The Stereotype Content Model is a psychological theory that suggests that group stereotypes consist of two dimensions: Warmth and Competence. Not all stereotypes and stereotype groups are the same. Some are viewed as Incompetent and useless, for instance elderly, whereas Respected due to the excessive, perhaps threatening, competences they allegedly possess, such as Asians. Sweet and harmless, like women Cold and indifferent- like some rich people These stereotypes are the subject of lots of research within the field of social psychology. Results show that the negative stereotype, of incompetence or subordination, always coincides with the positive stereotype of warmth. The composition of this combination results in a unique collection of prejudices aimed at various groups in society and ethnic groups in general.

1. Compiled by Col Mukteshwar Prasad(Retd), MTech,CE(I),FIE(I),FIETE,FISLE,FInstOD,AMCSI
Contact -9007224278, e-mail –muktesh_prasad@yahoo.co.in
for book ”Decoding Services Selection Board” and SSB guidance and training at Shivnandani Edu and
Defence Academy
For over 260 Presentations look
https://www.slideshare.net/ColMukteshwarPrasad/
Stereotype Content Model (SCM)

2. What Is the Stereotype Content Model
(SCM)?
 The Stereotype Content Model is a psychological theory that suggests that
group stereotypes consist of two dimensions:
 Warmth and
 Competence.
 Not all stereotypes and stereotype groups are the same. Some are viewed as
 Incompetent and useless, for instance elderly, whereas
 Respected due to the excessive, perhaps threatening, competences they
allegedly possess, such as Asians.
 Sweet and harmless, like women
 Cold and indifferent- like some rich people
 These stereotypes are the subject of lots of research within the field of social
psychology.
 Results show that the negative stereotype, of incompetence or subordination,
always coincides with the positive stereotype of warmth.
 The composition of this combination results in a unique collection of prejudices
aimed at various groups in society and ethnic groups in general.
 The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) was first proposed by social
psychologist Susan Fiske and her colleagues Amy Cuddy, Peter Glick and
Jun Zu in 2002.
 Reliability of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) are sufficient in various
cultural contexts and that it is able to predict the affective reactions of a
variety of different groups.
 The model has also received support from fields such as interpersonal

3. The Two Dimensions
 Warmth and competence are the fundamental dimensions on which both
individuals and groups are assessed.
 These two dimensions have a rich history in terms of the quantity and intensity of
the research . Asch in 1946 manipulated and changed warmth of a person keeping
Competence same . This resulted in a radical change in the perception of the
individual.
 1.Warmth
 Warmth is accompanied by the question of someone’s trustworthiness, and
particularly the uttered intentions of a person towards someone else.
 Hence warmth is more important than the question of whether a person’s
competence is sufficient to actually carry out these intentions.
 A warm person is friendly to others, respects them and cares for them.
 With such warmth, they create a mutual feeling of trust and connection.
 A cold person has more trouble gaining others’ sympathy and doesn’t care
much about this .
 By adopting a distant attitude, it seems as if this person deems himself to be
superior, which results in others limiting their trust.
 In stereotyping, groups are considered to be warm or cold in different ways.
 For example, managers are often seen as cold and psychologists as warm.
 People who don’t fit within a certain group are considered to be cold more often than
people within a group.
 A few examples of warm characteristics are:
 Friendliness
 Reliability

4. The Two Dimensions
 2.Competence
 Competence is about how capable someone is in carrying out
both the good and bad intentions.
 The judgement of this dimension is formed shortly after someone
is judged in the warmth dimension.
 Moderating warmth is the degree to which other people are
deemed to be competent.
 When someone is viewed as capable, this is a reason to admire
them, sometimes grudgingly so due to jealousy.
 Competence is often used when forming stereotypes. An
example of this is that someone may think that people in a lower
social class may owe their poor circumstances to their own
incompetence rather than to other factors.
 Competence characteristics include:
 Intelligence
 Power/strength
 Working intent
 Skill

6. Dimension Combinations
 Warmth and competence are two separate orthogonal dimensions
 Therefore, a low or high score in one of the dimensions can be combined
with either a high or low score in the other dimension.
 The inventors of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) gave the result of
the combination an umbrella term.
 The following four combinations were found:
 1.Admiration
 Both warmth and competence are considered to be pleasant factors,
which makes it easier to admire people with both these aspects.
 Competence can be seen as a gift or capability,
 In general, kind people are considered to be more deserving of such
skills than unkind people, who are often begrudged their talents.
 2.Jealousy/envy
 When a person seems cold and unfriendly , then it is reasonably
assumed that this person isn’t well loved.
 If these ‘bad’ classified people are are highly competent, then this
leads to a conflicting view of them.
 They are deemed to be undeserving of their capabilities, which leaves

7. Dimension Combinations
 3.Pity
 Warm people are valued and a lack of competence is therefore not
considered to be a negative characteristic.
 The real competence of warm people is that they are good people, even
though this may be difficult to see for some.
 Some people feel superior to others because of their capabilities and
will express a sense of pity towards less capable people.
 4.Contempt
 A cold person isn’t appreciated and is considered to be wrong or bad.
 When this person is also incompetent, he is classified as completely
inferior, which means he’s regarded with contempt.
 Contempt is viewed as one of the most socially unfriendly emotions, as
it directly rejects the other person.
 To Summarise
 Prejudices have been around forever, about each population type and each
social group. Susan Fiske and her colleagues researched the basis for these
prejudices and discovered that two fundamental dimensions in forming these
prejudices always go hand in hand: warmth and competence. They describe

8. To Summarise
 Prejudices have been around forever, about each population type and each
social group.
 Susan Fiske and her colleagues researched the basis for these prejudices
and discovered that two fundamental dimensions in forming these prejudices
always go hand in hand: warmth and competence.
 They describe these in the Stereotype Content Model (SCM).
 Warm incompetent people are considered to be more deserving of
competence than cold competent people are, and
 Cold people aren’t considered deserving of anything.
 The warmth, genuineness of expressed intentions, plays an
important role in forming prejudices, while the competence, the
capability to actually carry out these intentions, is less important.

9. More information
 Cuddy, A. J., Fiske, S. T., & Glick, P. (2008). Warmth
and competence as universal dimensions of social
perception: The stereotype content model and the
BIAS map. Advances in experimental social
psychology, 40, 61-149.
 Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2018). A
model of (often mixed) stereotype content:
Competence and warmth respectively follow from
perceived status and competition (2002). In Social
Cognition (pp. 171-222). Routledge.
 Lin, M. H., Kwan, V. S., Cheung, A., & Fiske, S. T.
(2005). Stereotype content model explains prejudice
for an envied outgroup: Scale of anti-Asian American
stereotypes. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin, 31(1), 34-47