PDF(339 KB)
The Dimensions of National Stereotype and its Activation
Wang Pei, Luo Xinming
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (2) : 504-511.
PDF(339 KB)
PDF(339 KB)
The Dimensions of National Stereotype and its Activation
National stereotype is an important aspect of stereotype, which involves the cognition of a particular social group about the political, economic, social, cultural, and traditional customs of a country. It also covers the immobilization, generalization, and evaluation of its citizens. The cognitive subject of national stereotype can be either this country or the citizen of this country. Its existence has certain psychological significance. The positive stereotype of a country may promote the willingness of outside groups to communicate with it and increase cultural identity, while the negative stereotype of a country may deepen the potential psychological distance between each other. Because of the particularity of the concept of the state, the content of the stereotype of the country is different. In particular, the national stereotype is not only associated with one impression, but also has various or even contradictory impressions on the image of a country or its national characteristics. The national stereotype represents a mixed impression, which can be recognized from the perspectives of affective and functional dimensions, collective and individual dimensions, enthusiasm and negative dimensions, and so on.
The activation of national stereotypes is often considered a controlled process of consciousness. In the face of situations that have not been previously purchased or lack of product attribute information, consumers will actively incorporate the existing national clues related to the product into their own evaluation criteria, thus forming an attitude towards the product. But current research also proves that the activation and use of national stereotypes can also be the result of unconsciousness and automation. When individuals identify products from a given country according to the clues in the situation, they are usually able to build various opinions and judgments on the quality and characteristics of the brand based on their own experience. The content or way of activation of national stereotypes will profoundly affect individual's subsequent emotional or behavioral tendencies. Because of the particularity of the cognitive subject of national stereotype, the factors influencing its activation are also various. When the existing clues are coordinated with the stereotyped cognition held by the individual, the activation of the relevant stereotype may be accelerated, but when the two are inconsistent, the activation performance is not necessarily inhibited or weakened, depending on the influence of multiple factors. Specifically, the activation of national stereotype is mainly affected by the specificity of the cognitive subject, the connection of cultural concepts, the compatibility of the occurrence situation and the adaptability of each other. These factors are indispensable for the initiation of the national stereotype, and can be used as a direction for further discussion.
As a collective schema, national stereotypes can quickly trigger an individual's cognitive and behavioral response to a country. Understanding the possible dimensions of an individual's stereotype of a country, and what factors affect the activation of this national stereotype can help the country to find more targeted solutions, reverse and shape a more suitable image of the country, it has important reference and practical significance for the future study of national stereotype.
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In the present research, consisting of 2 correlational studies (N = 616) including a representative U.S. sample and 2 experiments (N = 350), the authors investigated how stereotypes and emotions shape behavioral tendencies toward groups, offering convergent support for the behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes (BIAS) map framework. Warmth stereotypes determine active behavioral tendencies, attenuating active harm (harassing) and eliciting active facilitation (helping). Competence stereotypes determine passive behavioral tendencies, attenuating passive harm (neglecting) and eliciting passive facilitation (associating). Admired groups (warm, competent) elicit both facilitation tendencies; hated groups (cold, incompetent) elicit both harm tendencies. Envied groups (competent, cold) elicit passive facilitation but active harm; pitied groups (warm, incompetent) elicit active facilitation but passive harm. Emotions predict behavioral tendencies more strongly than stereotypes do and usually mediate stereotype-to-behavioral-tendency links.
