Ethnic Stereotypes: The Role of Language

Abstract

An investigation was conducted to determine whether the language of testing exerts an influence in cross-cultural work among bilingual Ss concerning ethnic stereotypes and the generality of stereotyping. The investigation constituted a replication in the Tagalog language of a study initially conducted in English. The results indicated that the language of testing did not appreciably affect the product of stereotyping, the stereotypes themselves, but it did affect at least one aspect of the process of stereotyping, its generality across ingroup and outgroup concepts. Such results suggest that investigators engaged in cross-cultural research should consider very carefully the language of testing.