Reducing Prejudice Through Priming of Control-Related Words

Abstract

We investigated the effect of incidentally presented constructs that imply self-control on activated stereotypes associated with immigrants. To activate immigrant stereotypes, participants responded to a scale that measures people's prejudice toward immigrants. They were then primed, using scrambled sentences, with words that were related to self-control (e.g., control, restrain, self-regulate) or with neutral words. After the priming task, participants evaluated an ambiguous behavior of a target person. On the basis of three experiments, the results showed that participants primed with the control-related words rated the target behavior more positively than those primed with neutral words. The results are discussed in relation to previous research on self-control, automatic influence of activated constructs, and prejudice reduction.

When tolerance leads to intolerance: Accessibility effects on social judgment

“…Based on the automotive model and previous research findings (e.g., Araya et al , 2002; Bargh et al , 2001), in Study 1, we tested the hypothesis that a surreptitious activation of words that were related to tolerance (e.g., non‐prejudiced, humane ) would lead to a more positive description of an ambiguous target behavior. Contrary to our expectation, the results of Study 1 showed that participants primed with the tolerance‐related words judged the target person as intolerant as compared to the participants with the neutral primes.…”

“…Araya, Akrami, Ekehammar, and Hedlund (2002), for example, investigated whether incidentally primed words that were evocative of control or self‐regulation (e.g., control, regulate ) could reduce the impact of activated stereotypes. The results showed that the participants who were primed with control‐related words judged an ambiguous behavioral description (see Srull & Wyer, 1979) more positively than those primed with neutral words.…”

Personality trait inferences of Turkish immigrant and neutral targets: An experimental study

“…On the basis of such categorizations, people automatically activate stereotypical traits that go far beyond the observed behavior (Devine, 1989; Dijksterhuis & Vanknippenberg, 1995). For example, Araya, Akrami, Ekehammar and Hedlund (2002) state that items strongly associated with the social category “immigrant” were criminal , hostile , unfriendly , dishonest , and unreliable. A number of researchers have argued that stereotypes confer efficiency by acting as filters that facilitate the encoding and representation of consistent relative to inconsistent information in memory (Araya, et al ., 2002; Bodenhausen, 1988).…”

“…For example, Araya, Akrami, Ekehammar and Hedlund (2002) state that items strongly associated with the social category “immigrant” were criminal , hostile , unfriendly , dishonest , and unreliable. A number of researchers have argued that stereotypes confer efficiency by acting as filters that facilitate the encoding and representation of consistent relative to inconsistent information in memory (Araya, et al ., 2002; Bodenhausen, 1988). Perceivers have also shown greater readiness to attribute expected stereotypic behavior than unexpected behavior to stable personality characteristics (Sherman, Lee, Bessenoff & Frost, 1998).…”

Regulatory Accessibility and Social Influences on State Self-Control

“…In a study on prejudice reduction, individuals primed with words related to self-control were less likely to express negative stereotypes about others (Araya, Akrami, Ekehammar, & Hedlund, 2002). In another study, self-control priming aided depleted participants in exerting self-control on a physical persistence task (Alberts, Martijn, Greb, Merckelbach, & deVries, 2007).…”