Measures perceptions of social groups, brands, and companies along two fundamental dimensions — Warmth and Competence — that jointly determine emotional and behavioural responses. Warmth captures perceived friendliness, trustworthiness, and benevolence — whether the target has good intentions toward others. Competence captures perceived ability, intelligence, and skill — whether the target can carry out those intentions. The Stereotype Content Model proposes that status predicts perceived competence and competition predicts perceived warmth (low competition = high warmth). The four quadrants formed by crossing warmth and competence predict distinct emotional reactions: pity (high warmth, low competence), envy (low warmth, high competence), contempt (low-low), and admiration (high-high). In consumer and marketing research, the SCM predicts reactions to brand personalities, corporate social responsibility, brand crises, spokesperson characteristics, and inclusive advertising.
Likert (1–5, not at all to extremely) — rate how well each trait describes the target group or brand
Two subscale scores. Warmth perceptions form faster and have greater impact on overall evaluation — consistent with the negativity bias in social perception. In brand contexts, warmth predicts trust, loyalty, and forgiveness; competence predicts quality perceptions and premium pricing acceptance. The SCM is increasingly used in inclusive advertising research to assess how diverse spokesperson choices affect brand warmth and competence perceptions. Cuddy, Fiske & Glick (2008) extended the model with the BIAS Map predicting behavioural responses.
Fiske, S.T., Cuddy, A.J.C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 878–902.
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