DESCRIPTORS IDENTIFIERS

E7 Thecognitive approach to stereotypes views *stereotyping as a natural consequence.of normal cognitive processes; therefore, information that is inconsistent with a stereotype is less likely to be remembered. Tp investigate this hypothesis an earlier, experiment wa replicated in therie studies. Subjects received congruent or neutral information about a target person; with one exception which was eithet congruent or incongruent with the impressioh and was attributed-to either a situational or dispositional cause. Results demonstrated that incongruent behavior:lied an advantage in recall only-when behavior was attrilpted'to 4. dispositional causes. When behavior was attributed to situational 4 causest 'incongruent information ' was no more likely to be recalled than congruent information. In addition, subjects preferred-situational attribRtions for incongruent behavior anddispositional' attributions for ckngruent behavior. The findings suggest that when confronted withbehavior,Ithat toes not fit their stereotypes, individuals 'may search fdlit4a situational attributions, thereby decreasing the slikOiho of recall. (JAC) 4