A Theory of Reliance on Individuating Information and Stereotypes in Implicit Judgments of Individuals and Social Groups

Figure 1

Theoretical model of (a) moderators of stereotype and individuating information effects in implicit person perception and (b) the relationship between individuation in implicit person perception and shifts in implicit stereotypes. Note. According to our model, individuating information only takes primacy in implicit person perception when the following three criteria are met: (a) the individuating information is highly diagnostic, (b) the stereotypes are unobservable (i.e., formed with little or no inference [2]), and (c) target groups are not gender groups. When individuating information takes primacy in implicit person perception, this may (or may not) lead to change in the stereotype of the social group (we specified competing hypotheses in this domain), and one potential moderator of this possible relationship is the number of counterexemplars that are provided (more details provided in text).