Perceived entitativity, stereotype formation, and the interchangeability of group members.
The authors investigated the effects of perceived entitativity of a group on the processing of behavioral information about individual group members and the extent to which such information was transferred to other group members. The results of 3 experiments using a savings-in-relearning paradigm showed that trait inferences about a group member, based on that member's behavior, were stronger for low entitative groups and for collections of individuals. However, the transference of traits from 1 group member to other members of the group was stronger for high entitative groups. These results provide strong evidence that the perception of high entitativity involves the abstraction of a stereotype of the group and the transfer of that stereotype across all group members. Implications for group impression formation and stereotyping are discussed.
Crawford
Matthew T
MT
Department of Psychology, Indiana University Bloomington, USA. m.crawford@bristol.ac.uk
Sherman
Steven J
SJ
Hamilton
David L
DL
D003210:Concept Formation; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D011897:Random Allocation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D014167:Transference, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception