Citation

Friesen J, Sinclair L. Soc. Psychol. Pers. Sci. 2011; 2(1): 112-118.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1948550610382666

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Two studies examined the effects of distrust on social categorization. In Study 1, undergraduate participants completed a distrust or neutral prime, watched a video of a Black or White doctor, and then completed a lexical decision task containing words related to the categories of Black people and doctors. Distrustful participants who viewed a Black doctor activated the Black and doctor categories. No other participants showed category activation. Study 2 added a trust prime condition and a no video control condition. Only distrustful participants who viewed a Black doctor activated the Black and doctor categories. Thus, when perceivers are distrustful they may reserve judgment about which individual categories apply to an out-group member and instead simultaneously activate multiple categories.