| In J. M. Golding & C. M. MacLeod (Eds.), Intentional forgetting: Interdisciplinary approaches. | |||
| (pp. 349-368). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1998. | |||
| Disregarding Social Stereotypes: | |||
| Implications for Memory, Judgment, and Behavior | |||
| Galen V. Bodenhausen | C. Neil Macrae | Alan B. Milne | |
| Northwestern University | University of St. Andrews | University of Aberdeen | |
| INTRODUCTION | |||
One of the hallmarks of successful development in childhood is the acquisition of the ability to control one's impulses, sacrificing the immediate gratification that might come from impulsive action in pursuit of higher-order goals. For instance, the desire to kick a sibling who has made a teasing remark must be inhibited to appease parental authority, even though an aggressive response might seem to be a terribly appealing option. Although undoubtedly frustrating to those who are in the process of mastering it, skilled self-regulation is central to successful functioning in all of life's domains (e.g., Carver & Scheier, 1981; Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960). For example, the common impulse to eat rich and sugary foods may have strong evolutionary roots (e.g., Harris & Ross, 1987), but in the contemporary environments of industrialized nations, with their abundant supply of "junk food," failure to rein in this impulse can lead to a host of maladaptive outcomes. Personal well being, it would seem, is intimately tied to self-regulatory skill. Impulse control also operates in the service of broader social goals. To function smoothly, societies require their individual members to restrain themselves from performing a variety of socially undesirable behaviors, even if these acts have strong motivational underpinnings. Selfish overconsumption of shared public goods, for instance, may seem very enticing to the individual who stands to benefit personally from it, yet it can lead to disastrous outcomes for the community as a whole. Consider as an example the "tragedy of the commons," in which selfish overgrazing of a shared pasture resource led to its depletion (Hardin, 1968; see Komorita & Parks, 1994). The tragedy of the situation lies in the fact that, with appropriate restraint, the resource could have remained sufficient for the basic needs of all users, but individual selfishness ruined the resource for everyone. Social harmony and well-being may thus depend on the successful operation of socialization pressures and other normative influences that encourage the inhibition of selfish, disruptive, and destructive impulses on the part of individuals (cf. Freud, 1933; Hobbes, 1651/1968). Stereotypes and prejudice, we argue, constitute another form of undesirable, impulsive response that societies, and individuals, need to regulate effectively if a harmonious and sustainable multicultural environment is to be created. In the distant evolutionary past of our species, living arrangements were highly group segregated, and the tendency to develop negative and rigid views of the members of other groups might have had relatively few costs in terms of social harmony and might even have been adaptive in the context of intergroup competition for scarce resources (see Fox, 1992; Reynolds, Falger, & Vine, 1987). In the modern world, however, contact with members of many different social groups is a commonplace occurrence, and reliance on prejudice and stereotypes in responding to these groups has been associated with seemingly countless tragedies and injustices, ranging from random acts of harassment targeting the members of minority groups to institutionalized forms of discrimination and even organized genocidal movements. This toxic impact of prejudice and stereotypes has been increasingly recognized in recent decades. Correspondingly, formal laws and informal norms have taken shape dictating that the discriminatory influence of stereotypes and prejudice should be avoided in a variety of contexts, such as personnel decision making, legal judgment, and educational opportunity. The focus of the present chapter is the nature and consequences of such efforts to disregard stereotypic preconceptions when evaluating and reacting to the members of social groups. |
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