Study title

These are data from the primary dependent measures from my ESRC grant examining how intergoup bias influences the formation of novel lab-based stereotypes via a process of cumulative cultural evolution. The data were collected from undergraduate participants who were tested individually. Each participant was a single 'generation' within a 'diffusion chain' of four generations. Participants were asked to try and learn some information about some novel social targets. The responses each participant produced during a test phase were used as the learning materials for the next participant (i.e., generation). The dependent measures of interest were the accuracy with which people completed the task and the amount of structure that was present in their responses. We were interested in whether a stereotype-like categorical structure would develop as information was passed down the chains and whether this would result in associated increases in accuracy.The proposed research will establish how the membership and status of social groups influences how cultural stereotypes form and change. Cultural stereotypes are template-like depictions of social categories whereby group membership is associated with the possession of certain attributes (e.g., scientists are geeky, Scottish people are miserly, men like the colour blue). Stereotypes exert substantial influence on us as individuals and on our society: when people endorse stereotypes it leads to prejudice and discrimination towards members of minority groups; even when people refute stereotypes the mere knowledge of their content can lead to unconscious bias in thoughts and behaviour. Yet, in the face of an infinitely complex social environment stereotypes play a vital social cognitive role by efficiently organising and structuring social information. Given their ubiquity and influence it is perhaps surprising that relatively little is known about how cultural stereotypes form and change. We propose that stereotypes form...