Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 25, 2026

Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults
Published on: October 19, 2014
Person theories and attention allocation: preferences for stereotypic versus counterstereotypic information
J E Plaks1, S J Stroessner, C S Dweck
1Department of Psychology, Columbia University, USA. jep9@u.washington.edu
Abstract:
How do people respond to information that counters a stereotype? Do they approach it or avoid it? Four experiments showed that attention to stereotype-consistent vs. -inconsistent information depends on people's implicit theories about human traits. Those holding an entity theory (the belief that traits are fixed) consistently displayed greater attention to (Experiments 1 and 4) and recognition of (Experiments 2 and 3) consistent information. whereas those holding an incremental (dynamic) theory tended to display greater attention to (Experiment 1) and recognition of (Experiment 3) inconsistent information. This was true whether implicit theories were measured as chronic structures (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) or were experimentally manipulated (Experiment 3). Thus, different a priori assumptions about human traits and behavior lead to processing that supports versus limits stereotype maintenance.
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