When threat matters: Self-regulation, threat salience, and stereotyping
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Date
2015-07-01
Authors
Stroessner, Steven J.
Scholer, Abigail A.
Marx, David M.
Weisz, Bradley M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
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.
Description
The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.03.003 © 2015. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Keywords
Regulatory Focus, Self-Regulation, Safety Threat, Stereotyping