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Four studies tested whether cultural values moderate the content of gender stereotypes, such that male stereotypes more closely align with core cultural values (specifically, individualism vs. collectivism) than do female stereotypes. In Studies 1 and 2, using different measures, Americans rated men as less collectivistic than women, whereas Koreans rated men as more collectivistic than women. In Study 3, bicultural Korean Americans who completed a survey in English about American targets rated men as less collectivistic than women, whereas those who completed the survey in Korean about Korean targets did not, demonstrating how cultural frames influence gender stereotype content. Study 4 established generalizability by reanalyzing Williams and Best's (1990) cross-national gender stereotype data across 26 nations. National individualism-collectivism scores predicted viewing collectivistic traits as more-and individualistic traits as less-stereotypically masculine. Taken together, these data offer support for the cultural moderation of gender stereotypes hypothesis, qualifying past conclusions about the universality of gender stereotype content.(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
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Stereotype research emphasizes systematic processes over seemingly arbitrary contents, but content also may prove systematic. On the basis of stereotypes' intergroup functions, the stereotype content model hypothesizes that (a) 2 primary dimensions are competence and warmth, (b) frequent mixed clusters combine high warmth with low competence (paternalistic) or high competence with low warmth (envious), and (c) distinct emotions (pity, envy, admiration, contempt) differentiate the 4 competence-warmth combinations. Stereotypically, (d) status predicts high competence, and competition predicts low warmth. Nine varied samples rated gender, ethnicity, race, class, age, and disability out-groups. Contrary to antipathy models, 2 dimensions mattered, and many stereotypes were mixed, either pitying (low competence, high warmth subordinates) or envying (high competence, low warmth competitors). Stereotypically, status predicted competence, and competition predicted low warmth.
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Priming negative stereotypes of African Americans can bias perceptions toward novel Black targets, but less is known about how these perceptions ultimately arise. Examining how neural regions involved in arousal, inhibition and control covary when negative stereotypes are activated can provide insight into whether individuals attempt to downregulate biases. Using fMRI, White egalitarian-motivated participants were shown Black and White faces at fast (32 ms) or slow (525 ms) presentation speeds. To create a racially negative stereotypic context, participants listened to violent and misogynistic rap (VMR) in the background. No music (NM) and death metal (DM) were used as control conditions in separate blocks. Fast exposure of Black faces elicited amygdala activation in the NM and VMR conditions (but not DM), that also negatively covaried with activation in prefrontal regions. Only in VMR, however, did amygdala activation for Black faces persist during slow exposure and positively covary with activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex while negatively covarying with activation in orbitofrontal cortex. Findings suggest that contexts that prime negative racial stereotypes seem to hinder the downregulation of amygdala activation that typically occurs when egalitarian perceivers are exposed to Black faces.
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Two processes of stereotyping, subtyping and subgrouping, are compared. Subtyping occurs when perceivers respond to members of a target group who disconfirm their stereotypes by seeing them as exceptions to the rule and placing them in a separate subcategory apart from members who confirm the stereotype. The more recently defined process of subgrouping refers to the perceiver's organization of information in terms of clusters of individuals based on their similarities and differences; subgroups can include confirmers and disconfirmers. We consider how subtypes and subgroups are defined, operationalized, and measured, their consequences for stereotype change, and the role of typicality. It is concluded that the clearest difference between subtyping and subgrouping is in terms of their consequences (subtyping leads to the preservation and subgrouping to differentiation of the stereotype). There are, however, some similarities between the processes, and attention is drawn to whatfuture research is required, both to deepen our knowledge of each process and clarify their distinction.
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Social and economic sanctions for counterstereotypical behavior have been termed the backlash effect. The authors present a model of the role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance from the standpoint of both perceivers and actors. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants lost a competition to either atypical or typical men or women and subsequently showed greater tendency to sabotage deviants. Moreover, undermining deviants was associated with increased self-esteem, suggesting that backlash rewards perceivers psychologically. Experiment 3 showed that gender deviants who feared backlash resorted to strategies designed to avoid it (e.g., hiding, deception, and gender conformity). Further, perceivers who sabotaged deviants (Experiment 2) or deviants who hid their atypicality (Experiment 3) estimated greater stereotyping on the part of future perceivers, in support of the model's presumed role for backlash in stereotype maintenance. The implications of the findings for cultural stereotypes are discussed.
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