Are studies about ethnic stereotypes biased? A survey of Europeans' media diets and perceptions of Chinese people

The bulk of existing scholarly literature on ethnic stereotypes predominantly concentrates on person-based stereotypes, while research on context-based and national stereotypes remains relatively scarce. In our research, we adopted a predominantly inductive approach to evaluate stereotypes, leading to findings that demonstrate that approximately half of the stereotypes associated with Chinese individuals were images that revolve around economic and political characteristics ascribed to China. Person-based stereotypes were centred around personal traits and cultural attributes. When examining secondary data, we observed that ethnic attitudes exert only limited influence on the sort of stereotypes that individuals construct. However, individuals who reported experiencing a lower social distance from Chinese individuals were more inclined to associate them with personal traits. Furthermore, our research unveiled that individuals who formed personal stereotypes were more likely to possess lower levels of education and exhibit less knowledge about China compared to those who formed national stereotypes. Individuals who constructed personal stereotypes also displayed a preference for entertainment-oriented content over news and tended to favour soft news over hard news. This suggests that their exposure to media and choice of information sources may contribute to the formation of their stereotypes. Overall, our study highlights the importance of considering both personal and national stereotypes when examining ethnic stereotypes. It sheds light on the factors that influence their formation and provides insights into the group characteristics and social context of individuals who hold different types of stereotypes.