Stereotyping: From prejudice to prediction.

Abstract

A brief review of stereotype research indicates that little has been discovered about stereotypes that are defined as bad generalizations and measured with the Katz and Braly checklist. McCauley and Stitt have proposed that stereotypes can be better understood as probabilistic predictions that distinguish one group from another. The practicality of the proposed diagnostic-ratio measure of stereotyping is argued, and the relation of the new measure to the Katz and Braly measure is discussed. Lippmann's arguments against stereotypes-that they are illogical in origin, resistant to new information, and obviously invalid -are shown to be inapplicable to probabilistic stereotypes. Other common arguments against stereotypes-their ethnocentrism, genetic implications, projected hostility, and exaggeration of real group differences-are shown to be arguments against particular stereotypes rather than arguments against stereotyping. Recent research indicating various cognitive biases in the formation and use of stereotypes is reviewed, and it is suggested that what is wrong with stereotyping is no more and no less than what is wrong with human conceptual behavior generally.

Brain potentials reflect violations of gender stereotypes

“…Following recent theoretical work within social psychology, we assume that social stereotypes are probabilistic generalizations or predictions about the attributes of a social category or group (Brigham, 1971;Judd & Park, 1993;McCauley, Stitt, & Segal, 1980). These probabilistic generalizations might, but might not, accurately reflect the state of affairs in the real world.…”

Personalised hypermedia presentation techniques for improving online customer relationships

“…Stereotypes thus contain the standard assumptions that one makes about members of that category (McCauley et al, 1980). The use of stereotypes in computer systems that maintain models of their users was introduced by Rich with the system GRUNDY (Rich, 1979(Rich, , 1983.…”

Effects of own group success or failure on judgements of task performance by children of different ethnicities

“…Pettigrew, 1979). Other research has focused on how own group biases influence predictions of other's behaviour (McCauley, Stitt, & Segal, 1980;Jackson, Sullivan, & Hodge, 1993). Few studies, however, have examined evaluations, attributions, and predictions within one study (Jackson et al, 1993), and even fewer have examined whether these biases are found in children.…”