Stereotyping by Omission

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Stereotyping by Omission: Eliminate the Negative, Accentuate the Positive Hilary B. Bergsieker Princeton University Lisa M. Leslie University of Minnesota Vanessa S. Constantine and Susan T. Fiske Princeton University Communicators, motivated by strategic self-presentation, selectively underreport negative content in describing their impressions of individuals and stereotypes of groups, particularly for targets whom they view ambivalently with respect to warmth and competence. Communicators avoid overtly inaccurate descriptions, preferring to omit negative information and emphasize positive information about mixed individual targets (Study 1). With more public audiences, communicators increasingly prefer negativity omission to complete accuracy (Study 2), a process driven by self-presentation concerns (Study 3) and moderated by bidimensional ambivalence. Similarly, in an extension of the Princeton Trilogy studies, reported stereotypes of ethnic and national outgroups systematically omitted negative dimensions over 75 years—as anti-prejudice norms intensified—while neutral and positive stereotype dimensions remained constant (Study 4). Multiple assessment methods confirm this stereotyping-by-omission phenomenon (Study 5). Implications of negativity omission for innuendo and stereotype stagnation are discussed. Keywords: negativity omission, stereotypes, racial and ethnic attitudes, warmth and competence, self- presentation You’ve got to accentuate the positive, Eliminate the negative, Latch on to the affirmative, Don’t mess with Mister In-Between! —Mercer, 1985 (pp. 125–126) As Bing Crosby exhorts in the classic song “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” (Mercer, 1985), dwelling on negativity contravenes societal norms. Injunctions against derogating others date back at least to biblical times (“As a north wind brings rain, so a sly tongue brings

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