The more academic paper I linked to (by the author being discussed in this article) suggests that people use stereotypes a lot like a Bayesian prior. Once they have knowledge about a specific individual, that knowledge usually drowns out the stereotype.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rci.rutgers.edu&#x2F;~jussim&#x2F;unbearable%20accuracy%20of%20stereotypes.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rci.rutgers.edu&#x2F;~jussim&#x2F;unbearable%20accuracy%20o...</a>