Three studies demonstrated that meta-stereotypes held by members of dominant groups about how their group is viewed by a lower status group have important implications for intergroup relations. Study 1 confirmed that White Canadians hold a shared negative meta-stereotype about how they are viewed by Aboriginal Canadians; Studies 2 and 3 extended these results to people's beliefs about an individual out-group member's impressions of them. Feeling stereotyped was associated with negative emotions about intergroup interaction as well as decreases in current self-esteem and self-concept clarity. The perceptions of low- and high-prejudiced persons (LPs and HPs) diverged in a manner consistent with their distinct personal values and group identifications. LPs held a more negative meta-stereotype than did HPs. However, in a one-on-one interaction, HPs sensed that they were stereotyped, whereas LPs felt that they conveyed a counterstereotypical impression.
Six experiments demonstrated that dominant group members readily frame intergroup interaction in terms of how they themselves are evaluated. The authors used indirect measures of meta-stereotype activation to assess dominant group members' inclination to spontaneously consider an out-group member's (ostensible) stereotypic expectations about them. The necessary conditions for meta-stereotype activation were rather minimal, but the potential for evaluation by an out-group member--as opposed to mere exposure to the person--was required. Individual differences involving the importance accorded to social evaluation (public self-consciousness and personal importance of racial attitudes) were associated with meta-stereotype activation, whereas racial attitudes were not. Two studies in which evaluative orientation was manipulated directly demonstrated a link between thinking in terms of how one is viewed and the activation and application of meta-stereotypes.
In an information search model, evaluative concerns during intergroup interaction are conceptualized as a joint function of uncertainty regarding and importance attached to out-group members' views of oneself. High uncertainty generally fosters evaluative concerns during intergroup exchanges. Importance depends on whether out-group members' evaluations are perceived as diagnostic of one's social standing and outcomes. Perceived diagnosticity can arise from the out-group's control over resources (contingency) and/or ability to provide accurate assessments (expertise) and is a function of the relative status of one's group and the perceived legitimacy of the group status difference. Evaluative concerns trigger information search efforts and forms of uncertainty reduction that have a variety of negative downstream effects. Implications for efforts to improve intergroup relations are discussed.
This research demonstrated that both dominant and lower status group members' responses to interacting with an out-group member can center largely on thoughts and feelings about themselves. Pairs of students (either two White Canadians or one White Canadian and one Aboriginal Canadian) had casual get-acquainted discussions. Consistent with our hypothesis that individuals would tend to frame the interaction in terms of the other person's evaluation of them, high-prejudice WhiteCanadians felt stereotyped by an Aboriginal partner even though they actually were not stereotyped and even though they themselves did not stereotype an Aboriginal partner. Moreover, Aboriginal Canadians appeared to personalize negative behaviors exhibited by their White partner. These individuals experienced discomfort and self-directed negative affect-but not other-directed negative affect-when their White partner was high in prejudice.
Asubstantialandlong-standingliteratureinsocialpsy-chology and related disciplines attests to the value that individuals attach to understanding and managing how they are perceived by others (e.g., Cooley
Two experiments examined how rendering different intergroup ideologies salient affects dominant-and minority-group members' behavior during, and experience of, intergroup interactions. We hypothesized that ideologies that encourage an outward focus on appreciating out-group members' distinctive qualities (multiculturalism) would have more positive implications than ideologies that encourage a self-control focus on ignoring social categories and avoiding inappropriate behavior (color blindness and antiracism). As predicted, in both ostensible (Study 1) and actual face-to-face (Study 2) intergroup interactions, the multicultural ideological prompt led dominant-and minority-group members to adopt a more outward focus and hence to direct more positive other-directed comments to an interaction partner who was a member of an out-group. In contrast, the colorblind prompt fostered a prevention orientation in dominant-group members that led them to express negative affect toward their out-group interaction partner. The antiracist prompt had no consistent effects. Implications for efforts to improve intergroup relations are discussed.
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