Reactions to Counterstereotypic Behavior: The Role of Backlash in Cultural Stereotype Maintenance

Laurie A. Rudman, Kimberly Fairchild
2004 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology  
Social and economic sanctions for counterstereotypical behavior have been termed the backlash effect (L. A. Rudman, 1998) . The authors present a model of the role of backlash in cultural stereotype maintenance from the standpoint of both perceivers and actors. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants lost a competition to either atypical or typical men or women and subsequently showed greater tendency to sabotage deviants. Moreover, undermining deviants was associated with increased self-esteem,
more » ... ggesting that backlash rewards perceivers psychologically. Experiment 3 showed that gender deviants who feared backlash resorted to strategies designed to avoid it (e.g., hiding, deception, and gender conformity). Further, perceivers who sabotaged deviants (Experiment 2) or deviants who hid their atypicality (Experiment 3) estimated greater stereotyping on the part of future perceivers, in support of the model's presumed role for backlash in stereotype maintenance. The implications of the findings for cultural stereotypes are discussed. 1 It should be noted that Brewer's (1988) personalization was termed individuation by Fiske and Neuberg (1990) , who referred to Brewer's subtyping and individuation processes as recategorization. We use Brewer's terminology because it distinguishes between subtyping and individuation, both of which are category-based processes, and it is the latter we are concerned with here.
doi:10.1037/0022-3514.87.2.157 pmid:15301625 fatcat:jczyfkuypvhddfhgxiu3yrwqhq