Cognitive Processes Involved in Stereotyping
Title
Cognitive Processes Involved in Stereotyping
Author
Fiske, Susan T.
Dupree, Cydney H.
Research Area
Cognition and Emotions
Topic
Information Processing
Abstract
Social psychologists have studied stereotypes since the start of the twentieth century. Investigation proceeded at first descriptively, then in a process‐oriented manner that evolved with the broader field into increasingly cognitive explanations, and now marrying those approaches to social neuroscience. The illustrative case is stereotype content, first studied in the 1930s, then dormant as more process‐oriented topics dominated, and recently revisited in several models including the stereotype content model reviewed here. Fundamental dimensions of social cognition, including stereotypes, depend on inferred intentions for good or ill (warmth) and ability to enact them (competence). These dimensions follow, respectively, from inferred cooperation/competition and from inferred societal status. In turn, the warmth‐by‐competence space predict emotional prejudices and discriminatory tendencies, as evidenced by laboratory experiments, social neuroscience, random sample surveys, and cross‐cultural comparison.