ABSTRACT
Stereotypes have huge interpersonal and intergroup consequences (for a review, see Yzerbyt & Demoulin, 2010). Social psychologists view stereotypes as the cognitive component of a triad that also comprises prejudice, corresponding to the emotional side, and discrimination, which refers to the behavioral facet. Modern wisdom on intergroup relations suggests that stereotypes are best seen as the antecedent of prejudice and discrimination: Because people think of group members or the entire group as having certain features, emotional reactions ensue and behavioral tendencies materialize. As is the case with other primary cognitions (i.e., initial associations of some object with some attribute; Petty, Briñol, Tormala, & Wegener, 2007), people can think about their stereotypic beliefs along a number of dimensions. In particular, the evaluation of and confidence about stereotypes play a role in how these beliefs shape subsequent dealings with group members. The present chapter examines several lines of research that deal with those secondary cognitions.
