ABSTRACT
Members of stereotyped groups live in a social world in which cultural stereotypes often influence the way others see them and behave toward them (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998). One consequence of this state of affairs is that stereotype targets are regularly in the position of interacting with other social actors who hold, or are perceived to hold, stereotypical attitudes about their group. Classic perspectives on the social basis of selfunderstanding such as symbolic interactionism suggest that self-stereotyping (i.e., application of cultural stereotypes to the self) is an unavoidable consequence of these stereotype-tinged social interactions (e.g., Allport, 1954; Cartwright, 1950; Cooley, 1902; Mead, 1934). According to these approaches, the self is derived from internalization of the way peoples’ social interaction partners view them. In this analysis, stereotype targets simply absorb cultural beliefs about their group into their own self-concepts whenever they interact with individuals who subscribe to these stereotypic beliefs. Because stereotypes pervade society, this analysis suggests that selfstereotyping is a highly prevalent, perhaps ubiquitous, phenomenon. Our research takes a decidedly different approach to understanding the social basis of self-stereotyping. Although we agree that self-stereotyping can be a product of one’s social relationships, our research suggests that it is far from unavoidable. Rather, self-stereotyping is situation specific and contingent on the perceived views of salient social interaction partners and the desire to get along with them.
