Stereotype Content Model Explains Prejudice for an Envied Outgroup: Scale of Anti-Asian American Stereotypes

Abstract

The Stereotype Content Model hypothesizes anti-Asian American stereotypes differentiating two dimensions: (excessive) competence and (deficient) sociability. The Scale of Anti-Asian American Stereotypes (SAAAS) shows this envious mixed prejudice in six studies. Study 1 began with 131 racial attitude items. Studies 2 and 3 tested 684 respondents on a focused 25-item version. Studies 4 and 5 tested the final 25-item SAAAS on 222 respondents at three campuses; scores predicted outgroup friendships, cultural experiences, and (over)estimated campus presence. Study 6 showed that allegedly low sociability, rather than excessively high competence, drives rejection of Asian Americans, consistent with system justification theory. The SAAAS demonstrates mixed, envious anti-Asian American prejudice, contrasting with more-often-studied contemptuous racial prejudices (i.e., against Blacks).

Microdynamics in Diverse Teams: A Review and Integration of the Diversity and Stereotyping Literatures

“…In contrast, envious stereotypes portray target groups as competent but not sociable. Groups that in Western samples tend to be subject to such envious stereotypes include nontraditional women (e.g., career women, feminists, lesbians; Eagly, 1987;Glick & Fiske, 2001), Jews (Glick, 2002, and Asians (Lin, Kwan, Cheung, & Fiske, 2005). As is suggested by the name, the corresponding emotions for this combination of attributions are envy and jealousy.…”

Looming large in others' eyes: racial stereotypes illuminate dual adaptations for representing threat versus prestige as physical size

“…Like Black men, Hispanic men in the U.S. are stereotyped as physically violent (Marin, 1984;Jackson, 1995;Weaver, 2005). Conversely, in the U.S., despite being negatively stereotyped as unsociable and excessively industrious, Asians are not viewed as violent (Lin, Kwan, Cheung, & Fiske, 2005). Thus, we predict that i) Hispanic targets will be envisioned as more physically formidable and aggressive than Asian targets; ii) the relative status attributed to the target will positively correlate with envisioned physical formidability only in the case of Asian targets; and iii) controlling for perceived aggressiveness will shift the correlation between the envisioned physical formidability and status of Hispanic targets in a positive direction.…”

“…Finally, there was a negative correlation between 29 envisioned status and aggressiveness for both Asian and Hispanic targets in Study 3, whereas there was no such correlation between envisioned status and aggressiveness for the White targets of Study 1. This dissimilarity may owe to the fact that, from the point of view of our predominantly White participants, the Asian targets, while considered relatively non-violent, are nevertheless considered somewhat antagonistic outgroup members (Lin et al, 2005), causing signs of aggressiveness to be categorized as relatively threatening and hence antithetical to prestige.Overall, Study 3 provides evidence that the basic interplay between perceived threat, size, and status observed in the prior studies extends beyond White and Black targets. This is noteworthy given that Hispanic men are not depicted as unusually large in the mass media.…”

Academic Achievement and Problem Behaviors among Asian Pacific Islander American Adolescents

“…In addition, even seemingly positive stereotypes can be mixed with underlying negative feelings toward the target group (Fiske et al, 2002). For example, the positive aspects of the model minority stereotype are often mixed with negative images of overachievement, excessive competition, and social awkwardness and isolation (Lin et al, 2005).Mass media reflects these ambivalent feelings about API youth (Lee, 1999). For example, in 1993, five API youth were convicted of beating their friend to death.…”