This piece details our work on stereotyping and prejudice in everyday communication, centered around four premises. 1.) Stereotypic and homogeneous cognitive representation of outgroups are apparent in how people talk to and about them, 2) Speakers explicitly try not to appear prejudiced when discussing outgroup members, 3) Communication about outgroups develops shared understanding about them, and 4) People exposed to stereotypic descriptions of outgroups increase their application of stereotypes to subsequently encountered members of that outgroup.

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