Stereotype suppression leads to paradoxical effects (i.e., stereotype suppression facilitates the use of that stereotype). However, studies on paradoxical effects in stereotype suppression have not sufficiently addressed the relationship between paradoxical effects and individual differences in cognitive tendencies. The present study examined the relationship between cognitive complexity in person perception and the paradoxical effects of stereotype suppression. First, the participants answered a Rep test (role construct repertory test) that served as a measure of cognitive complexity. Second, they were given a sentence-stem completion task that served as a manipulation of stereotype suppression. Third, they were given a lexical decision task and the response latencies of the stereotypic vs. non-stereotypic words were recorded. The results indicated that the participants who were low in cognitive complexity showed paradoxical effects, while those who were high in cognitive complexity did not show paradoxical effects. A relationship between cognitive complexity and paradoxical effects was indicated.
