Stereotypes serve three distinct justification functions beyond individual motives

Evidence

Jost and Banaji (1994) proposed that there are three major ways in which stereotypes serve as “justificatory devices,” namely as forms of egojustification, group-justification, and system-justification. Only the first of these functions (ego-justification) had received any real attention from psychologists of Allport’s generation, and insights concerning the second function (group-justification) coalesced later (e.g., Tajfel, 1981). Skeletal versions of the third function (system-justification) are discernible in Allport’s (1954/1979) discussions of the “exploitation theory of prejudice” on pp. 209–11 and of “structural views” on pp. 504–6, but it seems that he could not quite integrate a sociological perspective on the American class system with his psychological analysis of rationalization. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1394

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the ego/group/system-justification taxonomy of stereotype functions, a useful framework distinction.
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the Allport reassessment thread — identifies precisely which stereotype-justification functions Allport grasped and which he could not integrate sociologically.