental research on the physical attractiveness stereotype and correlational studies of characteristics associated with physical attractiveness

Thinking is for doing: portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype to laserphoto.

Abstract: From the outset, perspectives on social cognition have taken an emphatically pragmatic stance, as evident in early writing by James, Allport, Bruner, Asch, Heider, Tagiuri, and Jones. After a hiatus, during which social cognition research neglected its proper attunement to social behavior, researchers again are emphasizing that thinking is for doing, that social understanding operates in the service of social interaction. Early and recent (but not intermediate) theories have reflected a pragmatic orientation in 3 recurring themes: People are good-enough social perceivers; people construct meaning through traits, stereotypes, and stories; and people's thinking strategies depend on their goals. The pragmatic viewpoint again opens up new areas for research and theory in social cognition.

Cognitive Mechanisms in Children's Gender Stereotyping: Theoretical and Educational Implications of a Cognitive-based Intervention

Abstract: The study was designed to test the hypothesis derived from cognitive-developmental theory that multiple classification skill plays an important role in children's gender stereotyping and in their processing of counterstereotypic gender information Children (N= 75; 5-10 years) were matched on pretest measures of gender stereotyping and multiple classification skill and then assigned to: (1) multiple classification training using nonsocial stimuli, (2) multiple classification training using social stimuli, (3) a rule training intervention, or (4) a control intervention Children who had acquired multiple classification skill via training with social stimuli and those children trained on rules for occupational sorting showed significantly more egalitarian responding on a subsequent measure of gender stereotyping and superior memory for counterstereotypic information embedded in stories Additionally, children who had acquired multiple classification skill via training with nonsocial stimuli showed superior memory for counterstereotypic information, despite demonstrating no greater flexibility on the gender stereotyping measure Both theoretical and educational implications of results are discussed

Context‐dependent variation in social stereotyping 2: The relationship between frame of reference, self‐categorization and accentuation

Abstract: This paper examines the hypothesis that patterns of stereotypic accentuation reflect the degree to which judged stimuli share the same social category membership as the stereotyper, Following self-categorization theory, the degree of this shared identity is operationalized in terms of the meta-contrast ratio as a function of the positions of (a) stereotyper and (b) stereotyped target relative to (c) the stereotyper's frame of reference. Three experiments are reported which sought to manipulate shared category membership either by extension of subjects' frame of reference or by extremitization of target and subject with respect to that frame. As predicted, greater shared identity was associated with stronger assimilation of the target to subjects' own position and with change in stereotype content. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of personality, social judgement and social cognition. Like the accentuation processes which underpin them, it is proposed that stereotypes are sensitive to comparative context and that they reflect veridically the social self-categorical properties of stimuli.

The limits of interpretation: Ambivalence and the stereotype in Spenser: For hire

Abstract: A structural analysis of the racial oppositions in the television program Spenser: For Hire challenges the interpretivist media studies claim that popular culture texts are necessarily polysemic. The article argues that representations of racial difference, in particular, are not polysemic but are rather ambivalent within the structure of the racist stereotype. The character Hawk's oppositional stance and persona, though subject to contradictory critical evaluations, serve the needs of the dominant culture to depict blacks in stereotypical ways.

The Good Manager: Business Students' Stereotypes of Japanese Managers versus Stereotypes of American Managers

Abstract: As the internationalization of business increases, stereotypes of managers from other cultures assume greater importance. This study examined stereotypes held by American business students who expected to join the work force of Japanese managers, American managers, and a "good manager." Although neither the Japanese nor American managerial stereotype resembled that of a good manager, the typical Japanese manager was seen as the better manager overall. However, students preferred to work for the typical American manager. Implications of the results for the treatment and experiences of expatriate managers are discussed.

