Stereotypes are cognitively efficient, yet often inaccurate, tools that aid in impression formation. Much research has examined motivational factors which encourage individuation (the result of attribute-based processing) as opposed to stereotypic processing. The current study explored the effect of a non-motivational factor on encouraging individuation. Specifically, I hypothesized that exposure to communicated counterstereotypic exemplars would increase individuation. Counterstereotypic attributes of a traditionally stereotyped group member can be overlooked because a perceiver is not motivated to attend to them. Because perceivers expect communicators to provide relevant and necessary information (Schwarz, 1994), however, perceivers should be less likely to ignore counterstereotypic traits when they are directly communicated. In addition, the minority influence literature suggests that the impact of such a communication should be stronger if it comes from a peer A two-experiment ploy was utilized. In the alleged Experiment One, college student participants viewed videotapes of ingroup members (other college students) presenting either stereotypic or counterstereotypic exemplars of older persons. In the alleged Experiment Two, participants were asked to read over and comment on information about an elderly person presented in the form of a phone survey. Comments about individual items on the survey and the impression of this person that was later communicated to a friend served as the primary dependent variables Overall, participants in all conditions viewed the elderly target in a stereotypic manner. An ad hoc study suggested that these results were due to the particularly stereotypic way the target initially was described. Differences among conditions did occur and contrary to predictions, during both the impression formation and communication sequences, participants exposed to stereotypic exemplars increased attention to and agreement with stereotype inconsistent attributes of the elderly target. Such findings suggest that individuation occurred more in the stereotypic, as opposed to counterstereotypic, conditions. Some evidence suggests that participants in the counterstereotypic conditions did perceive elderly persons in general less stereotypically than participants in the stereotypic conditions. Results are explained in terms of contrast effects; the target individual might have appeared particularly stereotypic to participants who earlier were exposed to counterstereotypic exemplars. Similarly, participants who heard stereotypic exemplars might have viewed the target person as comparatively counterstereotypic. Future research expanding on the idea of non-motivational methods of encouraging individuation is advocated / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_25867 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Contributors | Duval, Laura Lawson (Author), Ruscher, Janet B (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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