SAVINGS IN RELEARNING THROUGH EXPOSURE TO SAME-GROUP EXEMPLARS.

Exemplar theory (Smith & Zárate, 1992) states that the use of stereotypes and group-level knowledge can be explained without the use of group-level mental representations. To explore this claim, this investigation attempted to show that a single association between a trait and a member of a social group would make it easier to form a later association between that trait and a different member of the same social group. Two experiments were conducted using Carlston and Skowronski's (1994) savings in relearning paradigm. The first experiment, using targets said to attend two different colleges, replicated the basic savings effect but failed to find any influence of group membership. The second experiment, using targets of different gender, also replicated the basic savings effect and additionally found some evidence for a group membership effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]