The primary gender stereotypes accepted in mainstream social psychology describe women as low competence and high warmth, men having warmth competence. Women who are incompatible with exposed to negative attitudes. Exposure attitudes damages the psychological well-being of these group members. Stereotypes towards members groups contribute persistence their status. Explaining causes is an overlo...

Many people hold negative attitudes and stereotypes about gay men, including the stereotype that gay men are likely to be child molesters. This article explored the implications of this stereotype for judgments made in a hypothetical legal case involving child sexual abuse accusations against a male teacher by either a male or female victim. Mock jurors who held the most anti-gay attitudes and ...

Objective. Scholars who have investigated depictions of public service in children’s literature have come to a mix of conclusions regarding the portrayal of public figures in children’s literature. We revisit these studies, attempting to answer the question of how public servants are portrayed in children’s literature. Methods. We perform content analysis of 93 books and examine 868 characters ...

Society is ingrained with prejudice toward mental illness, and sufferers are often widely perceived to be dangerous or unpredictable. Reinforcement of these popular myths through the media can perpetuate the stigma surrounding mental illness, precipitating shame, self-blame, and secrecy, all of which discourage affected individuals from seeking treatment. Efforts aimed at countering stigma in m...

Adherence to masculine norms and stereotypes has been linked to negative consequences for men, suggesting that liberating men from the bonds of traditional masculinity would be beneficial (Courtenay, 2000; Pollack, 1998). However, when people deviate from stereotypic expectations, they encounter backlash (i.e., social and economic penalties; Rudman & Phelan, 2008). The current research demonstr...

In four experiments, it was demonstrated that the expression of racial stereotyping and prejudice is highly affected by perceptions about the extent to which stereotypic beliefs are consensually shared by members of relevant reference groups. Providing feedback that others held more favorable beliefs toward African Americans than individuals originally estimated increased the expression of posi...

Why do race stereotypes take the forms they do? Life history theory posits that features of the ecology shape individuals' behavior. Harsh and unpredictable ("desperate") ecologies induce fast strategy behaviors such as impulsivity, whereas resource-sufficient and predictable ("hopeful") ecologies induce slow strategy behaviors such as future focus. We suggest that individuals possess a lay und...

Negative stereotypes about atheists are widespread, robust, rooted in distrust, and linked to discrimination. Here, we examine whether social perceivers the United States might additionally hold any positive (and corresponding negative of religious). Experiments 1 ( N = 401) 2 398, preregistered) used methods intuitive (the conjunction fallacy). People tended stereotype as fun, open-minded, sci...