On the (dis-)confirmability of stereotypic attributes

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the linguistic abstractness and confirmability of elements contained in ingroup and outgroup stereotypes. The first experiment shows that positive elements of the ingroup stereotype (Italians) and negative elements of the outgroup stereotype (Jews, Germans) tended to be particularly abstract. Also, negative elements contained in the outgroup stereotypes required relatively little evidence to be considered ‘true’ but much disconfirming evidence to be rejected as ‘false’. No such bias emerged for ingroup stereotypes. The second experiment compared the abstraction of four outgroup stereotypes (Jews, Blacks, homosexuals, career women) finding the greatest abstraction for the oldest stereotype (Jews), and least abstraction for the most recent stereotype (career women) with the remaining two groups (Blacks, homosexuals) occupying an intermediate position. Results are interpreted as suggesting that stereotypes may become more abstract over time as they lose the concrete elements that are easier to disconfirm while maintaining the abstract elements that are more resistant to change. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Effects of Linguistic Voice on Evaluations and Attributions of Ingroup And Outgroup Members

“…This analysis would entail not only a manipulation of active and passive voice but the removal of agents in the passive voice altogether (Lafrance & Hahn, 1994;Lamb, 1991). Moreover, when coupled with a manipulation of verb type (Maass et al, 1998;Semin & Fiedler, 1991), this approach could provide a powerful experimental analysis of the role of language in persuasion in English. Of course, the field would also benefit from an analysis of linguistic masking in languages other than English.…”

TARGET ARTICLE: Attributions of Implicit Prejudice, or "Would Jesse Jackson 'Fail' the Implicit Association Test?"

“…The cognitive indictment runs through the professional literature: The prejudiced are too quick to jump to conclusions about target groups, too slow to acknowledge disconfirming evidence and to update beliefs in response to such information, and prone to see relationships between variables and group membership that are weakly or not at all connected (Allport & Postman, 1947;Henderson-King & Nisbett, 1996;Huici, Ros, Carmona, Cano, & Morales, 1996;Maass, Montalcini, & Biciotti, 1998;Rothbart, Evans, & Fulero, 1979;Rothbart & John, 1985;Ybarra, Schaberg, & Keiper, 1999;Ybarra, Stephan, & Schaberg, 2000). The moral indictment is no less explicit.…”

Converting Verbs into Adjectives: Asymmetrical Memory Distortions for Stereotypic and Counterstereotypic Information

“…In support of this idea, previous research has shown that stereotypes tend to take the form of abstract trait expectations such as 'Women are sensitive' or 'Men are dominant'. For example, Maass, Montalcini, and Biciotti (1998) asked research participants to generate a list of characteristics that they thought were typical of different social groups ( Jews, Italians, Germans). Despite the fact that participants had explicitly been told that they could either use phrases (hence verbs) or adjectives, adjectives clearly prevailed over any other linguistic form.…”