12- Social Categorization (2)

Question 1

1- Origins of Stereotypes:
Outgroup Homogeneity effect:
Explain the outgroup homogeneity effect.

Answer 1

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect: Tendency to perceive more similarity in outgroups than in ingroups

Example:
How similar are members of…..
Rothgerber, 1997
Your own university: 3.28
Your rival university: 3.74
How different are members of…..
Your own university: 3.70
Your rival university: 3.40

The Danger of a Single Story (4:13-13:25) (see video maybe)

Question 2

2- Origins of Stereotypes:
Outgroup Homogeneity effect:
Explain the mechanisms behind the outgroup homogeneity effect

Answer 2

-Quantity of Contact: People interact more with ingroup members
Consequence: People have more “individuating” information about ingroup members and their unique qualities

-Quality of Contact: Interactions with ingroup members are typically of
higher-quality
Consequence: People have more “individuating” information about
ingroup members and their unique qualities

-Motivation to be Distinct: People are motivated to see themselves as at least somewhat distinct from the groups that they belong to
Consequence: People look for ways to distinguish themselves from their
ingroup to maintain their individuality

-Motivation to Dehumanize: In some cases, we want to dehumanize others to maintain sense that the ingroup is superior to others.
Consequence: Outgroup members are seen as homogenous and not
separate individuals

Question 3

3- Origins of Stereotypes:
Cross-Race Effect

Answer 3

Cross-Race Effect: The tendency to more easily recognize & remember
own-race faces compared to cross-race faces
o A consequence of outgroup homogeneity
o Related both to one’s motivation and to one’s ability to attend to
outgroup faces.

One famous study on the CRE compared the
facial memory of:
1) White, French citizens (~ 28 years old)
2) Native Koreans who had been living in France for a number of years (~32 years old)
3) Children adopted from Korea living in France
(arrived in France ~6 years old, age at testing ~30 years old).
Results: 1- white french citizens recognized better white faces 2- native koreans living in france recognized better asian faces 3- korean adoptees living in france recognized better white faces
So maybe not just about ingroup outgroup, but about majority? (rewatch video)
Social standing hypothesis?
The cross-race effect & police line-ups:
Of cases that were overturned that involved eyewitness misidentification,
42% involved an instance of crossracial misidentification.

Question 4

4- Origins of Stereotypes:
The Ultimate Attribution Error

Answer 4

Attribution: The process of explaining the causes of behavior or events

Ultimate Attribution Error
* The social world is ambiguous.
* And this is especially true when we are trying to figure out WHY something happened.

Dispositional vs. Situational Attributions
Ex:
Dispositional: Jack won the prize because
he’s smart
Situational: Jack won the prize because the
competition was easy.

Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to explain our own and
other people’s behavior in terms of dispositional traits rather than situational characteristics.

• Ultimate Attribution Error: attributions depend on…
  o Ingroup vs. Outgroup
  o Positive vs. Negative Behavior
  Your team makes a good play…what attribution are we likely to make?
  “The players have great ability!” (dispositional)
  The opposite team makes a good play….
  “They got lucky” (situational)
  if your team makes a bad play…. situational (the floor was slippery)
  if rival team makes a bad play…dispositional (they are just not good)
• Thus…we form beliefs about groups’ negative traits
• When viewing video of someone shoving another…
  o White person → situational attribution
  o Black person → “the person is violent”

Question 5

5- Origins of Stereotypes:
Illusory Correlation

Answer 5

Illusory Correlation: When people see two distinctive
events, they assume the events are correlated

Participants read 39 statements about positive or
negative behaviors committed by members of Group A or Group B.
Group A was the majority (26 statements) and Group
B was the minority (13 statements).
Group A had 18 positive and 8 negative behaviors.
Group B had 9 positive and 4 negative behaviors. Same ratio

• People assume group membership and behavior are associated when:
  o A person’s group stands out AND
  o A person’s behavior stands out
• What stands out?
  o Smaller (minority) groups
  o Negative behavior

Example:
1. Some Arab-Muslim people (minority)
commit a terrorist act (negative behavior)
2. Illusory correlation:
* Arab-Muslims are very likely to be terrorists
3. Actual base rate:
# Terrorists / 350,000,000 Arab-Muslims

Question 6

6- Transmission of Stereotypes:
Social Learning

Answer 6

1. Social Learning:
   o Directly: rewarded or punished for own behavior
   o Indirectly: seeing someone else’s behavior
   Example: study with 5 year olds. One preferred actor vs. one not preferred.
   Five-year old children showed:
   - Greater explicit preferences for the preferred actor.
   - Indicated preferred actor should receive end of study reward.
   - Adopted the label provided by the preferred actor.
   - Imitated the object usage of the preferred actor.

Question 7

7- Transmission of Stereotypes:
Media Influence

Answer 7

Media Influence: films, magazines, TV, and ads
present and reinforce stereotypes
* Arab characters: heartless, brutal, & uncivilized
* Black men: poor and/or criminals
* Men: authorities and professionals

Portrayal of African Americans in the Media

• Dixon and Linz (2000) content analyzed 16 metropolitan news broadcasts
• Black people accounted for about 20% of the criminal activity but about 40% of the suspects pictured.
• Conversely, White people were underrepresented as perpetrators and overrepresented as victims.

Other example: Michelle and Barack Obama fistbumping. Internet decided muslim and terrorists. Satire cover of magasine. Influence on people

• 27% of poor Americans are Black, but Black people make up 63% of poor
  people portrayed in the top news networks (Buselle & Crandall, 2010)
  Two national surveys found
  that White respondents believe that more than 50% of the nations poor are Black
• Dixon (2008) studied the relationship between TV news-watching and
  perceptions of African Americans
• Network news exposure was negatively related to estimates of African American income (r = -.37) and positively related to negative stereotypes (r = .48).
• Children: more TV = stronger gender/racial stereotypes (Reid, 1979)
• Adults: watching the news = stronger stereotypes for Black people & Muslim people (Martin et al., 2004; Dixon & Maddox, 2005)

Media Influence…does it really make a difference?
* Gender & Advertising Experiment (Geis et al., 1984)
o Commercials with traditional or non-traditional gender roles
o “Write an essay imagining your life 10 years from now”
* (Write about career ambitions vs. homemaking?)
Results: Seeing gender stereotypes caused women to reduce expressed career ambitions