Level of Prejudice in Relation to Knowledge of Cultural Stereotypes
Author(s)
Gordijn, Ernestine H.; Stapel, Diederik A.
Abstract
The major aim of the present research was to examine if knowledge of cultural stereotypes about minority groups within society is virtually universal or whether such knowledge is influenced by the perceiver’s level of prejudice. In three studies, in which multiple measures of racial prejudice were used, it was shown that level of prejudice does relate to perception of cultural stereotypes. High-prejudiced people believed that the cultural stereotypes of Moroccan and Surinamese people in The Netherlands are more negative and less positive in content than low-prejudiced people did. It is argued that previous research may have failed, at least in part, to detect clear differences between low- and high-prejudiced people because it relied on the relatively insensitive Modern Racism questionnaire in order to measure prejudice.
