Stereotypes elicit confirming behavior and perpetuate the status quo

Evidence

The impact of stereotypes on social cognition is probably even more profound than Allport knew. The last two decades of research have demonstrated that stereotypes: (a) direct attention to certain aspects of the available information, (b) color the interpretation of that information, (c) influence the way in which the information is retained in memory, (d) shape judgments and subsequent actions, (e) serve as hypotheses that are tested and disproportionately favored in the interpretation of new information, and (f ) play an important role in eliciting from target persons the very same behavior that confirms the perceiver’s biased expectations (for reviews, see Fiske, 1998; Hamilton & Sherman, 1994; Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000). The overwhelming effect of stereotypes, therefore, is to perpetuate prior beliefs and prejudices; the status quo is bolstered through information processors’ reliance upon stereotypes as a convenient way of organizing information about the social world. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1374

Categorization

• XREF: Direct contradiction to contact optimism in the vault’s Allport thread: behavioral confirmation means contact can reinforce, not reduce, prejudice. — connects to: Subordinates’ positive self-stereotypes can reinforce the status quo. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 2904; Stereotypes legitimize existing social hierarchy even against people’s own interests — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 43
• SEED: The self-fulfilling-prophecy point (f) undercuts naive contact-theory — a strong empirical angle for the prejudice reassessment.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1374