On the relation between associative strength and automatic behavior

In two experiments the relation between past contact, stereotypic associati ve strength, and stereotype activation effects on memory performance was in vestigated. It was hypothesized that, for some stereotypes, contact can lea d to the development of stronger stereotypical associations. Associative st rength, in turn, was expected to determine stereotype activation effects on behavior tin this case, memory performance). In Experiment 1, it was shown that people who reported to have had much previous contact with elderly pe ople performed worse on a memory (free recall) test after being primed with the stereotype of the elderly. People who reported to have had little prev ious contact did not show any effects of priming. In Experiment 2, we confi rmed that this effect is mediated by associative strength. People who repor ted to have had a lot of contact with the elderly had developed an associat ion between the category elderly and the attribute "forgetfulness." The str ength of this association, in turn, predicted the degree of memory impairme nt after activation of the category elderly. (C) 2000 Academic Press.