Abstract
The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) plays a prominent role in social perception research when comparing the evaluation of different targets on warmth and competence dimensions. However, there is scarce information on the SCM’s measurement properties. Thus, in this article, we provide a comprehensive test of the SCM’s structural validity (i.e., reliability, dimensionality, cross-group comparability of measurement properties). We re-analysed published SCM data from English speaking participants (study 1: 78 datasets from 43 original publications, <em>N</em> = 20,819) and German participants (study 2: 29 datasets from 23 original publications, <em>N</em> = 10,854). We used confirmatory factor analyses to assess the scales’ reliability and dimensionality as well as measurement invariance assessment to examine cross-group comparability as a precondition for meaningful and valid mean-value comparison. We found on average good reliabilities of the SCM scales. In contrast, about 35% of all 1093 examined SCM measurement models presented adequate scale dimensionality, and regarding the scales’ cross-group comparability, we found (partial) scalar measurement invariance in about 11% of all cases. These findings indicate considerable validity concerns in published SCM research, as a meaningful and valid measurement of warmth and competence was not given in approximately two thirds of all cases, and mean-value comparisons were potentially biased due to lacking cross-group comparability for about eight out of nine cases. We propose future directions to improve the measurement quality and validity in SCM research and invite fellow researchers to constructively discuss these ideas.
Highlights
The Stereotype Content Model (SCM; Fiske et al, 2002) is one of the most prominent models of social perception (Abele et al, 2021)
multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) = Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis; measurement invariance (MI) = Measurement Invariance 1 The applied methods and/or model fit criteria deviated from the ones chosen in this paper
We address this research gap around the structural validity of SCM scales by systematically examining the measurement properties of existing SCM scales in two data re-analyses
Summary
The Stereotype Content Model (SCM; Fiske et al, 2002) is one of the most prominent models of social perception (Abele et al, 2021). Measurement instruments (i.e., scales) are typically developed following established procedures to make sure that, among other things, researchers measure what they intend to measure (i.e., construct validity) and that the scales present adequate measurement (i.e., psychometric) properties for the intended statistical analyses These criteria are referred to as structural validity (Flake et al, 2017; Flake & Fried, 2020), and aspects of interest include item performance (i.e., how strongly a single item relates to the overall scale), reliability (i.e., measurement consistency), dimensionality (i.e., the underlying scale structure), and cross-group comparability (i.e., whether the measurement properties perform in different sub-samples or when assessing different targets). We conclude that the SCM scales have not been developed according to modern standards using widely available advanced statistical procedures (e.g., Bandalos, 2018; Brown, 2015) This resulted in a lack of knowledge about the SCM scales’ structural validity (especially regarding dimensionality and cross-group comparability). We cannot be certain whether the underlying constructs are twodimensional (one warmth factor, one competence factor; dimensionality) and whether the SCM scales measure warmth and competence comparably for all targets to validly compare mean-values
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