Prejudice and Stereotype Maintenance Processes: Attention, Attribution, and Individuation.

Abstract

Three experiments examined the relationship between prejudice and processing of stereotypic information. Higher levels of prejudice were associated with greater attention to and more thorough encoding of stereotype-inconsistent than stereotype-consistent behaviors but only when processing capacity was plentiful (Experiments 1 and 3). High-prejudice participants attributed consistent behaviors to internal factors and inconsistent behaviors to external forces (Experiment 2). Together, these results suggest that high-prejudice people attend carefully to inconsistent behaviors to explain them away but only if they have sufficient resources to do so. Results also showed that low-prejudice but not high-prejudice participants formed individuated impressions by integrating the implications of the target's behaviors (i.e., individuating). High levels of prejudice appear to be associated with biased encoding and judgment processes that may serve to maintain stereotypes.

“Temporary Worker, Permanent Loser?”A Model of the Stigmatization of Temporary Workers

“…Attention should be given to ensure that differential treatment of temporary workers is justified by clarifying boundaries of necessary differentiation versus acts of differentiation rooted in stereotypes that have no business justification. Furthermore, there are many forces that work to maintain stereotypes that are not under managerial control, including high levels of prejudiced attitudes (Sherman, Stroessner, Conrey & Azam, 2005), behavioral confirmation (Snyder & Klein, 2005), backlash (Rudman & Fairchild, 2004), and interpersonal communication (Lyons & Kashima, 2003).…”

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“…There are many different strategies to control the influence of activated stereotypes on judgments (for reviews, see Devine & Monteith, 1999;Monteith, Sherman, & Devine, 1998). For instance, if additional individuating information is available, perceivers may compute their judgment based solely on individuating information (e.g., Sherman, Stroessner, Conrey, & Azam, 2005). If no individuating information is available, perceivers may attempt to correct for the perceived bias by adjusting the judgment, guided by a theory about the direction and magnitude of the bias (cf.…”

An exception to the rule: Belief in redeemability, desistance signals, and the employer’s decision to hire a job applicant with a criminal record

“…Stereotyping is a process by which others are socially categorised on the basis of objective indicators such as their perceived race or a criminal record (Bodenhausen, 2005). Stereotypes are then the expectations and beliefs held about members of those social categories (Sherman, Stroessner, Conrey & Azam, 2005).…”