More competent than warm: The implicit stereotypes of Americans.

Abstract

Past research, based on explicit measures, has shown that Americans are rated as competent but not warm. In the present study, we assessed the implicit stereotype of Americans along the two dimensions of competence and warmth. Participants (Italian university students) completed a Go/No-go Association Task, in which Americans and Italians were the target categories and competence and warmth the target attributes. They also completed a questionnaire measuring three individual difference variables, namely Social Dominance Orientation, national identification, and political orientation. We hypothesized that Americans would be more associated with competence than warmth; we also expected Americans to be more associated with competence and less with warmth than Italians. Predictions were supported. The implicit associations were not correlated with the individual difference variables, thus suggesting they are a reflection of a well-learned cultural stereotype of Americans