Forgetting by remembering: Stereotype inhibition through rehearsal of alternative aspects of identity
Publisher
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Date
2003-9
We applied previous research on retrieval-induced forgetting to the issue of stereotype inhibition. All participants learned about a target person who belonged to a stereotyped group, and then practiced retrieving a subset of the target’s characteristics. When participants practiced individuating information about the target, they showed inhibited memory for the target’s stereotypic traits. When participants practiced stereotypic information about the target, they showed inhibited memory for: (a) traits associated with another stereotyped aspect of the target’s identity; (b) individuating traits of the target; and (c) other, unpracticed traits of the target associated with the same stereotype. Stereotype belief moderated these inhibition effects; the more strongly participants believed in the stereotype, the less inhibition of stereotype-relevant traits they showed.
Citation
Elizabeth W Dunn & Barbara A. Spellman, Forgetting by remembering: Stereotype inhibition through rehearsal of alternative aspects of identity, 39 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 420–433 (2003).