Stereotypes: From an illusory stability to an illusory belief account

The categorization literature has shown that concepts are unstable and context-dependent knowledge structures (e.g., Barsalou, 1987; 1989). Three studies show similar findings for stereotypes. Study 1 revealed only moderate levels of within-participants stability in the content of social categories. Study 2 showed that irrelevant attributes of social groups are incorporated into the groups’ stereotype as long as they are contextually salient. Study 3 provided preliminary evidence suggesting that stereotype context sensitivity may be accounted for a belief illusion account.