Stereotypes influence judgments even when perceivers are unaware

Evidence

The findings from this research are important for our discussion of stereotyping and false consciousness for at least two reasons. First and foremost, they demonstrate that prior exposure to stereotype-related information can influence judgements and actions even when perceivers are unaware of it. For example, Banaji and Greenwald (1994) found that subjects unconsciously misattributed fame to males more often than females. Banaji, Hardin, and Rothman (1993) showed that word primes associated with a female stereotype (dependence) or a male stereotype (aggression) were used implicitly but selectively in judgements of targets whose gender fit the social category of the primed stereotype. Devine (1989) found that subliminal presentations of racial stereotypes of Black Americans later influenced Whites’ judgements of an ambiguously described person. Gilbert and Hixon (1991) identified the limiting conditions of cognitive load under which subjects are more or less likely to use an unconsciously activated racial stereotype on tasks of word-fragment completion. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2933

Categorization

• XREF: Directly connects to implicit bias literature and to the Banaji/Greenwald famous-name studies; also relevant to discussions of ‘false consciousness.’ — connects to: Perceivers infer others’ hidden prejudice from egalitarian claims regardless of liking — Drew S. Jacoby-Senghor and Michael Rosenblum and N. Derek Brown, Not all egalitarianism is created…, 86; People misreport which attribute influenced their judgments even about observable traits. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 95; Stereotypes can operate implicitly outside conscious awareness — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 193 (+4 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2933