Cognitive Processes in Stereotyping and Intergroup Behavior

Book excerpt: Originally published in 1981, this volume brings together contributions by several of the authors whose research had contributed significantly to the recent advances in our understanding of the role of cognitive processes in stereotyping and intergroup behaviour at the time. While each chapter reflects a cognitive approach to its subject matter, a broad range of topics, issues, and contexts is addressed by this collection of authors. In the introductory chapter the authors present an historical overview of psychological research on stereotyping, discussing historical trends in this literature and summarizing the conceptual orientations which had guided research in this area at the time. This chapter not only provides useful background information for the reader but also presents a broader context within which the current cognitively oriented research, on which the remaining chapters focus, can be viewed. Each of the next six chapters reports on integrative program of studies bearing on some aspect of the relationship of cognitive functioning to stereotyping and/or intergroup behaviour.