Imagine a princess asleep in a castle, waiting for her prince to slay the dragon and rescue her. Tales like the famous Sleeping Beauty clearly divide up gender roles. But what about more modern stories, borne of a generation increasingly aware of social constructs like sexism and racism? Do these stories tend to reinforce gender stereotypes, or counter them? In this paper, we present a techniqu...

The present research examines undergraduates’ stereotypes of the people in computer science, and whether changing these stereotypes using the media can influence women’s interest in computer science. In Study 1, college students at two U.S. West Coast universities (N=293) provided descriptions of computer science majors. Coding these descriptions revealed that computer scientists were perceived...

The authors hypothesized that activated self-stereotypes can influence the strategies of task solution by inducing regulatory foci. More specifically, positive self-stereotypes should induce a promotion focus state of eagerness, whereas negative stereotypes should induce a prevention focus state of vigilance. Study 1 showed that a negative ascribed stereotype with regard to task performance lea...

It is hypothesized that traits that are most likely to be the subject of social discourse (i.e., most communicable) are most likely to persist in ethnic stereotypes over time and that this effect is moderated by the extent to which an ethnic group is the subject of social discourse. Study 1 yielded communicability ratings of 76 traits. Study 2 tested the relation between a trait's communicabili...

Americans' conflicted attitudes toward immigrants and immigration has stymied immigration reform for decades. In this article, we explore the nuanced nature of stereotypes about immigrants and how they relate to ambivalent attitudes toward immigrant groups and the disparate array of immigration policies that affect them. Using item response theory and multiple regression analysis, we identified...

We investigate Americans’ stereotypes of both Muslims and Muslim-Americans. We find that negative stereotypes relating to violence and trustworthiness are commonplace and that little distinguishes Muslims from Muslim-Americans in the public’s mind. Furthermore, these stereotypes have consequences: those with less favorable views of Muslims are more likely to support several aspects of the War o...

I was 7 years old when I can first remember my ‘‘Bubbie’’ getting ready for bed during an overnight visit. With some curiosity, I watched her put her teeth into a glass of water and noticed the sagging flesh on her upper arms as she donned her nightgown, and I knew, without being told, that these physical peculiarities were associated with age. At that moment, I resolved to take good care of my...

This thesis explores some of the social factors that may affect individuals as they age. A lifespan developmental perspective is employed in investigating the effects of societal aging stereotypes on will-to-live and risk-taking skills. Results suggest negative aging stereotypes may have deleterious effects on the elderly, but not young individuals in terms of will-to-live, but have no effect o...

Texans are often presented as self-righteousness, simpleminded, and big-mouthed individualists. Despite this individualist stance, by believing in law and order they are supposed to have their own way of authoritativeness. Operationalizing the love for authority, it is demonstrated empirically that these prevalent stereotypes about Texans are unfounded. There are two reasons for the prevalence ...

This research examines the relationship between British accents and their stereotypes. It looks specifically at the ratings of British and American subjects for a variety of British regional and standard accents, and examines them in contrast with observed stereotypes about these accents. The purpose of this paper is to compare the reactions of British and American participants in order to unde...