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Talking loudly but lazing at work—Behavioral effects of stereotypes are context dependent
Author(s) -
Müller Florian,
Rothermund Klaus
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.1869
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , psychology , stereotype (uml) , context effect , social psychology , work (physics) , loudness , cognitive psychology , linguistics , computer science , philosophy , word (group theory) , engineering , biology , computer vision , paleontology , mechanical engineering
Recent research suggests that stereotype activation is context dependent. In the current research, we tested whether this context‐dependence also generalizes to behavioral effects of stereotypes. Extending previous findings, we could show that activation of the category “Italians” in a work context (but not in an interaction context) resulted in slow behavior (Experiment 1), whereas it increased the loudness of speech in an interaction context (but not in a work context; Experiment 2). Our results further strengthen the notion of context‐specific mental representations of stereotypes. Stereotypic attributes become activated and exert their influence on behavior in close correspondence with the current situation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.