The directed nature of social stereotypes

Stereotypes are strategically complex. We propose that people hold not just stereotypes about what groups are generally like (e.g., "men are competitive") but stereotypes about how groups behave toward specific groups (e.g., "men are competitive toward")-what we call directed stereotypes. Across studies, we find that perceivers indeed hold directed stereotypes. Four studies examine directed stereotypes of sex and age (Studies 1 and 2; N = 541) and of race/ethnicity (of Asian/Black/Latino/White Americans; Studies 3 and 4; N = 769), with a focus on stereotypes of competitiveness, aggressiveness, cooperativeness, and communion. Across studies, directed stereotypes present unique patterns that both qualify and reverse well-documented stereotype patterns in the literature. For example, men are typically stereotyped as more competitive than women. However, directed stereotypes show that women are stereotyped to be more competitive than men, when this competitiveness is directed toward young women. Multiple such patterns emerge in the current data, across sex, age, and racial/ethnic stereotypes. Directed stereotypes also uniquely predict intergroup attitudes, over and above general stereotypes (Study 4). The idea of directed stereotypes is compatible with multiple theoretical perspectives and intuitive. However, they have been unexamined. We discuss the implications of the current work for thinking about the nature and measurement of social stereotypes, stereotype content, and social perception more broadly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).