Intergroup Stereotypes of Working Class Blacks and Whites: Implications for Stereotype Threat.

Abstract

Abstract Stereotypes about Blacks may have strong implications for self perception, as documented by research on threat (Steele, 1997). It is therefore important to have knowledge of content of Black stereotypes from perspective of both dominant White mainstream, and from Blacks themselves. Collectively, extant literature indicates an outgroup homogeneity effect (Mackie & Hamilton, 1993)for White perception of Blacks. That is, Whites see Blacks negatively and unidimensionally, while seeing their own group more positively, but Black perceptions of Whites have not been as extensively examined. Additionally, this content literature has been developed principally from college-student respondent populations. This literature is thus confounded by providing stereotypes of predominately White, middle--upper middle class respondents, which have then been generalized to represent population at large, including Blacks. The present study examined stereotypes of Black and White respondents in a setting frequented by working class populations--flea markets. Using cluster analysis to group data, results indicated that Blacks have a relatively complex, multidimensional representation of themselves and of Whites. In contrast, and consistent with previous literature, Whites seem to have a more simplistic, and largely negative of Blacks, while having a more complex view of their own group. Implications of these results for threat are discussed. Introduction In group and personal stigmatization may result from stereotypes, which are cognitive structures, or schemas, that contain perceiver's organized knowledge, beliefs, and expectancies about some human group (Fiske & Taylor (1984). When content of stereotypes is negative, targets of those stereotypes may operate in a state of reflective expectancy, believing that others hold general stereotypical expectancies of them (Niemann & Dovidio, 1998; Niemann & Pollak, 1998; Steele, 1997). Social psychologists have theorized about and researched this phenomenon for almost a century. For instance, Cooley (1902) referred to looking glass self metaphor, whereby we come to see ourselves in ways that we believe others see us, resulting in a feedback loop in which response and behavior are connected and become self-perpetuating, self-sealing systems (Kanter, 1977). More recently, Steele (1997) has documented insidious consequences of this internalization of prevailing social attitudes, a situational phenomenon which he calls threat. Steele (1997) defines threat as the event of a negative about a group to which one belongs becoming self-relevant, usually as a plausible interpretation for something one is doing, for an experience one is having, or for a situation one is in, that has relevance to one's self-definition. It happens when one is in field of stereotype.... , such that one can be judged or treated in terms of a racial stereotype (p. 616). He argues that threat may be cued by mere recognition that a negative group could apply to oneself in a given situation. For example, Steele (1997) found that under conditions of stress, such as during exams, Black college students perform worse than White students, not necessarily because they are less prepared or less intelligent, but because negative stereotypes about their groups come to mind when Blacks are feeling vulnerable and insecure in a domain in which negative stereotypes about them prevail. On other hand, there is no difference between Blacks' and Whites' performance on tests when Blacks are told test is not about their ability and/or is not racially biased. Steele concludes that negative stereotypes pose a threat which may undermine Black students' academic successes, a phenomenon which may generalize to domains outside of academia in which negative stereotypes about Blacks also prevail. …