Effect of direct exposure to foreign target groups on descriptive stereotypes held by American students

Seventy-seven American college students enrolled in a semester-at-sea program rated 4 target groups before and after exposure in their own national settings (in the case of English, French, and Italians), on a rating instrument (Peabody, 1968) designed to discriminate between descriptive and evaluative judgments in stereotyping. The primary purpose was to assess the effects of in vivo exposure on descriptive stereotypes. The greatest change was in the stereotypic profile of the English, with statistically significant shifts on 9 of 14 behavioral traits, mostly toward “loser” impulse expression. Descriptive stereotypes of the French, Italians, and Americans, and evaluative stereotypes of all 4 groups, received few statistically significant changes. For all groups, the trend reflected in pre- and postevaluative judgments was in the favorable direction.