6- Week 6 Stereotypes, Prejudice & Discrimination

Question 1

Define

• stereotypes
• prejudice and
• discrimination

Answer 1

Stereotypes - Beliefs that associate a whole group of people with certain traits or characteristics.

Prejudice - Negative feelings about others because of their connection to a specific group (eg: racism)

Discrimination - Negative behaviours directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group (eg: sexism)

Question 2

Describe social categorisation

Answer 2

The classification of people into groups based on common attributes (race, gender, age etc.)

Question 3

What are the core motives that drive social categorisation?

Answer 3

Social identity motives - people favour ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance self-esteem.

Terror management motives - Coping with the fear of death by constructing worldviews that help preserve their self esteem and important values.

Intergroup dominance and status motives - A desire to see ones group as dominant over others and adapt cultural values that oppress other groups.

Question 4

How do stereotypes arise and how are they maintained?

Answer 4

How they arise -
Childhood
Social learning
Media

How they are maintained -
Ambiguity - perpetuates the assumption that everyone can change.
Illusory correlations - overestimation of variables relation when they are only a little or not related at all.
Confirmation via communication
Self-fulfilling prophecies
Attribution and subtyping - failing to see that the poor performance of a stereotyped person may indeed be aided by the stereotyping itself.

Question 5

Describe modern prejudice and discrimination

Answer 5

Modern racism - surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable and easy to rationalise.

Aversive racism - Racism that concerns the ambivalence between fair minded attitudes and beliefs and unconscious prejudicial feelings and beliefs.

Ambivalent sexism - characterised by attitudes about women that reflect negative, resentful beliefs and feelings, as well as affectionate and chivalrous but patronising beliefs and feelings.

Objectification - women being viewed as mere bodies or objects .

Question 6

How can prejudice and discrimination be addressed as a problem?

Answer 6

Contact hypothesis - Contact between groups (only works with equal status, personal interaction and cooperative activities)

The jigsaw classroom - each child gets a small piece of information and all inter-group participants must work together to solve the task.

Changing cognitions - exposure, learning, perspective, acknowledgment of discrimination.

Changing culture - exampling for younger generations
Intergroup friendship

Extended/imagined contact
Shared identities
Enhancing belonging of minorities