Creating social reality: Informational social influence and the content of stereotypic beliefs

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that comparison information about other people's stereotypic beliefs is used to validate personal beliefs about a target group. A simple manipulation of questionnaire items and their response scales, presented as part of a political opinion survey, served as social comparison information regarding beliefs about African Americans. The comparison information influenced participants' subsequently measured beliefs about group as well as their evaluation of a Black target. When provided with negative comparison information, participants reported more negative racial beliefs and a more negative evaluation of the Black target than when provided with positive feedback. Moreover this effect depended on participants' initial stereotypic beliefs. Only participants with initially negative beliefs about the target group were influenced by the comparison information; participants with relatively positive beliefs were not.