Examining Modifications of Stereotyping for Mexican American and White Men and Women

• In Event: 41011 - Experimental Examinations of Social Psychological Processes

Abstract

Using two experimental studies to consider effective strategies to decrease stereotyping. We examine two sets of principles: one premised on the focus theory of normative content; the second based on status characteristics and expectation states. In both studies, participants are white men, aged 18-25, who are in college and randomly assigned to conditions. The first study consisted of three conditions. Two of the conditions varied information about others’ – participants were either told that most people were biased or that few people were biased. The third condition involved a short cooperative interaction with a Mexican American man. We test how each condition affects two types of stereotyping: hiring decisions based on a vignette involving a Mexican American man and a measure of feelings and emotions felt “when you interact with a Mexican American.” We also use past contact with Mexican Americans as a covariate. Our results find little effect for any of the conditions on the vignette hiring decisions. We find a significant effect for the interaction condition, but not the other conditions on the “feelings or emotions” scale. The second study examines alternative reasons for our lack of an effect from framing others’ biases in study 1. Using a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design, varying the information about biases, the gender, and the ethnicity of the vignette character, we find an effect for bias framing that is different for the two types of stereotypes and different from other studies. For hiring decisions and general competence, participants judged the vignette character more positively when told that most people stereotype. However, in emotional stereotypes about feelings or anxiety when interacting with Mexican Americans, participants were more positive about Mexican Americans when told that few people stereotype. In explaining the results, we emphasize the importance of identifying different types of stereotyping.

Authors

• Mario Paez-Arellano, University of Iowa

• Valerie Barron, University of South Carolina-Columbia

• Jasmine Banks, Department of Psychology

• Jane Sell, Texas A&M University-College Station