As diversity increases, people paradoxically perceive social groups as more similar

Abstract

With globalization and immigration, societal contexts differ in sheer variety of resident social groups. Social diversity challenges individuals to think in new ways about new kinds of people and where their groups all stand, relative to each other. However, psychological science does not yet specify how human minds represent social diversity, in homogeneous or heterogenous contexts. Mental maps of the array of society’s groups should differ when individuals inhabit more and less diverse ecologies. Nonetheless, predictions disagree on how they should differ. Confirmation bias suggests more diversity means more stereotype dispersion: With increased exposure, perceivers’ mental maps might differentiate more among groups, so their stereotypes would spread out (disperse). In contrast, individuation suggests more diversity means less stereotype dispersion, as perceivers experience within-group variety and between-group overlap. Worldwide, nationwide, individual, and longitudinal datasets (n= 12,011) revealed a diversity paradox: More diversity consistently meant less stereotype dispersion. Both contextual and perceived ethnic diversity correlate with decreased stereotype dispersion. Countries and US states with higher levels of ethnic diversity (e.g., South Africa and Hawaii, versus South Korea and Vermont), online individuals who perceive more ethnic diversity, and students who moved to more ethnically diverse colleges mentally represent ethnic groups as more similar to each other, on warmth and competence stereotypes. Homogeneity shows more-differentiated stereotypes; ironically, those with the least exposure have the most-distinct stereotypes. Diversity means less-differentiated stereotypes, as in the melting pot metaphor. Diversity and reduced dispersion also correlate positively with subjective wellbeing.

Stereotypes of Social Groups in Mainland China in Terms of Warmth and Competence: Evidence from a Large Undergraduate Sample

“…To our knowledge, this SCM validation study employed the largest sample size in mainland China to date. The findings support the cross-cultural generalizability of the SCM [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 16 , 17 ] and validate previous research in China [ 6 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. As predicted, 35 of 41 groups received ambivalent stereotype, and in-group (undergraduates) and social reference groups were assessed as both high in the warmth dimension and high in the competence dimension.…”

“…The SCM has been tested and validated in multiple countries and regions [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ], such as Germany [ 9 ], Norway [ 10 ], India [ 11 ], and Romania [ 12 ]. Recently, the SCM has been introduced to eight post-communist societies [ 13 ]: Russia [ 14 ], Belarus, Ukraine, Kosovo, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Armenia, which has greatly extended the SCM’s application in underrepresented regions of the world.…”

Stereotypes of social groups in mainland China in terms of warmth and competence: Evidence from a large undergraduate sample

“…As far as we know, this SCM validation study employed the largest sample size in mainland China so far. The findings support the cross-cultural generalizability of the SCM (Bai, Ramos, & Fiske, 2020;Cuddy et al, 2009;Durante et al, 2013;Durante et al, 2017;Fiske & Durante, 2016;Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002;Fiske, Cuddy, & Glick, 2007) and validate previous research in China (Cuddy et al, 2009;Gao, 2010;Guan & Cheng, 2011;Shi & Wang, 2017;Wu, Bai, & Fiske, 2018;Yuan, 2009). As predicted, 35 of 41 groups received ambient stereotype and in-group (undergraduates) and social reference groups were assessed as both high in warmth dimension and high in component dimension.…”

“…The results of the categorization of social groups would determine how others perceive and treat them. SCM has been tested and validated in multiple countries and regions (Bai, Ramos, & Fiske, 2020;Cuddy et al, 2009;Durante et al, 2013;Durante et al, 2017), such as German (Asbrock, 2010), Norway (Bye, Herrebrøden, Hjetland, Røyset, & Westby, 2014), Romania (Stanciu, Cohrs, Hanke, & Gavreliuc, 2017), Russia (Grigoryev, Fiske, & Batkhina, 2019). Although some variations were revealed, the universality of component and warmth was largely confirmed (Fiske, 2017(Fiske, , 2018Fiske & Durante, 2016;Fiske, Cuddy, & Glick, 2007).…”

Moving Beyond Implicit Bias Training: Policy Insights for Increasing Organizational Diversity

“…Lesick & Zell, 2020). In addition, even when people respond defensively (e.g., to demographic change; Craig & Richeson, 2014) in the short term, they often grow to appreciate greater diversity in the long term (Ramos et al, 2019), becoming less likely to stereotype different ethnic groups over time (Bai et al, 2020). Thus, short-term discomfort is not necessarily a harbinger for a failed intervention.…”