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Counterstereotypic behavior by a single out-group member often fails to change out-group stereotypes because it can be dismissed as an exception to the rule. The impact ofthe exception can be strengthened by making the exception appear to be a typical out-group member and by encouraging a dispositional attribution for the exception's counterstereotypic behavior. These hypotheses were supported in 3 experiments using both artificial and real social categories and both positive and negative stereotypes. When counterstereotypic behavior by a typical member of the out-group was attributed to a stable internal cause, it was effective in moderating out-group stereotypes. However. the same behavior had virtually no impact when it was either performed by an atypical group member or attributed to external causes or to unstable internal causes.
Wilder et al. (Thu,) studied this question.