Individual differences and intergroup bias: Divergent dynamics associated with prejudice and stereotyping

Abstract

Although the study of intergroup bias has attracted substantial empirical interest within personality and social psychology, distinctions among types of bias, primarily prejudice and stereotyping, are often not fully considered. However, stereotyping and prejudice are conceptually and empirically distinct phenomena. We investigated how individual-difference variables distinctively predict stereotyping and prejudice, and examined the differential antecedents, dynamics, and consequences of these forms of intergroup bias. Personal Need for Structure predicted stereotyping, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism and intergroup contact predicted prejudice. In addition, stereotyping and prejudice had divergent dynamics with perceptions of out-groups’ entitativity (i.e., out-groups’ perceived unity, coherence, and internal organization). Specifically, entitativity mediated the relationship between Personal Need for Structure and stereotyping. In contrast, prejudice mediated the relationships of both Right-Wing Authoritarianism and intergroup contact with entitativity. Implications for theory and research on the predictors and dynamics of intergroup bias are discussed.