Faces in the revolution: The psychological effects of violence on township youth in South Africa

Abstract: One of South Africa's most serious problems is the large number of youths in the black townships who have been exposed to an incredible depth and complexity of trauma. Not only have they lived through severe poverty, the deterioration of family and social structures, and an inferior education system, but they have also been involved in catastrophic levels of violence, both as victims and as perpetrators. What are the effects of the milieu? What future is there for this generation? Above all, who are they? In the mid-1980s Gill Straker, Professor of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, was called in by the South African Council of Churches as part of a counseling team to provide therapeutic services for a group of young blacks who had been driven out of their township by vigilantes. Their lives had been threatened, and many had participated in various forms of violence - stoning of vehicles, burning of houses belonging to local counselors, some even taking part in \u201cnecklacing.\u201d This counseling experience, together with a follow-up study of the same group three years later, is the basis of Gill Straker's book, Faces in the Revolution, a fascinating psychological profile of the youngsters involved. In her moving and highly readable account, she penetrates beyond the media-generated stereotype of township youth as a brutalized generation, showing instead the processes that motivate the leaders, the conformists and the psychological casualties of the civil war that has raged in South Africa's townships. Faces in the Revolution will bring a great deal of clarity to concerned readers seeking informed insight into the lives of the young black people at the forefront of this undeclared war.

On the Overestimation of Between-group Differences

Abstract: The overestimation of between-group differences is a central characteristic of social stereotyping. The present review focuses on exemplar-based category learning. Evidence is presented for the assumptions that: (a) contrast effects need to be distinguished from accentuation effects; (b) both effects are general cognitive–perceptual phenomena; and (c) they affect stereotype formation as well as stereotype change. The implications of the overestimation of between-group differences for person perception and conflict resolution are discussed.

Cognitive models of stereotype change: (1) Generalization and subtyping in young people's views of the police

Abstract: We report investigations of change in, and cognitive representation of young people's stereotypes of the police, in response to a police-schools liaison programme. This programme provides a real-life application of the ‘conversion’ model of stereotype change (in which stereotypes change radically in response to salient instances of disconfirming information). Study 1 revealed that school police officers were rated significantly more positively than the police in general, but that this view did not generalize to perceptions of the police in general. Stereotypes of the police became less positive over one year, although females were more positive than males, and school police officers were not judged typical of the category. Study 2 revealed that subjects categorized their school police officer separately from the police in general, and perceived him to share features with ‘caring and welfare’ professions, rather than other police officers and authority figures. Both studies converge on the limitations of the conversion model and tend to support the subtyping model (in which extremely disconfirming individuals are isolated from other group members).

Gender and Conversational Dynamics

Abstract: Much of what is important in social life is accomplished through talk. Through conversation, we form acquaintances, request and receive services, conduct business, and negotiate family affairs. In such situations, language use creates a social identity. Conversational styles that reflect our group membership and social position serve to maintain those identities in social interaction. They represent the micro-level mechanisms through which structural-level inequality and differentiation are accomplished in everyday interaction. On the other hand, conversational patterns that contrast with those that are expected from group members may be the mechanisms for social mobility (e.g., leadership acquisition or loss). Therefore, language use and conversational style may reinforce a sense of stereotype, or can alleviate stereotypic beliefs (Jupp, Roberts, & Cook-Gumpertz, 1982, p. 234).

Romantic Friendship? Some Issues in Researching Lesbian History and Biography

Abstract: The main feminist conceptualisation of women's close relationships from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century characterises these as ‘romantic friendships’ and argues that a stereotype of ‘the lesbian’ was invented by sexologists such as Havelock Ellis and applied to these relationships in order to condemn them. A number of pieces of primary research are presented which suggest that this approach is highly problematic. In the case of Emily Wilding Davison's close relationship with Mary Leigh there is simply too little historical evidence to be able to draw any conclusions as to its character or its meaning for the women concerned. In addition, Edith Lees Ellis has been seen as a woman whose romantic friendships were ‘morbidified’ as lesbianism by her husband Havelock Ellis, although in this case archival evidence clearly shows that she certainly saw herself as a ‘invert’. And relatedly, the same archival source also shows that some women experienced their sexuality in ‘mannish’ terms in t...

Stereotypes of emotional caregivers and their capacity to absorb information: the views of nurses, stroke carers and the general public.

