When we think of the problems that stereotypes cause, we
typically focus on negative characteristics associated with groups. Over the years, I have been part of
conversations where someone uses the term “Jew” to refer to someone who is
being cheap. I leave those interactions
frustrated and angry.
Presumably, though, there are positive stereotypes as
well. In the United States, there are
cultural stereotypes that Asians are good at math and that Women are
nurturing. If hearing a negative
stereotype about your group gets you upset, does hearing a positive stereotype
have the opposite effect?
This question was explored in a series of studies by John
Oliver Siy and Sapna Cheryan in the January, 2013 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In one study, Asian Americans were brought to the lab where
they engaged in a task along with a White participant (who was actually one of
the experimenters posing as a participant).
In the experiment, each participant was going to fill out a packet. One packet had math problems in it, while the
other had verbal problems in it. After a
rigged coin flip to make the selection process appear random, the White
participant was chosen to select who would fill out each packet.
In the control condition, the White participant handed the
math packet to the Asian participant and said, “How about you take this packet,
and I’ll work on this one.” In the
positive stereotype condition, the White participant said, “I know all Asians
are good at math, how about you take the math packet. I’ll work on this one.”
After completing the packets, participants rated how much
they liked their partner and they filled out some other scales including a
measure of how much they felt like their partner depersonalized them by
reducing them to a member of their racial group.
Positive stereotypes did not make people feel good. When the White participant used a positive
stereotype, the Asian participant liked them less and felt more depersonalized. The positive stereotype also made the
participants angry. Statistically, the
amount of depersonalization they felt explained the amount of dislike they felt
for their partner.
Other studies in this series demonstrated a similar effect
with women who were told that they were nurturing or cooperative because of
their gender. These studies also ruled
out some other explanations like the possibility that Asian Americans react
negatively to the positive stereotype because it does not acknowledge that they
are both Asians and Americans.
Across all of the studies done in this paper, a positive
stereotype made people feel less like an individual. Under some circumstances, though, this did
not cause people to dislike the person who used the stereotype. In one study, Asian American participants
were primed to think of themselves either in independent or interdependent
terms. The independent prime asked
people to think about ways that they were different from family and
friends. The interdependent prime asked
people to think about ways that they were similar to family and friends.
After this priming, participants were exposed either to a
positive stereotype (in this case that Asians are hard working) or to no
stereotype. Participants rated how much they liked the speaker as well as
whether they felt depersonalized. As in
the other studies, hearing a positive stereotype led to greater feelings of
being depersonalized for everyone in the study.
However, only the people with primed to think of themselves in
independent terms strongly disliked the speaker. Those primed to think of themselves in
interdependent terms did not dislike the speaker significantly more after
hearing a positive stereotype compared to no stereotype.
What is going on here?
Stereotypes of all kinds lump an individual into a
group. When you find a stereotype
applied to you, it removes some of your individuality. That happens whether the stereotype used was positive
or negative. It is frustrating to
realize that someone views you just as a member of a group and not as an
individual. And in many situations, that
leads you to dislike the person who made the comment.
It is fascinating, though, that when you feel more
interconnected with others (as you do when you are primed to think of yourself
in interdependent terms), the depersonalization caused by hearing a stereotype
aimed at you does not lead to the same dislike of the speaker.
Finally, I suspect there is an additional factor at play in
these studies. When someone uses a positive
stereotype to judge you, it is reasonable to assume that it is only a matter of
time until they apply negative stereotypes as well. That is, you are making a judgment that the
person you are talking to uses stereotypes to make judgments.
The studies in this series did find that depersonalization
explained the negative effects of positive stereotypes above-and-beyond the
judgment that the speaker was racist.
But, the judgment that the speaker was racist (and used stereotypes to
judge people) also contributed to the effects.
