Through the looking glass: A lens-based account of intersectional stereotyping.

Abstract

A growing body of scholarship documents the intersectional nature of social stereotyping, with stereotype content being shaped by a target person's multiple social identities. However, conflicting findings in this literature highlight the need for a broader theoretical integration. For example, although there are contexts in which perceivers stereotype gay Black men and heterosexual Black men in very different ways, so too are there contexts in which perceivers stereotype these men in very similar ways. We develop and test an explanation for contradictory findings of this sort. In particular, we argue that perceivers have a repertoire of lenses in their minds-identity-specific schemas for categorizing others-and that characteristics of the perceiver and the social context determine which one of these lenses will be used to organize social perception. Perceivers who are using the lens of race, for example, are expected to attend to targets' racial identities so strongly that they barely attend, in these moments, to targets' other identities (e.g., their sexual orientations). Across six experiments, we show (a) that perceivers tend to use just one lens at a time when thinking about others, (b) that the lenses perceivers use can be singular and simplistic (e.g., the lens of gender by itself) or intersectional and complex (e.g., a race-by-gender lens, specifically), and (c) that different lenses can prescribe categorically distinct sets of stereotypes that perceivers use as frameworks for thinking about others. This lens-based account can resolve apparent contradictions in the literature on intersectional stereotyping, and it can likewise be used to generate novel hypotheses.

The acquisition of the gender‐brilliance stereotype: Age trajectory, relation to parents' stereotypes, and intersections with race/ethnicity

“…Notably, this argument is similar to one made recently by Petsko et al (2022), according to which intersectional stereotypes are more often observed in contexts where multiple identities of the stereotype targets (vs. just one such identity) are accessible to observers and relevant to their goals. For example, Petsko and colleagues found intersectional stereotypes even in an IAT when participants sorted social stimuli using multiple‐identity labels (e.g., “Black women”) rather than single‐identity labels (e.g., “women”).…”

Examining the consequences of dehumanization and adultification in justification of police use of force against Black girls and boys.

“…We also did not find the hypothesized differences between Black men and women for either type of dehumanization; rather, there was no significant difference in the animalistic or mechanistic dehumanization of Black men and women. This result is consistent with Petsko et al's (2022) argument that people use only one lens at a time when evaluating others. In this instance, it appears that a race lens took precedence over a gender or intersectional lens.…”

“…Intersectionality acknowledges that Black women experience discrimination in ways that cannot be explained solely by racism or sexism (Crenshaw, 1989). Petsko et al's (2022) lens-based theory of intersectionality holds that people rely on one "lens" at a time when perceiving others, and that which lens is used depends on the context. In some contexts, people may use a "race" lens, which could lead to discrimination against racial minorities.…”

Of Christians, Jews, and Muslims: When gender is unspecified, the default is men

“…Second, the stereotypes and emotions assessed in this work were largely assessed in a context-free environment. Research shows that different contexts (e.g., stereotyping in hiring contexts versus criminal sentencing) can elicit different lenses: dependent on situational cues, perceivers may use a religion lens, gender lens, or an intersectional lens when stereotyping groups (Petsko et al, 2022). Future work should examine how changing or specifying context can change these intersectional stereotypes.…”