Social perception and interpersonal behavior: On the self-fulfilling nature of social stereotypes.

Abstract

This research concerns the self-fulfilling influences of social stereotypes on dyadic social interaction Conceptual analysis of the cognitive and behavioral consequences of stereotyping suggests that a perceiver's actions based upon stereotype-generated attributions about a specific target individual may cause the behavior of that individual to confirm the perceiver's initially erroneous attributions. A paradigmatic investigation of the behavioral confirmation of stereotypes involving physical attractiveness (e.g., "beautiful people are good people") is presented. Male "perceivers" interacted with female "targets" whom they believed (as a result of an experimental manipulation) to be physically attractive or physically unattractive. Tape recordings of each participant's conversational behavior were analyzed by naive observer judges for evidence of behavioral confirmation. These analyses revealed that targets who were perceived (unknown to them) to be physically attractive came to behave in a friendly, likeable, and sociable manner in comparison with targets whose perceivers regarded them as unattractive. It is suggested that theories in cognitive social psychology attend to the ways in which perceivers create the information that they process in addition to the ways that they process that information. Thoughts are but dreams Till their effects be tried-William Shakespeare 1 Cognitive social psychology is concerned with the processes by which individuals gain knowledge about behavior and events that they encounter in social interaction, and how they use this knowledge to guide their actions. From this perspective, people are "constructive thinkers" searching for the causes of be

The benefits of positive illusions: Idealization and the construction of satisfaction in close relationships.

“…Conversely, idealized intimates may be happier in their relationships because their partners treat them as special individuals, thereby encouraging intimates to live up to these idealized images (e.g., Snyder & Swann, 1978;Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977). Also, if actors see their partners' behaviors through the rosy filters provided by their ideals, their inclination toward "attributional charity" might minimize the potential for overt conflict (e.g., Rusbult, Verette, Whitney, Slovik, & Lipkus, 1991).…”

“…In addition to providing constructive motivation, illusions may create resources of goodwill and generosity that prevent everyday hassles from turning into significant trivia (Holmes & Murray, in press). Intimates might even create elements of the idealized reality they perceive by treating their partners as special, unique individuals (e.g., Snyder & Swann, 1978;Snyder et al, 1977), In these ways, idealizing a partner may provide an effective buffer against the inevitable vicissitudes of time.…”

The Influence of Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Ultimatum Game Decisions

“…This design enabled us to present consistent stimuli across subjects and eliminate communication, but also limited the richness of each interaction. Photographs are often used to study the effects of physical attractiveness (Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977;Marlowe, Schneider, & Nelson, 1997), though photographs may amplify (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1993) or curtail (McCall, 1997) attractiveness effects.…”

The Researcher as Experimental Subject: Using Self-Experimentation to Access Experiences, Understand Social Phenomena, and Stimulate Reflexivity

“…Milgram (2010a) felt that with the method people could experience "radical deformations" (p. 408) of self during social interactions mediated by a shadower's body that was vastly divergent from their own in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, social status, and so on. At the time of Milgram's cyranoid studies it was well known that people stereotype other individuals on the basis of their outward identity (e.g., Cantor & Mischel, 1979;Tajfel, Sheikh, & Gardner, 1964) and that people's behavior in many ways confirms the stereotypes held by others (e.g., Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977), but experimental validations of these phenomena were largely, if not entirely, third-person in nature. So whereas the traditional literature showed that people stereotype (along with descriptions on the nature of stereotyping in various contexts),…”