S. Christian Wheeler

The Effects of Stereotype Activation on Behavior: A Review of Possible Mechanisms

Considerable recent research has examined the effects that activated stereotypes have on behavior. Research on both self-stereotype activation and other-stereotype activation has tended to show that people behave in ways consistent with the stereotype (e.g., walking more slowly if the elderly stereotype is activated). Interestingly, however, the dominant account for the behavioral effects of self-stereotype activation involves a hot motivational factor (i.e., stereotype threat), whereas the dominant account for the behavioral effects of other-stereotype activation focuses on a rather cold cognitive explanation (i.e., ideomotor processes). The current review compares and contrasts the behavioral research on self- and other-stereotype activation and concludes that both motivational and cognitive explanations might account for effects in each domain.

Understanding the Role of the Self in Prime-to-Behavior Effects: The Active-Self Account

In this article, the authors review research showing the different roles that the self-concept can play in affecting prime-to-behavior effects. As an organizing framework, an Active-Self account of stereotype, trait, and exemplar prime-to-behavior effects is presented. According to this view, such primes can influence peoples behavior by creating changes in the active self-concept, either by invoking a biased subset of chronic self-content or by introducing new material into the active self-concept. The authors show how involvement of the active self-concept can increase, decrease, or reverse the effects of primes and describe how individual differences in responsiveness of the self to change and usage of the self in guiding behavior (e.g., self-monitoring) can moderate prime-to-behavior effects. The Active-Self account is proposed as an integrative framework that explains how the self is involved in prime-to-behavior effects and helps predict how changes in the self determine which motivational and behavioral representations will guide behavior.

Discrepancies Between Explicit and Implicit Self-Concepts: Consequences for Information Processing

Individuals with discrepancies among their explicit beliefs often engage in greater elaboration of discrepancy-related information in a presumed attempt to reduce the discrepancy. The authors predicted that individuals with discrepancies between explicit and implicit self-conceptions might similarly be motivated to engage in processing of discrepancy-related information, even though they might not be aware of the discrepancy. Four studies were conducted in which various self-dimensions were assessed with explicit and implicit measures. Across several different self-dimensions (e.g., need to evaluate, self-esteem), the authors found that as the discrepancy between the explicit and implicit measure increased (regardless of direction), people engaged in more thinking about information framed as related to the self-dimension on which the discrepancy existed. This research suggests that individuals might be motivated to examine relevant information as a strategy to minimize the implicit doubt that accompanies an inconsistency between explicit and implicit self-conceptions.

Priming a new identity: self-monitoring moderates the effects of nonself primes on self-judgments and behavior.

When a construct is primed, people often act in construct-consistent ways. Several accounts for this effect have been offered, including ideomotor theory and a social functional perspective. The authors tested an additional perspective, the Active-Self account, whereby primes can temporarily alter self-perceptions. In Study 1, non-African American participants reported feeling more aggressive on an implicit measure following an African American prime. In Study 2, participants reported feeling luckier on an implicit measure following a number 7 (vs. 13) prime. In both studies, these effects were obtained only for low self-monitors, who are more likely to change self-conceptions in response to diagnostic self-information and to use their internal states in guiding behavior. Study 3 showed that low self-monitors also show larger behavioral effects of primes.

When the Same Prime Leads to Different Effects

Research on priming effects has shown that primes with widely shared associations (i.e., stereotypes) affect the subsequent behavior of people in consistent ways (i.e., acting stereotypically). In this article, we present two experiments that show that the same primed construct can have different effects on the subsequent choices of different groups of people. These differences in effects are attributable to the groups having different prime associations. These results highlight the importance of understanding unique, personal associations to primes and suggest that segmentation is also important for predicting nonconsciously influenced choices.

