ABSTRACT
Stereotypes of social groups are harmful not just because they are categorical, negative, or false, but because they guide the treatment of members of those groups. One of the most disturbing and intriguing consequences of stereotypic treatment is the self-fulfilling prophecy –when one person’s stereotype induces another to act just as the stereotype predicts. Consider the following examples, which are loosely drawn from research on the topic: An African-American job candidate is treated with such distance and abruptness that he flounders in an interview (cf. Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1974); a man expects a female coworker to enjoy “feminine” tasks, and after talking to him she chooses those very tasks when she and her colleagues negotiate who will do what (cf. Skrypnek & Snyder, 1982); and a man talking to an unattractive woman does so with such detachment and boredom that her responses in the conversation are also unfriendly and uninteresting (cf. Snyder, Tanke, & Berscheid, 1977).
