Stereotypes and Self-ratings among Finnish Dancers

The purpose of this study was to examine incidences of stereotype traits associated with four types of dancer: a folk dancer, competitive ballroom dancer, ballet dancer and modern dancer. Evidence was gathered from each of these types to test dancers' views on their own stereotype traits (in-group's traits) and those related to the other types of dancers (out-group's traits). The study compared each dancer's self-rating to the ratings of others both in the same group and in the other three groups. The study used 308 non-professional dancers as subjects. They were all given a list of 28 traits and were asked to assign the traits they perceived to be typical for the four groups and for themselves individually. The dancers' in-group and out-group ratings for the 28 traits applied to the four groups differed significantly. There were fewer differences between the ballet and modern dancers' ratings of in-group and out-group stereotypes than for those of folk and ballroom dancers. Dancers assigned a larger number of traits as typical for their own group than for the out-groups. This supports the hypothesis of dancers' tendency to underestimate out-group variability relative to in-group variability (i.e. the out-group homogeneity effect). Also, in-group stereotype traits were seen in a more positive light than those of out-groups. Finally the implications for dance educators are discussed.