Equal ratings but separate meanings: Stereotypes and the construal of traits.

The same trait may imply different behaviors when applied to members of differently stereotyped groups. For example, these studies show that aggressive connotes physical violence when applied to a construction worker but verbal abuse when applied to a lawyer. Such stereotype-driven construals of traits can be more readily explained by a parallel-constraint-satisfaction model of impression formation (Z. Kunda & P. Thagard, 1996) than by more traditional models of representation commonly used by social psychologists. These studies show also that stereotypes affect predictions about a person's trait-related behavior even after the stereotype's impact on the trait itself has been undermined by individuating information about that person. The parallel-constraint-satisfaction model is better able to account for such a pattern than are earlier, serial models of stereotype use.