Kelley Main

How do individuals expect to be viewed by members of lower status groups? Content and implications of meta-stereotypes.

Three studies demonstrated that meta-stereotypes held by members of dominant groups about how their group is viewed by a lower status group have important implications for intergroup relations. Study 1 confirmed that White Canadians hold a shared negative meta-stereotype about how they are viewed by Aboriginal Canadians; Studies 2 and 3 extended these results to peoples beliefs about an individual out-group members impressions of them. Feeling stereotyped was associated with negative emotions about intergroup interaction as well as decreases in current self-esteem and self-concept clarity. The perceptions of low- and high-prejudiced persons (LPs and HPs) diverged in a manner consistent with their distinct personal values and group identifications. LPs held a more negative meta-stereotype than did HPs. However, in a one-on-one interaction, HPs sensed that they were stereotyped, whereas LPs felt that they conveyed a counterstereotypical impression.

An Examination of the Effects of Activating Persuasion Knowledge on Consumer Response to Brands Engaging in Covert Marketing

Both marketers who use covert marketing tactics and those who seek to help consumers deal with them assume that people will be less amenable to covert marketing appeals if they are alerted to such appeals because their theories and beliefs about persuasion tactics—that is, their persuasion knowledge—will be activated. However, there has been little direct examination of the extent to which activating persuasion knowledge actually affects consumer responses to brands that engage in covert marketing. Building on prior research on covert marketing and marketplace persuasion knowledge, the authors investigate the effects of activating persuasion knowledge and explore potential moderating factors. The findings from three experimental studies indicate that activation can negatively affect consumer evaluations of embedded brands; however, negative effects are qualified by perceived appropriateness of covert marketing tactics and by brand familiarity. Further evidence indicates a condition under which activation can actually have a positive effect on consumer evaluations.

Stigma by Association in Coupon Redemption: Looking Cheap because of Others

The present research establishes that the innocuous behavior of coupon redemption is capable of eliciting stigma by association. The general finding across four studies shows that the coupon redemption behavior of one consumer results in a second non‐coupon‐redeeming shopper being stigmatized by association as cheap when a low as compared to a high value coupon is redeemed. More important, the research identifies a number of factors that protect a non‐coupon‐redeeming shopper from the undesirable experience of stigma by association, even during another shopper’s redemption of a low value coupon.

Social Anxiety and the Cued Activation of Relational Knowledge

A cued activation procedure was used to examine the hypothesis that social anxiety involves an expectation of being rejected or evaluated negatively by others, combined with a concern about impression management. Participants underwent a conditioning procedure in which distinctive computer tones were paired with thoughts of social rejection and acceptance, respectively. In a pilot study, a lexical decision task established that when these tone cues were played later, they differentially activated expectations of rejection. In the main study, female participants interacted with a male confederate while one of the tones, or a control tone, sounded repeatedly in the background. Several indicators of social anxiety showed an interaction between level of public self-consciousness and the nature of the tone played. High-self-conscious individuals tended to be affected by the cues, whereas low-self-conscious people were not affected.

The Impact of Social Exclusion and Permeability on Consumers’ Responses towards Advertising

Social interaction with other people is an important part of everyday life for human beings. It is rare to find individuals who appreciate having no interactions with other people including friends, family, and colleagues. However, for many reasons, people may find that they are excluded from their desired group.