6 How can we use experiments to understand discrepancy?

Question 1

Where do stereotypes come from?

Answer 1

• culture (parents, media)
• personal needs (belonging to a group)
• ordinary cognitive processes

Question 2

What is the main critique to the stereotyping experiments?

Answer 2

Is there much ecological validity to these experiments? mainly consist of flashing words at people, maybe we should introduce them to some actual people.

Question 3

What is the cognitive basis on which these experiments based on?

Answer 3

That thinking can be automatic and implicit. Very quick thinking is probably automatic

Question 4

What is the advantage of forming stereotypes?

Answer 4

It lessens the cognitive load and frees up processing capacity for other things.
just how when walking becomes automatic, we can walk and talk at the same time or even just think.

Question 5

What do some people think of stereotyping as being a product of?

Answer 5

either the cognitive miser model or faulty processing….are we inherently prejudice?

Question 6

What do we use to measure prejudice/stereotyping?

Answer 6

response time

Question 7

What can response time tell us?

Answer 7

• we can make quicker decisions when evaluating a stimulus word when a closely linked concept is activated
• from response times we can determine concepts which are more readily linked than others

Question 8

What is priming?

Answer 8

• just activated knowledge comes to mind more quickly

- knowledge that is activated is applied as we attend to current stimuli

Question 9

How are primes used in experiments?

Answer 9

• the ‘primer’ can flash up so quickly the participant is unaware of it
• can be slipped in surreptitiously (e.g. to a paragraph of text)

Question 10

Why are primes used in an experiment?

Answer 10

• processing is facilitated if prime is associated with given category
• response times can be measure to give an idea of association

Question 11

Dovidio, evans and tyler 1986

Answer 11

black and white prime (so fast) followed by straight stereotypical of one race. If prime corresponded to stereotypical trait (black prime - black trait) response times were faster to the question ‘‘could this trait be characteristic of blacks/whites’’
-this gives evidence for mental stereotyping

Question 12

Devine 1989 - what is she all about?

Answer 12

Is prejudice automatic?

Dissociable processes are actually involved in prejudice.

Question 13

What was Devines model 1989

Answer 13

Dissociable processes are actually involved in prejudice.
–theres a difference between knowledge of a stereotype and automatically activating it versus actual expression of the stereotype

Question 14

How did Devine test her model?

study 1

Answer 14

-got participants to give a description of the ‘cultural stereotype of blacks’
-then got them to undertake the modern racism scale questionnaire
Bothe groups (prejudice and non prejudice) came up with the same characteristics

Question 15

Devine 1989 study 2.

Answer 15

• half the subjects were subconsciously primed with black racial stereotype and half weren’t
• participants were given a list of events that Donald did without knowing the reasons behind them (e.g. getting into an argument in a shop)
• primed participants perceived him as more aggressive showing that all participants (prejudice and non prejudice) associate black peeps with aggression

Question 16

Devine 1989 study 3

Answer 16

• participants asked to list thoughts relating to black people under anonymous conditions
• prejudice ppl put down negative traits more often
• are we able to consciously reject unconscious stereotypes

Question 17

What is the dual task paradigm?

Answer 17

• that the less effort you need to put into one task the more cognitive effort can be put into another you are doing at the same time
• stereotypes help lessen the cognitive load

Question 18

How was the dual task paradigm tested?

Answer 18

• participants given ‘unrelated’ two tasks at the same time.
• listening to podcast about indonesia
• asked to remember traits attributed to 4 individuals
• levels - stereotype (concordant with some traits) given to each individual or not
• all participants performed better on both tasks when stereo types were given (mcq on indonesia)
• repeated the test with subliminal stereotype - same result

Question 19

Macrae, milne and bodenhausen 1994

Answer 19

the dual task paradigm

Question 20

-results on the dual group paradigm

Answer 20

same for subliminal and obvious presentation of stereotypes

-stereotypes lessen cognitive load