Shifting the application of explicit and implicit stereotypes to transgender individuals

The proposed studies were the first to our knowledge to test whether stereotypes of transgender individuals can be shifted. We tested this question in the domain of both implicit and explicit person perception. In Study 1, we tested whether counterstereotypic individuating information (i.e. information about individuals that contradicts the group stereotype) about one transgender woman and one cisgender woman (a) reduced or eliminated the application of explicit (i.e. directly measured) stereotypes about transgender and cisgender people to these two individuals and to transgender and cisgender people more broadly, (b) improved attitudes toward the transgender individual, and (c) reduced anti-transgender bias in behavioral intentions, while also examining potential moderators of the individuating information effects on stereotypes in explicit person perception. Study 2 was mostly the same, except that it investigated the application of implicit (i.e. indirectly measured) stereotypes to individuals. In Study 1, we found that the application of explicit stereotypes to an individual transwoman was eliminated by the individuating information, and in Study 2, we found that the application of implicit stereotypes was reduced. The counterstereotypic individuating information eliminated explicit prejudice in perceptions of the transwoman in both studies. There was mostly no effect of the individuating information on stereotypes of the groups, and no effect of this information on behavioral intentions. We did not find any significant moderators of the individuating information effects. Practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.