The proposed project seeks to assess the conditions under which cues in the social environment promote the malleability of automatic stereotypes about social groups and the self. Until recently, automatic beliefs and attitudes were considered to be quite intractable, partly because belief and attitude change, however temporary, was assumed to require volition and control. New studies now offer initial evidence suggesting that automatic beliefs and attitudes are more flexible than previously imagined. Some studies found changes in automatic responses after altering the social context that people were in without directly manipulating their motivations. For example, exposure to images of admired members of stigmatized groups and disliked members of valued groups has been found to diminish automatic negative group-related attitudes. The first goal of this project is to investigate whether the effect of counterstereotypic images can extend beyond attitudes, to influence automatic beliefs about stigmatized groups; and if so, whether in-group (vs. out-group) members are more likely to be sensitive to counterstereotypes. The second goal is to investigate whether the effect of counterstereotypes on in-group beliefs produces parallel changes in people's beliefs about themselves on the stereotypic dimension. The final goal is to examine whether the malleability of automatic self and group stereotyping is dependent on how frequently people encounter counterstereotypes. When stereotypes affect people's sense of self, it has negative health implications as has been illustrated by past research showing that the threat of being stereotyped has damaging effects on mental and physical health (e.g., it raises anxiety, blood pressure, and lowers performance. The present project implies that people may non-consciously internalize harmful stereotypes that may negatively impact their mental health; however, counterstereotypic role models may serve as buffers against damaging self-perceptions
| Asgari, Shaki; Dasgupta, Nilanjana; Stout, Jane G (2012) When do counterstereotypic ingroup members inspire versus deflate? The effect of successful professional women on young women's leadership self-concept. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 38:370-83 |
