Os estereótipos e o viés lingüístico intergrupal

One of the main evidences found in recent studies on stereotypes is the that named “intergroup bias”, which indicates a tendency both to considering outgroup members more homogeneous than ingroup ones, and the related tendency to benefiting the in-group members to the detriment of the outgroup ones. This work, with an experimental feature, was for evaluating the extent of this effect in participants with a white ethnic origin and participants with an African ethnic origin who are living in Salvador, State of Bahia (Brazil). The dependable variable was related to a forced choice among four options, each of them representing a linguistic codification with a different level of abstraction (adjectives, permanent states verbs, interpretative verbs, descriptive verbs). The results, unlike those ones found in written sources, did not show any effect determined by the participant's ethnic origin, nor by the character's one, nor even by the interaction of these two variables. The conclusions of the study, however, should not be taken as an indication of an absence of racial prejudice between the participants. Rather, they should more likely be taken as a consequence determined by the limits and imperfection of the indirect instruments for measuring the stereotypes and the prejudices. Keywords: stereotypes; prejudice; intergroup linguistic bias; intergroup.