By use of a dual-task paradigm, 3 studies investigated the contention that stereotypes function as resource-preserving devices in mental life.  In Study 1, Ss formed impressions of targets while simultaneously monitoring a prose passage.  The results demonstrated a significant enhancement in Ss' prose-monitoring performance when stereotype labels were present on the impression-formation task.  To investigate the intentionality of this effect, in Study 2, the procedures used in Study 1 were repeated using a subliminal priming procedure to activate stereotypes.  Subliminal activation of stereotypes produced the same resource-preserving effects as supraliminal activation did.  This effect, moreover, was replicated in Study 3 when a probe reaction task was used to measure resource preservation.  These findings, which generalized across a range of social stereotypes, are discussed in terms of their implications for contemporary models of stereotyping and social inference.