We examined the influence of interdependence goals on the accessibility of implicit gender stereotypical associations. Participants were asked to cooperate with or compete against a woman on a mathematical abilities task and subsequently the relative activation of positive and negative warmth and competence traits was measured using a primed categorization task. Results showed that female primes (vs. male primes) facilitated the activation of low warmth and high competence in the competition condition, whereas high warmth was activated in the cooperation condition and no differences were found for competence traits. These results are discussed referring to the stereotype content model and the compensation effect in person perception. The goal dependent nature of implicit gender stereotypes is emphasized.
