CHANGING SOCIAL STEREOTYPES - THE CASE OF THE INFORMATION SEEKER

Previous research has shown that stereotype-based judgements can be at tenuated through the attribution of disconfirming information to indiv idual group members. Typically, in these studies, subjects are forced to process all the available information, including disconfirming info rmation, before providing their impressions of the group. In the repor ted research, in contrast, we attempted to create a more naturalistic paradigm by allowing subjects to control the amount and nature of info rmation they received about individual group members. Under these cond itions, we expected subjects to instigate a biased information-seeking strategy and display a preference for stereotype-matching rather than stereotype-mismatching information. Our results supported this predic tion. When subjects could control the nature and amount of information they received about a target group they showed: (i) a preference for stereotype-matching information and (ii) no change in their stereotypi c impressions of the group. When, however, subjects were forced to pro cess all the available information, their stereotypic evaluation of th e group diminished These findings demonstrate the general resistance o f stereotypes to change in naturalistic, information-seeking settings.