Classification of social stereotypes by Japanese Social Psychologists

The present study asks social psychologists (N=82) to evaluate six stereotypes in order to both examine the characteristics of stereotypes held by Japanese people and to classify them. The results are as follows. (1) Typicality and discrimination-amusement were identified as perspectives for evaluating stereotypes. (2) The six stereotypes examined in this study were classified into three different groups based on correspondence analysis. (a) Stereotypes about older people and business women include competence evaluations and correspond to a social cognition approach. This classification is similar to that of social groups within the stereotype contents model，as the classification is based on stereotypes related to ability. (b) Stereotypes about Chinese people and patients with mental illnesses include discrimination and correspond to a classical approach. This classification can be seen as involving strong negative evaluations and easily leads to discrimination. (c) Stereotypes about people from Osaka and blood groups include a sense of amusement. As this element of amusement within stereotypes has not been previously reported on, it is an original contribution of this study