A-POSTERIORI STEREOTYPE ACTIVATION - THE PRESERVATION OF STEREOTYPES THROUGH MEMORY DISTORTION

Four experiments investigated memory for stereotype-consistent and ste reotype-inconsistent information after a posteriori stereotype activat ion. in Experiment 1 it was established that, in comparison with a no stereotype control condition, recall of stereotype-inconsistent behavi ors of group members deteriorated after a posteriori stereotype activa tion, while recall of stereotype-consistent information was not affect ed. An explanation of this phenomenon in terms of the memory organizat ion of behaviors in trait-behavior clusters was tested in Experiment 2 . The results of Experiment 2 suggest that recall of stereotype-incons istent behaviors suffered from a stereotype activated afterwards when they were stored in a separate trait (i.e., not linked to stereotype-c onsistent behaviors), white stereotype-inconsistent information that w as linked to stereotype-consistent information did not. In Experiment 3 the same pattern of results was obtained when an a posteriori stereo type was activated using an ''unrelated prime'' (i.e., the stereotype did not pertain to information presented earlier), suggesting the oper ation of involuntary, unconscious processes in deteriorated recall of stereotype-inconsistent information. Finally, the results of Experimen t 4 provide evidence for the idea that the impaired recall of stereoty pe-inconsistent information may be, at least partly, ascribed to suppr essed access to stereotype-inconsistent traits due to a posteriori ste reotype activation.