Cognitive models of stereotype change: (1). Generalization and subtyping in young people's views of the police

Abstract

We report investigations of change in, and cognitive representation oJ young people '

School pupils' perceptions of the police that visit schools: Not all police are ‘pigs’

“…Whilst these qualitative data concerning the perceived atypicality of SLOs are in several respects congruent with the quantitative survey data reported elsewhere (Vorhaus, 1984;Hewstone et al, 1992;Hopkins et al, 1992), they also extend our understanding of these perceptions by highlighting the centrality of the 'power' dimension in youthipolice contact. Several observations concerning the research methodology, the particular analysis of 'typicality' that it allows, and the practical implications that these give rise to, deserve consideration.…”

“…One possible approach to the apparent failure of PSL to achieve attitude change (Hopkins et d., 1992) would be to increase the number of SLOs operating in schools, arguing that this would reduce the likelihood of pupils attributing the 'positive' behaviours of the SLOs' to their individualipersonality factors. However, once the utility of viewing pupils' perceptions of the police in terms of mistaken over-generalized 'stereotypes' is questioned it is apparent that this approach is highly problematic.…”

Psychological Reactions to Crime News Portrayals of Black Criminals: Understanding the Moderating Roles of Prior News Viewing and Stereotype Endorsement

“…Stereotype endorsement and news viewing habits are largely considered stable traits not susceptible to priming effects (Devine, 1989;Fiske & Taylor, 1991;Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000). For example, scholars have conceptualized racial attitudes as relatively stable belief systems that are in fact largely resistant to change (Hewstone, Hopkins, & Routh, 1992;Hewstone, Macrae, Griffiths, Milne, & Brown, 1994;Johnston & Hewstone, 1990;Park, Wolsko, & Judd, 2000;Richards & Hewstone, 2001;Wicks, 1992). Similarly, much of the work undertaken on news viewing suggests that news consumption is largely integrated into daily habits (Tewksbury, 2003).…”

Reasoning counterfactually: Combining and rending

“…Subtyping has even been shown to actually strengthen stereotypic belief (Hewstone, Hopkins, & Routh, 1992;Hewstone, Macrae, Griffiths, & Milne, 1994). The opposite process, called conversion (Rothbart, 1981), occurs when a particular instance disconfirms a general rule (equivalent to the particularist strategy).…”