Perceived entitativity, stereotype formation, and the interchangeability of group members.

Full Abstract

The authors investigated the effects of perceived entitativity of a group on the processing of behavioral information about individual group members and the extent to which such information was transferred to other group members. The results of 3 experiments using a savings-in-relearning paradigm showed that trait inferences about a group member, based on that member's behavior, were stronger for low entitative groups and for collections of individuals. However, the transference of traits from 1 group member to other members of the group was stronger for high entitative groups. These results provide strong evidence that the perception of high entitativity involves the abstraction of a stereotype of the group and the transfer of that stereotype across all group members. Implications for group impression formation and stereotyping are discussed.

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Author information

Author/s: Crawford, Matthew T (MT); Sherman, Steven J (SJ); Hamilton, David L (DL);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Indiana University Bloomington, USA. m.crawford(-atsign-)bristol.ac.uk

Grants: K05DA00492 (Agency:NIDA NIH HHS) ; MH-40058 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of personality and social psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Nov; vol 83 (issue 5) : pp 1076-94

Dates: Created 2002/11/05; Completed 2003/02/21; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12416913, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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