INGROUP AND OUTGROUP STEREOTYPES AND SELECTIVE PROCESSING

The main concern of the two studies presented here is to investigate w hether the different nature of ingroup and outgroup stereotypes is ref lected in different selective processing of ingroup and outgroup infor mation. It was predicted that when processing ingroup information peop le will preferentially encode stereotype-inconsistent information as c ompared to stereotype-consistent information, whereas the reverse patt ern will hold when people process outgroup information. In addition to selective processing, response bias due to stereotyping was studied. To measure selective processing and response bias, recognition memory measures derived from the theory of signal detection were used. Result s of the two studies confirmed our main prediction. Also, response bia s was demonstrated. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.