Suppressing stereotypes often results in more stereotype use, an effect attributed to heightened stereotype activation. The authors report two experiments examining the consequences of suppression on two self-relevant outcomes: the active self-concept and overt behavior. Participants who suppressed stereotypes incorporated stereotypic traits into their self-concepts and demonstrated stereotype-congruent behavior compared to those who were exposed to the same stereotypes but did not suppress them. These findings address issues emerging from current theories of suppression, priming, and the active self.
BarghJ. A.ChenM.BurrowsL. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 230–244.
2.
CarverC. S.ScheierM. F. (1981). Attention and self-regulation: A control-theory approach to human behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag.
3.
CesarioJ.PlaksJ. E.HigginsE. T. (2006). Automatic social behavior as motivated preparation to interact. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 893–910.
4.
DeMarreeK. G.LoerschC. (2009). Who am I and who are you? Priming and the influence of self versus other focused attention. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(2):440–443.
5.
DeMarreeK. G.WheelerS. C.PettyR. E. (2005). Priming a new identity: Self-monitoring moderates the effects of non-self stereotype primes on self-judgments and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 657–671.
6.
DevineP. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5–18.
7.
DijksterhuisA.BarghJ. A. (2001). The perception-behavior expressway: Automatic effects of social perception on social behavior. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 33, pp. 1–40). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
8.
DijksterhuisA.van KnippenbergA. (1998). The relation between perception and behavior or how to win a game of Trivial Pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 865–877.
9.
DijksterhuisA.van KnippenbergA.SpearsR.PostmesT.StapelD. A.KoomenW. (1998). Seeing one thing and doing another: Contrast effects in automatic behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 862–871.
10.
GailliotM.PlantE. A.ButzD. A.BaumeisterR. F. (2007). Increasing self-regulatory strength via exercise can reduce the depleting effect of suppressing stereotypes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 281–294.
11.
GawronskiB.BodenhausenG. V. (2006). Associative and propositional processes in evaluation: An integrative review of implicit and explicit attitude change. Psychological Bulletin, 132(5):692–731.
12.
GreenwaldA. G.McGheeD. E.SchwartzJ. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464–1480.
13.
GreenwaldA. G.NosekB. A.BanajiM. R. (2003). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: I. An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197–216.
14.
HaddockG.MacraeC. N.FleckS. J. (2002). Syrian science and smart supermodels: On the when and how of perception-behavior effects. Social Cognition, 20, 461–481.
15.
HansenJ.WänkeM. (2009). Think of capable others and you can make it! Self-efficacy mediates the effect of stereotype activation on behavior. Social Cognition, 27, 76–88.
16.
JonasK. J.SassenbergK. (2006). Knowing what to do: Response behavior activation from social category primes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 709–721.
17.
KawakamiK.DovidioJ. F.DijksterhuisA. (2003). Effect of social category priming on personal attitudes. Psychological Science, 14, 315–319.
18.
KayA. C.WheelerS. C.SmeestersD. (2008). Situationally embedded social cognition: The interplay of construct accessibility, situational construal, and person perception. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 275–291.
19.
LibermanN.ForsterJ. (2000). The effect of expression after suppression: A motivational explanation of post suppressional rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 190–203.
20.
MacraeC. N.BodenhausenG. V.MilneA. B. (1998). Saying no to unwanted thoughts: Self-focus and the regulation of mental life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 578–589.
21.
MacraeC. N.BodenhausenG. B.MilneA. B.JettenJ. (1994). Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 808–817.
22.
MuravenM. R.BaumeisterR. F. (2000). Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle?Psychological Bulletin, 126, 247–259.
23.
MussweilerT. (2007). Assimilation and contrast as comparison effects: A selective accessibility model. In StapelD. A.SulsJ. (Eds.), Assimilation and contrast in social psychology (pp. 165–185). New York: Psychology Press.
24.
NewmanL. S.DuffK. J.BaumeisterR. F. (1997). A new look at defensive projection: Thought suppression, accessibility, and biased person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 980–1001.
25.
NewmanL. S.DuffK. J.HedbergD. A.BlitsteinJ. (1996). Rebound effects in impression formation: Assimilation and contrast effects following thought suppression. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 460–483.
26.
PurdonC. (1999). Thought suppression and psychopathology. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 1029–1054.
27.
SchubertT. W.HäfnerM. (2003). Contrast from social stereotypes in automatic behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 577–584.
28.
SmeestersD.WarlopL.van AvermaetE.CorneilleO.YzerbytV. (2003). Do not prime hawks with doves: The interplay of construct activation and consistency of social value orientation on cooperative behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(5):972–987.
29.
SmeestersD.WheelerS. C.KayA. C. (2009). The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 395–414.
30.
SmeestersD.YzerbytV.CorneilleO.WarlopL. (2009). When do primes prime? The moderating role of the self-concept in individuals' susceptibility to priming effects on social behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 211–216.
31.
WegnerD. M. (1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101, 34–52.
32.
WegnerD. M.SchneiderD. J.CarterS. R.WhiteT. L. (1987). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 5–13.
33.
WheelerS. C.DeMarreeK. G.PettyR. E. (2007). Understanding the role of the self in prime-to-behavior effects: The active-self account. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 234–261.
34.
WheelerS. C.MorrisonK. R.DeMarreeK. G.PettyR. E. (2008). Does self-consciousness increase or decrease priming effects? It depends. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(3):882–889.
35.
WyerN. A. (2007). Motivational influences on compliance with and consequences of instructions to suppress stereotypes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 417–424.
36.
WyerN. A.ShermanJ. W.StroessnerS. J. (1998). The spontaneous suppression of racial stereotypes. Social Cognition, 16, 340–352.
37.
WyerN. A.ShermanJ. W.StroessnerS. J. (2000). The roles of motivation and ability in controlling the consequences of stereotype suppression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 13–25.
