ABSTRACT
In the last chapter, we addressed the question of how stereotype-related hypotheses are acquired through mere observation. We drew on experiments in which participants were passively exposed to a series of stimulus observations, or learning trials, about target persons or groups. The learning process started from zero and was not guided by any prior expectancy or instruction focus. In these situations, learning served to create hypotheses about the target persons or groups. In the present chapter, the analysis of stereotype learning is carried one step further. Taking the existence of a guiding hypothesis for granted-which is induced by explicit experimental instructions-we examine what people do when they put a social hypothesis to an empirical test in direct interaction with target persons or groups. Participants in these experiments are not restricted to observing a series of stimuli passively but can actively determine the process of information search. Indeed, an analysis of their information search strategies is of equal interest in these experiments as the analysis of the outcome of social hypothesis testing.
