This provocative book challenges conventional thinking that stereotypes are always inaccurate, exaggerated, and generally destructive by daring to look at stereotyping empirically. The chapters provide insights into how stereotyping may help us manage information without necessarily being destructive. They also unearth the complex cognitive and attitudinal processes that underlie stereotyping, so we may harness these processes to better understand group differences and to promote greater respect for those we see as different from ourselves.

Social scientists have long known that political beliefs bias the way they think about, understand, and interpret the world around them. In this volume, scholars from social psychology and related fields explore the ways in which social scientists themselves have allowed their own political biases to influence their research. These biases may influence the development of research hypotheses, the design of studies and methods and materials chosen to test hypotheses, decisions to publish or not publish results based on their consistency with one’s prior political beliefs, and how results are described and dissemination to the popular press. The fact that these processes occur within academic disciplines, such as social psychology, that strongly skew to the political left compounds the problem. Contributors to this volume not only identify and document the ways that social psychologists’ political beliefs can and have influenced research, but also offer solutions towards a more depoliticized social psychology that can become a model for discourse across the social sciences.

Following a broad overview that defines stereotypes, the book addresses how they are formed and developed in chapters that cover the social psychology of stereotypes, the impact of physical appearance on their formation, and methods of assessing their accuracy. Internationally renowned authors consider the function and use of stereotypes, exploring their complex interrelationship with linguistic biases, prejudice and discrimination, and intergroup and interpersonal perception. Chapters then discuss how stereotypes can be undermined, detailing social psychological interventions to improve intergroup relations and examining ways that individual targets of stereotyping might motivate others to change. A concluding chapter takes a historical view of stereotype research, tracing the evolution of the field and evaluating current theories and methodologies

This Handbook is a comprehensive and scholarly overview of the latest research on prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. The Second Edition provides a full update of its highly successful predecessor and features new material on key issues such as political activism, economic polarization, minority stress, same-sex marriage laws, dehumanization, and mental health stigma, in addition to a timely update on how victims respond to discrimination, and additional coverage of gender and race. All chapters are written by eminent researchers who explore topics by presenting an overview of current research and, where appropriate, developing new theory, models, or scales. The volume is clearly structured, with a broad section on cognitive, affective, and neurological processes, and there is inclusion of studies of prejudice based on race, sex, age, sexual orientation, and weight. A concluding section explores the issues involved in reducing prejudice. The Handbook is an essential resource for students, instructors, and researchers in social and personality psychology, and an invaluable reference for academics and professionals in sociology, communication studies, gerontology, nursing, medicine, as well as government and policymakers and social service agencies.

This title contests the received wisdom in the field of social psychology that suggests that social perception and judgment are generally flawed, biased, and powerfully self-fulfilling.

Each day, we make judgments about the personality characteristics of those around us, and we routinely rely on them to guide our behavior in interpersonal interactions and relationships. This handbook provides a review of theory and research on the accuracy of personality judgments. After a historical review, the first section presents the major theoretical models that guide research in this area and describes methodological approaches to evaluating accuracy. The second section reviews the research findings relevant to four moderators of accuracy, and the third section focuses on judgments people make of themselves. The fourth section examines various types of information used in making personality judgments, while the fifth section provides examples of some of the domains to which accuracy research can be applied, including romantic relationships and clinical practice. Learning about the process of accurate judgments can be used to help people understand when and how they are more likely to make accurate judgments, and this handbook offers a thorough, evidence-based, and up-to-date review of this research field.

This comprehensive overview presents cutting-edge research on the fast-expanding field of interpersonal perception.