Justification dominated 20th-century social psychology yet vanished from stereotyping research

Evidence

The apparent inconsistencies in Allport’s thinking, however, stem in part from the complexity of the phenomenon. A prominent example concerns the role of stereotyping in prejudice. Early on in The Nature of Prejudice, in chapter 2, he implicated stereotypic thinking as a foundation for prejudice. He observed, “The category saturates all that it contains with the same ideational and emotional flavor” (1954/1979, p. 21). Later, in chapter 12, he wrote that stereotypes are “primarily rationalizers. They adapt to the prevailing temper of prejudice or the needs of the situation. While it does no harm (and may do some good) to combat them … it must not be thought that this attack alone will eradicate the roots of prejudice” (p. 204). Allport explicitly addressed the apparent contradiction in these statements, embracing stereotypes as both causes and consequences of prejudice: “The stereotype acts as both a justificatory device for categorical acceptance or rejection of a group, and as a screening or selective device to maintain simplicity in perception and thinking” (p. 192). Fifty years later, after thousands of studies on stereotyping, the extent to which stereotypes are cause or consequence of prejudice remains a subject of lively debate. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 101 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Thirdly, stereotypes are characterized by their consensuality, the fact that they are shared by large segments of society (e.g., Allport, 1954; Ehrlich, 1973; Fishman, 1956; Katz & Braly, 1933; Tajfel, 1981a, b). For example, Triandis, Lisansky, Setiadi, Chang, Marin, and Betancourt (1982) found that Hispanics and Blacks had approximately the same stereotypes of one another that Whites had of them. If the contents of stereotypes arose out of processes of individual justification, as the ego-justification hypothesis suggests, it seems unlikely that they would be so uniformly shared, because individuals should vary on the dimension in need of rationalization. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2888 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: System-justification is underemphasized, not inevitable, in stereotyping research — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2938; Psychoanalytic ideas collapsed from near-universal to marginal in social psychology within fifty years — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2343; The consensuality of stereotypes contradicts their origin in individual justification — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2888 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Stereotypes pair cognitive simplification with social justification functions #complicates (0.88)
• Whether stereotypes cause or rationalize prejudice is still unresolved after fifty years of study #complicates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 101
• The consensuality of stereotypes contradicts their origin in individual justification #complicates (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2888