{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T17:10:52Z","timestamp":1788455452876,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771286400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"MOE Major Special Project of Philosophical and Social Sciences Research","award":["2025JZDZ024"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025JZDZ024"]}]},{"name":"MOE Project of Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences in Universities","award":["22JJD190007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22JJD190007"]}]},{"name":"Major Planning Project of Philosophy and Social Science of Guangdong Province","award":["GD23ZD17"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GD23ZD17"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Understanding how attitudes and stereotypes influence each other is central to social cognition, yet prior findings have been inconsistent, with some indicating strong connections and others suggesting separation. To help explain these discrepancies, we introduce the construct of conceptual distance, defined as the evaluative proximity between attitude objects and stereotypical trait dimensions (e.g., warmth, morality, competence). Across four experiments, we first measured conceptual distance using a forced-choice task that estimated how closely each trait dimension aligns with positive or negative valence. We then tested whether the strength of causal effects between attitudes and stereotypes corresponds to these distances. Attitudes or stereotypes were manipulated using evaluative conditioning (EC), and their effects were measured through either explicit self-report ratings or Implicit Association Tests (IATs). Results consistently showed stronger causal effects for stereotype dimensions that were evaluatively closer to attitudes (warmth and morality) than for more distant ones (competence). These findings offer initial evidence for a correspondence between conceptual distance and the strength of experimentally induced influence. The study contributes to theories of causal cognition and social representation, and offers implications for designing interventions that aim to reduce stereotype-based bias and promote more flexible social inferences.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16020287","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T09:22:46Z","timestamp":1771320166000},"page":"287","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The \u2018Conceptual Distance Effect\u2019 in the Causal Effects Under Experimental Manipulation Between Attitude and Stereotype"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-6241-7029","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yang","family":"Yang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xue","family":"Bai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shenzhen Zhili School, Shenzhen 518000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3191-6874","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiejie","family":"Liao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Education, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou 510303, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yujie","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8586-7508","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lei","family":"Mo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"652","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.91.4.652","article-title":"Stereotyping and evaluation in implicit race bias: Evidence for independent constructions and unique effects on behavior","volume":"91","author":"Amodio","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12741","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2000333117","article-title":"As diversity increases, people paradoxically perceive social groups as more similar","volume":"117","author":"Bai","year":"2020","journal-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsp.744","article-title":"Looking for honesty: The primary role of morality (vs. sociability and competence) in information gathering","volume":"41","author":"Brambilla","year":"2011","journal-title":"European Journal of Social Psychology"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1016\/bs.aesp.2021.03.001","article-title":"The primacy of morality in impression development: Theory, research, and future directions","volume":"Vol. 64","author":"Brambilla","year":"2021","journal-title":"Advances in experimental social psychology"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1559-1816.1972.tb01264.x","article-title":"Racial stereotypes: Measurement variables and the stereotype-attitude relationship","volume":"2","author":"Brigham","year":"1972","journal-title":"Journal of Applied Social Psychology"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Dehghani, M., and Boyd, R. 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