The mechanisms behind feature-based stereotyping: an empirical test

Previous studies have found evidence for "feature-based stereotyping" (FBS), in which the more "prototypic" an individual's features are of their social group, the more that individual will be stereotyped. Both categorization and a direct association between features and stereotypes (Blair, 2006) have been proposed to mediate of this process. The current study provides an empirical test of the mechanisms underlying FBS by employing verbal interference, which has been used in previous studies to disrupt categorical perception (the advantage for discriminating between objects from different categories, relative to objects from the same category).We predicted that if categorization mediates FBS, verbal interference will eliminate the use of features in stereotyping. If features are directly associated with stereotypes, categorization should be unnecessary and verbal interference will have no effect on FBS. Although no evidence was found to support the differential effects of interference on FBS, analyses suggest that our interference tasks did not work as intended.