Patty Linville

Duke University



Inhibitory control of stereotypes

Lazenby Hall, Room 34, at 4:00 PM
on Thursday, November 12, 1998

            How do social and emotional factors influence attention inhibition? Inhibition processes enable people to focus attention on goal-relevant information while screening out less relevant, distracting information. My stereotyping work examines whether stereotypes are generally hard or easy to inhibit, whether people with weak stereotype inhibition show greater prejudiced judgments and behavior, and whether motivated people can control their stereotype inhibition. The results suggest that weak stereotype inhibition is an implicit, unobtrusive measure of stereotyping. My other work suggests that weak inhibition is linked with stress and depression; engaging in health-damaging behavior such as smoking; and creativity. Thus inhibitory ability is affected by the content of distracting information as well as temporary affective states.

Patricia Linville

Back to Top