Descriptions of groups shift between abstract traits and concrete acts

Evidence

However, mounting evidence suggests that beliefs about groups can be quite malleable across different contexts. For example, different components of stereotypes and attitudes are activated when target group members are viewed in different situations (e.g., African American individuals on a street corner versus in a church; Wittenbrink, Judd, & Park, 2001). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 221 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The groups that persistently landed in the middle of the competence–warmth space (gay men, Arabs and Muslims, blue-collar workers, Native Americans, migrant workers) may indeed elicit the nondescript stereotypes suggested by this location. However, consider the case of Black people, who inhabited the middle cluster when labeled at this abstract level yet, at the subgroup level, split neatly into competent but not warm Black professionals and incompetent but warm poor Blacks. Stereotypes of gay men might, for example, subdivide into threatening militants, imagined predators, harmless buffoons, and respected aesthetic professionals. American stereotypes of Muslims might divide among American citizens, harmless Arab nationals, and terrorists. Our data for these middle groups do not distinguish between unformed stereotypes and averages over opposite subgroups. — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 292 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Abstract language frames outgroup faults as stable traits but ingroup faults as incidents; Identical behaviors are remembered abstractly for outgroups and concretely for ingroups; People explain behavior by citing a person’s group membership, not just their traits (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Group stereotypes activate differently depending on the context viewed #complicates (0.78) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 221
• Abstract-level middle-cluster stereotypes mask sharp subtype splits within a group. #complicates (0.72) — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 292