Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Stroessner, Steven J.
• Scholer, Abigail A.
• Marx, David M.
• Weisz, Bradley M.

Titel

When threat matters: Self-regulation, threat salience, and stereotyping

Ist Teil von

• Journal of experimental social psychology, 2015-07, Vol.59, p.77-89

Ort / Verlag

San Diego: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Four experiments examined whether information implying imminent threat to safety would interact with regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997) to affect the utilization of threat-relevant stereotypes. Because information suggesting imminent danger is more relevant to the safety goals of prevention-focused individuals than the advancement goals of promotion-focused individuals, utilization of threat-relevant stereotypes was expected to increase under such conditions only under prevention focus. Support for this prediction was obtained in four distinct and socially important domains. Using scenarios describing a violent crime committed by an African-American male (Experiment 1) or a petty crime committed by an undocumented immigrant (Experiment 2), prevention-focused individuals made judgments consistent with stereotypes when threat was perceived to be high rather than low. In studies that manipulated the stereotypicality of the target in a terrorism scenario (Experiments 3 & 4), prevention-focused individuals were more likely to endorse scrutinizing a stereotypical compared with a non-stereotypical target when terrorism was described as an increasing problem. Implications for models of stereotyping, self-regulation, and responding to threat are discussed. •Perceived threat interacted with motivational state to affect stereotype use.•Motivation-based increases in stereotyping replicated across three social contexts.•Threat/prevention focus increased support for policies perceived to address threat.•Threat effects depended upon motivational concerns.