Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- Contributors -- Preface -- 1 Social, cultural and cognitive factors in stereotype formation -- The purpose of this book -- What are stereotypes? -- Guiding principle 1: stereotypes are aids to explanation -- Guiding principle 2: stereotypes are energy saving devices -- Guiding principle 3: stereotypes are shared group beliefs -- Stereotypes as psychological constructs -- Why do stereotypes form? -- How do stereotypes form? -- Distinctiveness and expectancy-based illusory correlations -- Integrating distinctiveness and expectancy-based illusory correlation through the idea of differentiated meaning -- The renaissance of explanation in stereotyping -- An overview of the chapters to come -- 2 Stereotype formation as category formation -- Social and cognitive psychological approaches to category formation -- Stereotypes for explanation, justification and rationalization -- Covariation and mechanism-based knowledge -- Using the covariation-mechanism distinction: defining stereotypes in more detail -- Conclusion -- 3 Subjective essentialism and the emergence of stereotypes -- The essence of subjective essentialism -- Subjective essentialism and the accentuation of accentuation -- Subjective essentialism and the amplification of illusory correlation -- The emergence of group stereotypes in a multidimensional context -- Conclusions -- 4 The role of theories in the formation of stereotype content -- Introduction -- Data and theory in stereotype formation and stereotype application -- Stereotype formation -- Stereotype application -- Summary -- Self-categorization theory and the formation of stereotype content -- Categorization, category formation and category salience -- Linking fit and theories in the formation of stereotype content -- Using theories to interpret fit.

Theories as ingroup beliefs -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgement -- NOTES -- 5 Illusory correlation and stereotype formation: making sense of group differences and cognitive biases -- Research on illusory correlation -- Illusory correlation: a product of data-based distortion or of sense-making processes? -- Illusory correlation as data-based distortions -- Illusory correlation as a sense-making process -- Task features inducing the perception of illusory correlation -- The standard instructions -- Labels A and B: expecting intergroup differences -- Groups: expecting intragroup similarities -- The nature of the stimuli -- Hypothesis testing and differentiated meaning -- Accentuation and task features -- Standard instructions and stimulus content -- A dynamic process -- Conclusions -- 6 Dependence and the formation of stereotyped beliefs about groups: from interpersonal to intergroup perception -- Introduction -- Dependence and the individuation of powerful targets -- Dependence and the formation of stereotyped beliefs about groups -- Attentional processes and stereotyping -- The experience of discrimination -- The experience of competition -- The anticipation of negative dependence -- When and why would interdependence lead to accentuation in group perception? -- Conclusions -- 7 Four degrees of stereotype formation: differentiation by any means necessary -- Introduction -- Theoretical principles and resources -- Four degrees of stereotype formation -- 1. 'Bottom up' stereotype formation: a case of clear and present differences -- 2. A bit of 'bottom up': a little data can go a long way -- 3. A bit of 'top down': a little knowledge goes just as far -- 4. Neither up nor down: differentiation by any means necessary -- Conclusions -- Acknowledgement.

8 From personal pictures in the head to collective tools in the world: how shared stereotypes allow groups to represent and… -- Stereotyping and stereotype formation: two metatheories -- The social identity approach to stereotyping: three phases of research -- 1. Social identity and social categorization -- 2. Self-categorization and social identity salience -- 3. Self-categorization, influence and consensus -- Self-categorization and the politics of stereotype formation: four lessons -- 1. Stereotypes are collective achievements -- 2. Stereotypes are works in progress -- 3. Stereotypes are embedded in a system of dynamic intergroup relations -- 4. Stereotypes help maintain and contest the social power structure -- Conclusion: stereotypes are shared tools not just private pictures -- NOTES -- 9 Conclusion: stereotypes are selective, variable and contested explanations -- A brief summary of the chapters -- Some unifying themes -- 1. Theories and knowledge about social groups have consequences for the dimensions which are selected to distinguish between… -- 2. Theory and data are intimately intertwined in stereotype formation -- 3. Meaning and differentiation: beyond cognitive economy? -- 4. Stereotypes are not passive responses to context -- 5. The wrong lessons have sometimes been draw from social cognitive research -- 6. Expectancies can produce coherence -- 7. Stereotypes are not necessarily bad -- 8. Stereotypical knowledge is shared -- Some points of difference -- The message of this book -- References -- Author index -- Subject index.