Ingroup and outgroup stereotypes and selective processing

The main concern of the two studies presented here is to investigate whether the different nature of ingroup and outgroup stereotypes is reflected in different selective processing of ingroup and outgroup information. It was predicted that when processing ingroup information people will preferentially encode stereotype-inconsistent information as compared to stereotype-consistent information, whereas the reverse pattern will hold when people process outgroup information. In addition to selective processing, response bias due to stereotyping was studied. To measure selective processing and response bias, recognition memory measures derived from the theory of signal detection were used. Results of the two studies confirmed our main prediction. Also, response bias was demonstrated. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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