Stereotypes shape perception, memory, judgment, and even elicit confirming behavior

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. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1374

Categorization

• XREF: Confirmatory behavior (f) links to self-fulfilling prophecy and behavioral-confirmation research; also connects to motivated perception work. — connects to: Mortality salience increases stereotypic thinking and preference for stereotype-confirming others. — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory: Implications…, 45