Loyal Cats and Lazy Wolves: Recall for Stereotype Consistent and Inconsistent Identities in Members of a Fan Group

Abstract Furries are fans of media featuring anthropomorphized animal characters. As part of this interest, most furries construct a fursona – an anthropomorphized animal representation of themselves. Many of the species commonly chosen by fans for their fursonas have stereotypes associated with them. Based on prior research, we hypothesized that furry participants shown profiles of hypothetical furries would be more likely to remember details of profiles with species stereotype-consistent information as compared to those with species stereotype-inconsistent information. Participants showed better memory for profiles whose personality matched (vs. mismatched) the stereotypes associated with their fursona species. We discuss these results in the context of prior research – both on the furry fandom specifically and on the role of schemas in memory more generally.