to refer to the widespread evidence of at least some accuracy, and sometimes quite high accuracy, found in nearly every study that has assessed stereotype accuracy, with the exception of studies of national character stereotypes that have used the Big Five as criteria. Nonetheless, there is no evidence that stereotypes are perfectly accurate. Furthermore, even within a single study, accuracy levels may vary, not just across judgments or perceivers, but, because accuracy is a multi-faceted construct, across the four types of accuracy described previously. Nonetheless, the evidence of pervasive stereotype accuracy is inconsistent with virtually all perspectives defining stereotypes as inaccurate, or emphasizing their inaccuracy. Several methodological aspects of the empirical research on stereotype accuracy are worth noting because they bear on the generalizability of these results. Although many studies assessed the accuracy of undergraduates’ stereotypes, a substantial minority assessed the accuracy of samples of adults, and some have included representative samples of perceivers. Some of the highest levels of accuracy occurred with these adult samples, suggesting that the levels of accuracy obtained do not represent some artifact resulting from the study of undergraduate samples. Second, the studies used a wide variety of criteria: U.S. Census data, self-reports, of Education data, nationally representative surveys, locally representative surveys, U.S. government reports, etc. The consistency of the results across studies, therefore, does not reflect some artifact resulting from use of any particular criteria. Third, the studies examined a wide range of stereotype content: beliefs about demographic characteristics, academic achievement, personality, attitudes, beliefs and behavior. The consistency of the results across studies, therefore, does not reflect some artifact resulting from a particular type of stereotype content. 1 makes three points vividly clear. The first is that when criterion samples are mismatched to the stereotype (use of haphazard criterion samples), evidence of stereotype accuracy is not as strong
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