The enviable high-warmth high-competence cluster reflects cultural reference groups more than rater in-groups.

Evidence

In a related vein, we have hedged about whether membership in the high–high cell consists of the in-group of raters or the culture’s main reference group. We suspect something of a mix. In the study that explicitly included potential in-groups or societal reference groups, the ones in the unambivalently well-regarded cluster were probably both cultural reference groups and in-groups for most of our participants in that sample: Christian, middle class, and White. However, the presence of students and women in that cluster suggests some in-group favoritism, though the F tests revealed no group differences in the placement of those two groups. This seems a task for further research. Preliminary data collected in other countries suggest that participants are quite capable of reporting how their group is viewed negatively by the culture at large. On balance, we suspect that the high–high cluster is reserved mostly for societal reference groups. — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 291

Categorization

• XREF: Pins which quadrant is ‘us’: the high-high cluster belongs to the culture’s reference group (Christian, middle-class, White), so the envied outgroup in the adjacent competence-only quadrant is implicitly the ‘not-us’ that culture scapegoats. — connects to: High competence plus high warmth cluster describes in-groups not outgroups. — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 159; High-competence low-warmth outgroups share a stereotype of being too competent — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 30

Broader Connections

• High-competence low-warmth outgroups share a stereotype of being too competent #expands (0.72) — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 30