Abstract: This study examines the phenomenon of stereotyping informal caregivers' capacity to learn about the condition of stroke victims. Forty-nine nurses, 55 carers and 39 members of the general public gave their opinions on how emotional they considered six hypothetical wives of stroke patients to be and how much information they thought each wife would be able to absorb. Results indicated that nurses were more pessimistic than caregivers in their assessment of how much information could be absorbed, even though these two groups did not differ in their assessment of the emotionality of the wives. Nurses and the general public responded in accordance with the expected stereotype: those rated as being high in emotionality were less likely to absorb information. No such association emerged from the ratings of caregivers. The existence of the stereotype, particularly among health professionals, has serious implications for rehabilitation programmes and caregiver well-being, and provides an explanation for why caregivers sometimes feel neglected in medical settings.

Objective assessment of aggression and irritability in the elderly

Abstract: There is a tendency to generalize or stereotype certain behaviors exhibited by the elderly. This study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using a structured, validated instrument to obje...

Stereotypes about Women's Body Types Associated with Occupations

Abstract: Surveyed were 75 women (22 freshmen, 17 sophomores, 17 juniors, 15 seniors, 2 graduate students, 2 students did not report year in college) attending a Kansas university about demographic character...

Red Apples, Liberal College Professors, and Farmers Who Love Bach

Abstract: Fox would have us believe that our prejudices and stereotypes are based on defects in human reason that are themselves functional and have had evolutionary significance. What a strange idea, and such a naughty man. And yet he is, I think, more or less right. "More or less" because in some ways he goes too far and in others stops short. But the central message he bears is provocative, although less naughtily so to modern social psychologists than he might wish. Contemporary stereotype research has begun to wrestle with many of the ideas presented by Fox. The history of stereotype research in social psychology is a checkered one. Social psychologists do recognize the importance of Lippmann's (1922) early statement, but I think we must regard Lippmann as more a totem than a beacon. It is not clear that he actually influenced many people; he is as highly regarded as he is today in part because he seems so modern, so right with the cognitive world social psychologists now inhabit. No, the real impetus for the incorporation of stereotypes into the social science canon was the pathbreaking empirical research of Katz and Braly (1933, 1935). They were less interested in uncovering the cognitive underpinnings of stereotypes than in stressing their cultural foundations. In any event, it was Katz and Braly and not Lippmann who influenced the first generation of research, and in that body of work, despite the many caveats that were offered from time to time, stereotypes were seen as dark and ugly things. They were a set of rogue cognitions, generalizations gone bad from lack of contact with the sunshine of rationality and the fresh air of experience. Most people in those early days seemed to find culture the main culprit. This screw was tightened even further with the publication of The Authoritarian Personality (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950) in which stereotypes were seen as due to a flawed personality that eagerly sought out cultural generalizations. Gordon Allport (1954), bless him, operated at a crossroads. His book hearkens back to the earlier Lippmann suggestions about the cognitive necessity for using stereotypes and he offered some very modern-sounding ideas. ' But Allport was also tempted by the flawed-personality approach (which he called the prejudiced personality). By the time of Brigham's (1971) review, stereotype research had all but died, in spirit if not in actuality. Very few articles on the topic appeared in major journals during the 1970s. The area went into hibernation in part because approaches to racism and discrimination in the 1970s emphasized political, cultural, and economic factors more than individual psychology. However, it also died because the area just plain got boring. It was clear that one needed more than culture and worn-out notions about flawed people holding stupid ideas. When the area began to pick up again in the late 1970s and 1980s, it did so by garbing itself in a cognitive language that Lippmann and Allport would have approved. No longer were stereotypes seen as rogue cognitive constructs; they were consistent with normal ways of thinking. Stereotypes could be seen as schemata, concepts, or generalizations. That perspective allowed social psychologists to bring the full arsenal of modern cognitive psychology to bear on the topic, and they have done so with great effect. Stereotypes are finally back where they belong-at center stage in social life. One problem is that by emphasizing the ways that stereotypes are like other concepts and generalizations, social psychologists have failed to consider all the ways they may be different. Let me pose a question. How is saying that college professors are politically liberal, women are shorter than men, and Hispanics score lower on the Scholastic Aptitude Test than Anglos different from saying that red, ripe apples taste good, cars break down, Houston summers are hot and uncomfortable? To the best of my knowledge, all these generalizations are quite beyond dispute as factual generalizations, although of course we could quibble about the meanings of such terms as liberal, taste good, uncomfortable, and the like. But we have more important problems at the moment than worrying about the meanings of words such as these. Fox does not directly say, but seems to argue that a generalization is a generalization is a generalization. Red apples and liberal college professors (or more to the point-poisoned apples and dangerous looking professors) are one for the purposes of his argument. Indeed he argues quite strongly and eloquently that without early humans' capacity to generalize, there would be no people to make generalizations today. That seems right enough. I'm not sure I'd want to mount a strong argument about evolution on that basis, but psychologists seem quite intellectually constipated when it comes to making evolutionary arguments, at least compared to some anthropologists. Maybe he's right-it sounds reasonablebut in fact nothing significant in my argument rests on whether the tendency to generalize (or tendencies to ascribe causality or to blame) is or is not encoded genetically. The tendencies to generalize, to form concepts on the basis of those generalizations, and to act on the basis of such generalizations seem primitive and ubiquitous. Let's leave it at that. So far I would agree with Fox. It's hard to imagine a cognitive system that does not have generalization as one of its key tools, and it's even harder to imagine that system generalizing about things but not people. Thus far, neither I nor most stereotype researchers would disagree. But I do have two major problems with his analysis: (a) his somewhat naive reading of the farmer example and (b) his seeming lack of concern over the ways that generalizations (or stereotypes if one prefers) about people and things differ. First, let us consider the farmer example that Fox presents via Kahneman and Tversky. Subjects are told that 90% of a 'Well, he was modem. Some of us remember him in the flesh, and what are we if not modem?

