Stereotype-Based Blocking in Social Explanation

Abstract

Explanations for performance and behavior are often biased by stereotypes held by social perceivers. Stereotypes may affect not only judgments of the causal role of members of the stereotyped group but also assessments of the causal influence of people and events that are unrelated to the stereotype. The findings from three experiments indicate that an important mechanism through which stereotypes affect judgments of the causality of stereotype-irrelevant factors is blocking as described by Kamin. Patterns of causality consistent with gender stereotypes blocked, or attenuated, the perception of covariation between causes unrelated to gender and performance outcomes. The blocking of this covariation evidence, in turn, decreased the causality attributed to gender-irrelevant events. The findings suggest that blocking is a distinct process from discounting through which stereotypes and other expectancies bias causal attributions and persevere.