Though they are usually noted for their negative impact on social perception, stereotypes are not without their benefits, at least for the social perceiver. Indeed, recent research has demonstrated that perceivers rely on stereotypes to a greater extent when their processing capacity is constrained. The central aim of the proposed research is to test a model of stereotyping that can account for this efficiency. According to this model, the efficiency of stereotypes lies in their ability to facilitate, in different ways, the encoding of both expected and unexpected behaviors when capacity is low. Stereotypes facilitate the processing of stereotype-consistent information by rendering that information relatively easy to comprehended, even when resources are scant. However, due to this conceptual fluency, substantial attention is not devoted to encoding the details of consistent information. Instead, those resources may be used to assist in the encoding of inconsistent information. In this way, stereotypes permit the flexible distribution of encoding resources in a way that maximizes the amount of information gained for the effort expended. Eight experiments are proposed to examine in detail the attentional and perceptual encoding hypotheses of the model. Aside from generating support for the basic predictions of the model, the project includes a number of other goals, as well. First, 3 of the experiments will examine the immediate influence of these attentional and perceptual encoding processes on social judgments and behaviors. Three of the experiments also examine the long-term effects of these processes on perceivers' ability to retain episodic details of consistent and inconsistent information, and the motivations underlying the retention of such details. Another experiment tests the important implication of this model that, as stereotype strength increases, the prevalence of these attentional and perceptual processes increases. Finally, 2 experiments test the hypothesis that the nature of these effects depends on the processing goals of the perceiver. In particular, accuracy motivation and defense motivation are predicted to yield very different patterns of attentional and perceptual encoding when capacity is limited. There are two related long-term goals of this project. The first is to develop a more refined model of stereotype function and use that can be used to generate novel predictions about the antecedents and consequences of stereotype use. A deeper understanding of the functional significance of stereotypes will contribute greatly to the second goal--to shed light on ways to reduce perceivers' reliance on stereotypes. For in order to decrease the prevalence of stereotyping, it is first necessary to understand why and how people find stereotypes so useful in the first place.
| Sherman, Jeffrey W; Kruschke, John K; Sherman, Steven J et al. (2009) Attentional processes in stereotype formation: a common model for category accentuation and illusory correlation. J Pers Soc Psychol 96:305-23 |
| Allen, Thomas J; Sherman, Jeffrey W; Conrey, Frederica R et al. (2009) Stereotype Strength and Attentional Bias: Preference for Confirming versus Disconfirming Information Depends on Processing Capacity. J Exp Soc Psychol 45:1081-1087 |
| Sherman, Jeffrey W; Gawronski, Bertram; Gonsalkorale, Karen et al. (2008) The self-regulation of automatic associations and behavioral impulses. Psychol Rev 115:314-35 |
| Conrey, Frederica R; Sherman, Jeffrey W; Gawronski, Bertram et al. (2005) Separating multiple processes in implicit social cognition: the quad model of implicit task performance. J Pers Soc Psychol 89:469-87 |