Shelley Niro : Mohawks in Beehives + Other Works

Abstract: Podedworny presents Niro's photographs as questioning the validity of European images of First Nations' people. In an interview, the artist discusses the stereotype of a Native person as a sad and exploited victim. Biographical notes. 6 bibl. ref.

Prejudice, Stereotypes, Base Rates, and Saber-Toothed Tigers

Abstract: I found Fox's article on prejudice and the unfinished mind both interesting and provocative. The informal style is a refreshing change from the typical dry, jargon-laden social science piece. More important, the article nicely articulates ideas that have been floating around among scholars interested in prejudice and stereotypes for some time. Undoubtedly, the article will be highly controversial. My own stereotype is that many left-wing academic social scientists find sociobiology morally and politically repugnant. Therefore, simply by daring to discuss an especially politically charged aspect of human psychology (stereotypes and prejudice) from a sociobiological perspective will be sufficient to create considerable controversy. I suspect that two additional points will be controversial: (a) Prejudice and stereotyping are inevitable and especially (b) they are not really that bad, and we would be a lot better off just accepting them. There will be some psychologists who agree with the first point, and some who disagree; the latter point, however, runs so strongly against the current academic sociopolitical Zeitgeist that it is virtually guaranteed to provoke argument. I like contentious writing. By virtue of almost forcing one to agree or disagree, it forces one to think more deeply about the issues. For these reasons, I plan to assign this article in my advanced undergraduate and graduate classes whenever I cover prejudice and stereotypes. I also found Fox's article interesting because some of the arguments are inherently ironic, and some point out ironies within psychology's image of humans as decision makers and social perceivers. I discuss these next.

Psychics and ESP—Stereotypes not Techniques Answer the Question: A Reply to Thalbourne

Abstract: Thalbourne's (1990) latest criticism of our population stereotype study (Grimmer & White, 1986) identifies yet again four deficiencies in our technique and yet again observes that we have failed to master appropriate experimental techniques. We respond to the issues he raised.