Learning Group Differences: Implications for Contrast and Assimilation in Stereotyping

Three studies examined how the learning environment during stereotype acquisition influences judgments of group members. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants learned to identify group members by schematic facial fea- tures, while supplemental behavioral information was presented inciden- tally. Experiment 3 reversed the learning and supplemental dimensions. The salience and correlational structure of dimensions was also manipu- lated across experiments. When information was well individuated, con- trast effects tended to occur for dominance judgments of remembered facial feature widths and likableness of behaviors for group members; oth- erwise assimilation effects or illusory correlation effects tended to occur. Assimilation of ideal points toward group norms was found for judgments of remembered pleasantness of faces, except when faces were learned supplementally. These results demonstrate that how stereotypes are learned can affect the individuation of group member information, which in turn can affect whether stereotypes are used in an assimilative or contrastive fashion in judgment.