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Two studies investigated the
effects of processing goals (semantic vs. presemantic) on stereotype activation. We
posited that spontaneous stereotype activation would only occur when participants process
targets (i.e., people) in a semantic manner. In line with this prediction,
participants who first processed a target face in a semantic fashion were subsequently
faster to verify words that were stereotypic of the target person's gender group compared
to participants who had processed the face in presemantic ways. Face recognition,
however, did not differ across processing goals. In a second experiment, we
replicated these findings using a much shorter stimulus presentation time, verifying that
conscious or intentional processes did not underlie the differential stereotype
activation. We consider our findings in the context of contemporary issues in stereotyping
and automaticity. |