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How Stereotypes Impact Our Social Interactions

Arjen Stolk Ph.D., May 24, 2023
Stereotypes are generalizations about groups of people that allow us to quickly judge individuals
without having to spend a lot of time getting to know them. This ability for rapid categorization likely
carried evolutionary advantages, aiding our ancestors in efficiently navigating their environments and
making swift decisions.

However, over-reliance on stereotypes can prove problematic when they do not align with the
actual characteristics or behaviors of the person we are interacting with. For example, a teacher’s
didactic tone may come across as patronizing when it turns out that the young person being spoken to is
also an educator rather than a student.

Yet our current scientific understanding of how stereotypes truly shape our social interactions,
particularly in the face of contradictory evidence, remains limited. This understanding is needed if we
want to address the biases associated with stereotypes and foster a more inclusive and equitable society.

Interaction Games

A new line of research is shedding light on this matter. At the heart of this research lies the
recognition that computer-mediated interaction games offer a unique toolset. Because study
participants cannot see or hear one another during gameplay, researchers can experimentally alter
individuals’ beliefs about their interaction partners. This enables subsequent assessment of participants’
tendencies to behave in accordance with those preconceived beliefs.

To illustrate this idea, researchers can design a game where participants interact with two
distinct partners: a 5-year-old child and an adult. The twist is that both of these ‘roles’ are performed by
the same individual, who remains unaware of which role they are assuming in each interaction. This
setup ensures that any perceived disparities between the child and adult partners are solely attributable
to the participants’ stereotype-driven beliefs about their capabilities, rather than actual differences in
behavior and understanding between the two partners.

Previous research using this experimental setup has shown that participants instinctively make
subtle adaptations when they believe they are interacting with the ‘child’ partner. Much like how we
naturally modify our communication style with children by adjusting the tone and inflection of our voice,
participants in these games tend to place more emphasis on important portions of the digital game
board when engaged with the presumed child partner.

Sources of Individual Variation

Interaction games thus present a promising avenue for capturing the behavioral effects of
stereotypes in a controlled and systematic manner. This enables researchers to explore whether
individuals vary in their capacity or propensity to utilize preconceived notions about people during their
social interactions.

A study aimed at addressing this question investigated patients with prefrontal lobe damage, a
brain region situated above the eyes that is known for its involvement in social behavior. The findings of
this study revealed that patients with prefrontal damage did not demonstrate slower or clearer
behaviors while engaging with the presumed child partner. This discovery highlights the crucial role of
the prefrontal lobe in shaping individuals’ responses to stereotype-related cues within social
interactions.

In a separate study, researchers examined whether the development of this social ability is
influenced by environmental factors, such as socioeconomic status and the extent of exposure to social
interactions within and outside the family setting. The study specifically targeted 5-year-old children, as
this age is known for well-developed social skills and allowed for a comprehensive assessment of the
child’s social environment.

The study revealed a significant relationship between the amount of time children spent in
daycare (days per week) from birth until the age of 4 and the extent to which they spontaneously
organized their interactive behaviors according to their beliefs about their partner at age 5. These initial
insights shed light on the factors that contribute to individual variations in this crucial aspect of human
interaction.

A Sensitive Developmental Period

The study involving 5-year-old children offers evidence supporting the longstanding notion that
our ability to interact with others develops through social interactions. However, it remains unclear
whether the consequences of social experiences acquired in a daycare environment extend beyond early
development.

Humans differ from other primates in both the extent and nature of social interactions
encountered from early infancy. Unlike chimpanzee infants, who typically remain under their mother’s
care until around 5 years old, human infants are regularly exposed to interactions with a variety of
individuals from an early stage. This striking contrast has prompted anthropologists to propose that
these early-life social experiences may play a crucial role in the development of human interactional
abilities that endure into adulthood.

A rare opportunity presented itself to investigate a unique cohort of 17-year-old adolescents

who had been meticulously tracked since infancy. These individuals had consistently reported their social
statistics annually, including details such as the number of friends and or siblings they had, the extent of
time spent with them, and notably, the amount of time they had spent in daycare during their earliest
years.

By acquiring participants’ brain scans and employing the same interaction game utilized in the
aforementioned studies, this investigation yielded two insights. First, the study identified a specific sub-
region within the prefrontal lobe known as the anterior cingulate gyrus, which remarkably predicted an
individual’s tendency to act in accordance with stereotypes associated with their interaction partners.
This finding aligns with previous observations of impaired adaptation in patients with prefrontal damage
encompassing the anterior cingulate gyrus.

Second, participants who had a long history of daycare exposure demonstrated a heightened
capacity to adapt their communication style to match the actual behavior and understanding of both
child and adult partners. These individuals treated both partners equally and showed reduced reliance
on stereotypes as they gathered interaction-based evidence against their preconceived assumptions
about their partners.

In conclusion, these observations highlight the important role of interaction-based evidence in

shaping the impact of stereotypes. Our ability to align the influence of stereotypes with evidence
derived from social interactions develops through engagement in social interactions, particularly in early
life.

2. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/06/eco-gender-gap-why-saving-planet-seen-
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3. Gender Gap: This is the state of work for women in 2024 | World Economic Forum