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The authors randomly assigned 69 undergraduates to 1 of 2 perceptual priming conditions involving 80-ms flash words presented on a computer screen to activate information processing outside of conscious awareness. In the high-prime condition, the authors exposed participants to stereotype words associated with the Yellow Peril view of Asian Americans. The authors exposed participants in a low-prime condition to neutral words. All participants then read a vignette and evaluated its protagonist on several social dimensions. Results indicated that the priming procedure effectively biased participant evaluation of the vignette target, but only on items closely linked to Asian Americans. Contrary to predictions, however, participants in the high-prime group rated the target less Asian than did their low-prime group counterparts, an apparent reversal of the expected priming effect. The authors discussed theoretical implications. Key words: Asians, impression formation, priming, stereotypes, STEREOTYPES ARE SPECIAL TYPES of cognitive structures involved in categorizing individuals. Greenwald and Banaji (1995) defined a stereotype as a set of traits believed to be characteristic of a social [...]

A theoretical framework to account for Whites' attitudes toward Asian Americans was developed and tested in 3 studies. An Attitude Toward Asians (ATA) scale was developed and found to be valid and reliable. Consistent with the framework, a negative factor and a positive factor were found to underlie attitudes toward Asian Americans. As expected, negative attitudes were shown to stem from both negative and positive instrumental attributes, whereas positive attitudes stemmed from positive instrumental and noninstrumental attributes. Predictions regarding emotional reactions to Asian Americans and attitude ambivalence were supported. Attitudes toward Asian Americans were also shown to influence judgments of African Americans. Implications and future research directions are discussed.