Category primes speed stereotypic word decisions automatically

Evidence

For example (Gaertner & McLaughlin, 1983), white participants, primed with the words “whites” or “blacks,” then had to distinguish words from nonwords. Compared to “blacks,” the prime “whites” speeded decisions about white stereotypic words (ambitious, smart, clean). This result and others like it showed the rapid, apparently unavoidable impact of race, age, gender, and even literal “us–them” categories on prejudgment (for a review, see Fiske, 1998). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 298

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the automaticity literature invoked throughout the read’s prejudice theme.