Stereotypes of Social Groups in Mainland China in Terms of Warmth and Competence: Evidence from a Large Undergraduate Sample

Abstract

The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) has been validated in multiple countries and regions. However, previous validation studies in China have been limited by small sample size. The current research increased the sample size (n = 184 in the pilot study; n1 = 1315 and n2 = 268 in the formal study) to validate the SCM in mainland China in study 1. Supporting the SCM, 41 social groups were clustered into four quadrants based on warmth and competence dimensions. 35 of the 41 target groups (85.37%) receive ambivalent stereotype. Perceived warmth and competence were positively correlated (r = 0.585, p < 0.001). Status and competence were positively related (r = 0.81, p < 0.001), and competition and warmth were negatively related (r = −0.77, p < 0.001). In addition, 24 typical social groups were selected and a list of stereotype words for these groups was developed in study 2 (n1 = 48, n2 = 52). The implications of the emerging social groups and the applications of this stereotype word list are discussed.

Differences in Explicit Stereotype Activation among Social Groups Based on the Stereotype Content Model: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Evidence in Chinese Sample

“…Specifically, the difference on competence ratings between LW-HC and HW-LC did not reach significant (p = 0.225) and HW-LC was perceived more competent than LW-LC (p = 0.006), even though they are both labeled as LC quadrants. Moreover, the SCM quadrants identified from pretest were the results of relative placement rather than the ideal absolute placement (see [88] for details). This limitation would be a potential confound and need addressed in future studies.…”

“…Stimuli were Chinese word pairs consisting of a prime word followed by a target word. Prime words were 24 social group labels, which were retrieved from Yang et al (2019) [87], which were validated in Ji et al (2020) [88] (see Appendix A). These social groups were divided into four categories, according to the two SCM dimensions of warmth and competence.…”

“…Target stimuli were words stereotypically associated with one of the social groups. Target words were also retrieved from Yang et al (2019) [87], which were selected through the classical method by Katz and Braly (1933) [89] (see [88] for details). For each quadrant of SCM, the 30 most stereotypic words were selected, totaling 120 target words (see Appendix A).…”