The role of subtypes in attitudes towards superordinate social categories

When general attitudes do not predict behaviour towards specific members of a social category, the reason may be that the specific members belong to a subtype that is not spontaneously associated with the superordinate social category. In Study 1, university students reported their general attitudes towards former mental patients and described the ‘typical’ former mental patient. The descriptions were rated on how well they matched each of eight subtypes (e.g. depressed, paranoid). One month later, the same students expressed their willingness to engage in various activities with a ‘former mental patient’ visitor who was depicted as a member of a subtype that either matched or mismatched the student's description. General attitudes predicted behavioural intentions better when the visitor was from a matching subtype than from a mismatching subtype. In Study 2, students who had negative attitudes towards substance abusers agreed to engage in fewer and less intimate activities with, and sat farther from, a visitor from a matching than from a mismatching subtype. Implications for theories of attitude‐behaviour consistency and stereotyping are discussed.