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Abstract Studies were undertaken to assess the accuracy of people's estimates of the attitudes of men and women. In the first study, we assessed attitudes of male and female university students on a broad range of social and political issues. In the second, we asked new participants to estimate the attitudes of typical males and females on the same statements. These estimates were used to select a set of stereotypic male statements and a set of stereotypic female statements. In the third study, participants estimated the attitudes of male and female students on the two sets of statements. The results of the first two studies indicated that both men and women expected larger gender differences in attitudes than actually exist. In the third study, we confirmed this result and found that people were least accurate in their estimates of the attitudes of men. Partial support was obtained for the hypothesis that in-group stereotypes would be more accurate than out-group stereotypes. Men were more accurate than women in estimating the attitudes of men but men and women were equally accurate in estimating the attitudes of women. The picture of stereotype accuracy for gender-based judgments of attitudes that emerges from our research is more complicated than earlier research would suggest. Questions concerning the accuracy of social stereotypes continue to be the subject of considerable interest and debate (Allen, 1995; Dawes, Singer, & Lemons, 1972; Eagly, 1994; Judd, Ryan, & Park, 1991; Judd & Park, 1993; Martin, 1987; McCauley & Stitt, 1978; Swim, 1994). Interest in these questions stems from basic theoretical issues related to how people process information about individuals and groups (e.g., Allison & Messick, 1985; Bardach & Park, 1996; Rothbart, Fulero, Jensen, Howard, & Birrell, 1978) and about how they perceive covariation (cf., Crocker, 1981; Linville, Fischer, & Yoon, 1996). Interest in stereotype accuracy also arises from important real-life concerns about prejudice, discrimination, and social conflict (Hilton Hippel, 1996). Many of the most recent studies of stereotype accuracy (e.g., Allen, 1995; Martin, 1987; Swim, 1994) have focused on gender stereotypes. For example, Martin (1987) assessed the accuracy of gender stereotypes by comparing people's estimates of trait frequencies in men and women with the actual frequencies of these traits reflected in their self reports. She found...