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In social psychology, a positive stereotype refers to a subjectively favorable belief held about a social group. Common examples include the association of members of East Asian descent with better math ability, African-Americans with greater athletic ability, and women as being more warm and communal. As opposed to negative stereotypes, positive stereotypes represent a positive evaluation of a group that typically signals an advantage over another group. As such, positive stereotypes may be considered a form of compliment or praise. However targets of positive stereotypes can be negatively or positively influenced depending on three main factors: (1) how the positive stereotype is stated, (2) who is stating the positive stereotype, (3) in what culture the positive stereotype is presented (e.g. Western vs. East Asian).

Prevalence of Positive Stereotypes
In The Nature of Prejudice (1954), Gordon Allport suggested that the categorization of groups is necessary for adaptive functioning. Stereotypes have implications for targets of stereotypes and interpersonal interactions generally, because stereotypes assign traits and abilities to members of social groups due simply to their group membership. Much research on prejudice and stereotypes has largely focused on negative stereotypes (e.g., the association of African-Americans with intellectual inferiority) and the result of their prevalence (e.g., stereotype threat) on perceivers and targets. Comprised of three studies spanning nearly 40 years, the Princeton Trilogy (1933) is noted as one of the earliest set of studies documenting the actual content of stereotypes attributed to different ethnic groups and the change in content over time. In the U.S., the content of stereotypes that people explicitly associate to other groups have become more positive since the onset of early studies measuring stereotype content. The positive change in content can be attributed to multiple factors: the relative change in status of different social groups, the expression of negative stereotypes as being less socially acceptable, and the increased intergroup contact of people of different ethnicities and nationalities. Although both positive stereotypes and negative stereotypes require making generalizations about a group, positive stereotypes and their expression may not be seen as rooted in prejudice because of their positive valence. Additionally, because positive stereotypes indicate a positive view of a social identity on the surface, expression of positive stereotypes in social interactions may not be as readily suppressed. As a result, positive stereotypes are more likely to be used to describe a group than a negative stereotype (e.g. Women are more warm than men vs. women are less competent than men).

Complimentary Nature of Positive and Negative Stereotypes
In their Stereotype Content Model, Fiske and colleagues (2002) provided evidence that being positively stereotyped in one domain typically leads to being correspondingly negatively stereotyped in another domain. In their model of “mixed” stereotype content, they argued that “people want to know others’ intent (i.e., warmth) and their capability to pursue their intentions (i.e., competence)."

The researchers indicated that the motivation to positively stereotype groups as either warm or competent stemmed from perceived status and competition of an out-group. The researchers reasoned that out-groups are positively stereotyped as more competent to the extent that they are more powerful or hold higher-status. And correspondingly, out-groups are positively stereotyped as more warm to the extent that they are seen as less competition. However being positively stereotyped on one dimension usually corresponded with being negatively stereotyped on the other dimension. For instance, social out-groups viewed as subordinate and not competitive (e.g. elderly people) are often stereotyped as higher in warmth, but lower in competence. Being high in warmth and low in competence is considered to be a paternalistic stereotype, as the out-group is perceived as not inclined or incapable to harm the in-group. On the opposite end of the spectrum, an out-group that is high-status and highly competitive (e.g., rich people) may evoke an envious stereotype. Thus, these groups would likely be positively stereotyped as being high in competence to justify their position in society. However, feelings of envy or resentment about a group’s relatively higher status (compared to one’s own in-group) is justified by attributing the negative stereotype of being lower in warmth to the out-group.

Follow-up research has identified that for some subordinate groups (e.g., Black athletes and Black musicians), being positively stereotyped as high in competence indicates perceiving competence due to talent rather than due to intelligence.

When they are subtle
Researchers have found that being associated with a group that is positively stereotyped in a domain (e.g. academics) can result in enhanced performance if one is led to think about one's group membership, but not the specific the stereotype. For instance, researchers have studied how Asian-American performance is affected when exposed to the common stereotype that Asian-Americans are good at mathematics. In one study, before taking a math test, one group of Asian-Americans were subtly led to think about the association of Asians and better math ability through answering questions that about their ethnic identity and family history (e.g., what languages they spoke, how many generations of their family lived in America). Compared to both another group of Asian-Americans that were explicitly reminded about the positive association between Asian-Americans and math and a control condition that was not reminded of their ethnicity or the positive stereotype, the group lead to indirectly think of the positive Asian stereotype answered more math questions correctly. In a separate study, Asian-American women subtly led to think about their ethnic identity (i.e., Asian) performed more accurately on a quantitative task than did Asian-American women led to think about their gender identity (i.e., woman) and women that were not made to think about either identity. In a study of age and memory, older individuals primed to think of positive stereotypes associated with older age and wisdom showed increased performance on a set of memory tasks.

The Cost of Positive Stereotypes
When positive stereotypes are expressed or simply believed as true about a group and its members, positive stereotypes can be related to a number negative consequences for targets’ emotional and psychological states, their performance-based behaviors, and others’ judgments of them. The ambiguity of positive stereotypes when encountered over time might come to be seen as a form of microaggressions.

Depersonalization
Since stereotypes communicate beliefs held about a group, being the target of a stereotype can evoke a sense of being depersonalized, or seen only by one's group membership instead of as a unique individual. In a set of studies by Siy and Cheryan (2013), women and U.S.-born Asian Americans were made the target of positive stereotypes (e.g., You women are so cooperative, I know all Asians are good at math.) Both women and Asian-American targets expressed greater dislike and negativity towards the person expressing the stereotype. The amount of negativity felt and expressed was influenced by the extent that the positive stereotype made the participants feel depersonalized.

To determine whether this negative reaction to feeling depersonalized by a positive stereotype is found across different cultures, Siy and Cheryan (2013) also studied U.S. born Asian-Americans compared to non-U.S. born Asian-Americans. They found that both U.S. and non-U.S. born groups reported similar levels of depersonalization as a result of being a target of a positive stereotype. However, unlike in their previous studies, the extent of feeling depersonalized did not predict negative reactions to being stereotyped for non-U.S. born Asian-Americans. This result can be explained by the general differences in values of Western cultures (e.g., U.S. culture) which place more value on independence, and Eastern cultures (e.g. East Asian cultures), which place more value on interdependence. Western cultures promote more individualistic values and thus individuals place high importance on being seen as an independent individual. In contrast, Eastern cultures promote more collectivistic values and individuals from these more interdependent cultures are more likely to describe themselves as members of a group. Thus, the extent of a target’s negative reaction to being depersonalized by a positive stereotype depends on the relevant culture in which the stereotype is expressed.