People resist stereotype change by fencing off disconfirming individuals as exceptions.

Evidence

In the early 1980s, researchers examined in more detail the cognitive factors that may be responsible for the inertia of stereotypes. The first paradigm to be used asked whether perceivers would disregard their faulty generalizations more or less as a function of the magnitude and distribution of counterstereotypical information about group members (Hewstone, 1994). As many studies revealed, people’s reactions are best described in terms of the so-called “subtyping strategy” according to which people resist changing their stereotypes if they can group inconsistencies together in a few individuals. This strategy elaborates on Allport’s notion that exceptional individuals are “fenced off” as not being like the rest of the group. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1163

Categorization

• SEED: The subtyping-vs-subgrouping distinction maps onto how organizations or political coalitions absorb counter-evidence — an essay on how dissenters get isolated as ‘not like the rest’ rather than shifting the category.
• XREF: Connects to the ‘grafting’ metaphor — how new information either gets integrated into the root system or walled off.