Four studies examined how multiple communicators who have unique target information transmit less stereotypical impressions. Co-communicators with unique information should feel accountable for providing unique perspectives and consequently will try to be accurate. This accuracy goal should increase their focus on stereotype-incongruent behaviors, resulting in more counterstereotypical transmissions. Study 1 showed that communicators with unique information about an alcoholic target abstractly characterized incongruent attributes and allocated more transmission time to them. Study 2 showed that the effect of communicators' unique information on receivers' less stereotypical impressions was mediated by focus on incongruent attributes. Because the first 2 studies used a target whose stereotypical features were negative, Studies 3 and 4 provided a replication with a target whose stereotypical features were positive.

Third-party interventions in conflicts have revealed complexity in primate social relationships. This type of intervention has seldom been analyzed in prosimians, although many of these species exhibit complex (multimale/multifemale) social organizations. The present study on captive brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus fulvus) shows that dominant individuals were more likely to intervene in conflicts. Both males and females intervened aggressively in conflicts. Female aggressive interventions occurred mainly on behalf of close kin, whereas males mainly intervened on behalf of juveniles. This study also provides the first record of neutral or peaceful interventions in lemurs. Although females intervened neutrally, almost all neutral interventions were by dominant males. Dominant males intervened in conflicts neutrally more often than aggressively, principally in conflicts between adults and juveniles or between juveniles. Neutral interventions by males always ended the conflicts and were often followed by affiliative contacts between participants (intervenors and opponents). In lemurs, female interventions can be explained by kin selection, while the nature of dominant males' interventions suggests a control role. Interventions by males on behalf of juveniles may increase the formers' fitness.

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This study explores how older speakers' descriptions of other older persons might attenuate or bolster the use of the elderly stereotype by young listeners. Older women's descriptions were expected to have more impact on young participants, presumably because older persons are considered experts about elderly persons and the elderly persons seem unlikely to have a hidden agenda in describing other elderly persons. Using a 2-experiment ploy, young adult women initially listened to an audiotape of an older woman or a younger woman describing 3 older persons in her life in either a stereotypic or counterstereotypic manner. In the alleged second experiment, participants acquired information about an older woman and formed an impression of her. Results supported our hypotheses: Participants exposed to an older woman speaking counterstereotypically about her peers formed less stereotypic impressions of a subsequently encountered older woman than participants exposed to the stereotypic descriptions. When a younger woman presented the initial descriptions, there was no difference in the subsequent impressions. EXEMPLARS AND INDIVIDUATIONStereotypes are cognitive structures containing information about a social group including specific attributes associated with that group (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). Generally, individuation involves a relatively careful and systematic approach to

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