Stereotyping among Hispanics and Anglos

Abstract

U.S. Navy recruits (Hispanics and Anglos) provided autostereotypes and heterostereotypes of blacks, whites, and several Hispanic ethnic groups, by judging on a ten-point scale how likely it was for each of fifteen traits to be a characteristic of a given stimulus group. All autostereotypes were favorable. The Anglos had a more uniform, though not especially intensive, autostereotype than the Hispanics. The Anglo heterostereotype of Hispanics was generally positive but not uniform. The Hispanic heterostereotype of Anglos was positive and uniform. All groups were ethnocentric, in that they assigned more positive attributes to the auto- than the heterostereotype. On several traits there was convergence of the auto- and heterostereotypes. The data are consistent with the theoretical argument of Campbell (1967) and Triandis and Vassiliou (1967) concerning the way stereotypes emerge.