Abstract: Adopted signal detection method and indirect method, this study discussed the implicit effect of stereotype in the process of social information categorization. The results suggested: (1) Category priming can automatically activate the relevant content of stereotype, which illustrates to a certain extent stereotype may be a necessary consequence or outcome from the category process. (2) The activations of the stereotypes caused by the category priming and its corresponding construction respectively tend to bring forth the assimilation effect or the contrast effect. (3) On the individual level, it is very difficult to inhibit the automatic activation about stereotype by conscious inhibition, which manifests that the implicit processes are deeply involved in the stereotyping processing.

Key words: social information categorization, implicit effect of stereotype, category priming, assimilation effect, contrast effect