FICTIONAL NARRATIVES CHANGE BELIEFS : REPLICATIONS OF PRENTICE, GERRIG, AND BAILIS (1997) WITH MIXED CORROBORATION

We report three exact replications of experiments aimed at illuminating how fictional narratives influence beliefs (Prentice, Gerrig, & Bailis, 1997). Students read fictional stories that contained weak, unsupported assertions and which took place either at their home school or at an away school. Prentice et al. found that students were influenced to accept the assertions, even those blatantly false, but that this effect on beliefs was limited to the away-school setting. We questioned the limiting of the narrative effect to remote settings. Our studies consistently reproduced the first finding, heightened acceptance of statements occurring in the conversations of narrative protagonists, but we failed to reproduce the moderating effect of school location. In an attempt to understand these discrepancies, we measured likely moderating factors such as readers’ need for cognition and their extent of scrutiny of the narratives.

Circles, Squares, and Choice : The Effect of Shape Arrays on Uniqueness and Variety Seeking

Five experiments demonstrate that exposure to novel visual stimulus arrays of geometric shapes affects consumers’ real choices among products. The authors first demonstrate that exposure to variety arrays (arrays of differing shapes) increases variety seeking (Study 1). They then show that exposure to uniqueness arrays (e.g., one circle among six squares) increases choice of unique over common objects (Studies 2 and 3) and interacts with chronic need for uniqueness (Study 3). In the final two studies, the authors show that variety and uniqueness arrays activate distinct constructs; specifically, they find no effect of exposure to uniqueness arrays on variety seeking (Study 4a) and no effect of exposure to variety arrays on uniqueness seeking (Study 4b). Taken together, these studies build on the existing literature about nonconscious effects on consumer behavior and choice behavior in particular by showing that consumers’ real choices are affected by subtle exposure to novel stimuli that do not have any previous associations.

Persuasion and Attitude Change

Attitudes refer to peoples general evaluations. Attitudes vary in whether they have a primarily affective or cognitive basis, and whether they come to mind automatically or only with some degree of reflection. After articulating these features of attitudes, we present an organizing framework for understanding the processes responsible for persuasion. These processes are divided into those that emphasize effortful thinking about the merits of the attitude object versus those that rely on less cognitively demanding processes. This allows understanding and prediction of what variables affect attitudes and in what situations. In addition, this framework helps to place the various specific theories of attitude change in their proper domain of operation. For example, high-effort processes such as cognitive responses or dissonance account for attitude change when thinking is high, whereas lower-effort processes such as classical conditioning or the use of simple heuristics account for attitude change when thinking is low. Finally, recognition of high- versus low-effort mechanisms of change permits predictions about the strength of attitudes modified by different processes. Attitudes that are changed as a result of considerable mental effort tend to be more durable and impactful than attitudes changed with low effort. Keywords: attitude change; persuasion; elaboration; evaluation

Nonconformity Defines the Self: The Role of Minority Opinion Status in Self-Concept Clarity

Drawing on distinctiveness and social identity theories, the present studies tested whether minority opinion holders would have a more clearly defined sense of self than majority opinion holders. In Study 1, participants who were induced to believe that they held a minority opinion on a controversial issue had higher subsequent self-concept clarity scores than did those who were induced to believe that they held a majority opinion, controlling for self-esteem. Furthermore, the relationship between minority opinion status and self-concept clarity was strongest among participants whose opinions were highly expressive of their values (Studies 2 and 3), as well as among participants who identified strongly with the group in which they were a minority (Study 3). Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Indirect Prime-to-Behavior Effects: The Role of Perceptions of the Self, Others, and Situations in Connecting Primed Constructs to Social Behavior

For more than a decade, researchers have convincingly shown that peoples social behavior can be affected by primed constructs without people having any awareness of their influence. Earlier research proposed direct priming accounts for these effects, suggesting that primed constructs exert their effect on behavior in a relatively direct fashion without an intervening role for perceptual processes. In this chapter, we review evidence in favor of an indirect priming account for behavioral priming effects. In these indirect priming effects, a primed construct affects behavior via shifts in perceptions of a perceptual target. We review three types of indirect priming mechanisms: a self-perception, person-perception, and situation-perception mechanism. We also present various moderators that affect the direction and magnitude of each of the indirect priming effects. In addition, we identify factors, related to the attentional focus of the prime recipient, that indicate when each of the different mechanisms operates. Understanding the role of perceptual processes in the prime-to-behavior pathway can unravel more mysteries about the rich and complex nature of social behavior.