Ch. 6 Social Diversity: Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes

Question 1

Define Prejudice:

Answer 1

Prejudice is the emotional component involving negative (or positive) emotional responses towards individuals based on their group membership.

> it’s antipathy towards a whole rather than personal.

Question 2

Define Stereotyping:

Answer 2

Stereotyping is the cognitive component involving cognitive frameworks that influence the processing of social information.

> specifically, it’s beliefs about a social group in terms of the traits or characteristics they are believed to share.

Question 3

Define Discrimination:

Answer 3

Discrimination is the behavioral component involving differential treatment based on group membership.

Question 4

The extent to which progress towards a reduction in inequality is made depends on, what?

Answer 4

*Whether a person is a member of the group experiencing or perpetrating the discrimination.

> High-status groups see status differentials - that favor them - as less compared to members of the low-status groups.

Question 5

Prospect theory argues that people are, what?

How does this affect policies aimed at reducing inequality?

Answer 5

Risk Adverse, meaning:
- they tend to weigh out potential risks as greater than equivalent potential gains.

Policies such as affirmative action are affected depending on whether it’s framed as a ‘loss’ of privilege or ‘a gain’ for minorities.

Question 6

How does the presence of ‘tokens’ affect peoples perceptions?

Answer 6

Majority members may develop the perception that sufficient change has already been made which, in turn, often decreases support for policies aimed at increasing equality.

It also serves to reinforces the belief in meritocracy - which can have negative effects on minority members self-esteem when they can’t break through racial barriers.

Question 7

What accounts for peoples misconceptions in how much inequality exists?

Answer 7

• presence of tokens,
• social comparison within one’s own social group, and
• widely shared beliefs, such as:
  > prejudice is normal
  > those who aren’t us are not deserving, and
  > “greed is good” - that is that pursuing self-interests at the expense of others is efficient, which helps normalize inequality.

Question 8

Define Gender Stereotypes:

Answer 8

Beliefs about attributes males and females possess - which act as schemas for interpreting individual actions and outcomes.

Women:

• high in Warmth; low in Competence, thus
• their collective portrait, and others who share the same evaluations on these dimensions, are seen as low-status and non-threatening.

Men:

• low in Warmth; high in Competence, thus
• their collective portrait, and others with equivalent rating on these dimensions, are seen as high-status.

Though women are typically viewed positively due to their positive rating in a central trait, they are still viewed as more suitable for ‘support roles’ rather than ‘leadership positions’.

Question 9

What is the Glass Ceiling?

What is a consequence for those who ‘break’ the glass ceiling?

Answer 9

The glass ceiling is a barrier in the workplace that prevents qualified women from advancing into top-level positions.
> maintained by ‘think manager - think male’ tendency.

Females often receive lower evaluations and greater hostility and rejection from subordinates than males.
> and can be seen as a threat primarily by those inclined to harassment.

Question 10

What is the Glass Cliff?

What is the Glass Cliff Effect?

Answer 10

The glass cliff is the phenomenon where women and minorities are seen as better leaders because of their perceived ability to manage crises.

the glass cliff effect occurs when women are appointed to leadership roles when:

• a crisis has occurred,
• the position is more precarious, and
• there is a greater chance of failure

because men’s stereotypic traits appear to have lead an organization downhill, thus women are seen as suitable leaders.

Question 11

Tokenism:
What is it’s purpose, and what is it a strategy for?

What are 3 major negative effects?

Answer 11

Using a token is an excuse for refusing more meaningful beneficial actions towards a group.

Using a token as a strategy for:

• deterring collective protests in disadvantaged groups, and
• maintaining the status quo by making the tokens representation seem fair - based off of merit.

Negative effects include:

• maintaining peoples perceptions of fairness,
• sets up tokens to be marginalized
• can undermine a tokens performance and damage self-esteem and confidence if they believe that their appointment was without merit.

Question 12

Complaining about unjust circumstances can be both useful and harmful, explain.

Answer 12

• it brings attention to issues, however
• if it’s interpreted as an attempt to escape personal responsibility, or as
• unjustified grappling

*Even when an observer thinks that outcomes are due to external causes they still have negative impressions when individuals do not accept personal responsibility and, instead, correctly attribute their situation to discrimination.

Question 13

organizations with diversity structures in place may…

Answer 13

1. create an illusion of fairness - ironically undermining majority members sensitivity to actual discrimination, and
2. ultimately increase negative responses towards minorities who do claim discrimination.

Question 14

Define the concept of Shifting Standards:

What does Bernat’s work on shifting standards indicate?

Answer 14

Functions as a result of people using different standards when judging members, objects, and events - but using the same words.

1. although same rating evaluations may be given to different groups - stereotypes may influence these ratings
2. even when identical ratings are given to out-groups, they will not necessarily translate into same behavioral expectations.

> > Same does not mean equal.

Question 15

Objective scales:

Answer 15

Scales with measurements that are units grounded in external reality > mean the same thing regardless of category membership or application.

*stereotype effects can be observed.

Question 16

Subjective scales:

Answer 16

Scales with measurement units that lack external reference and are open to interpretation > they take on different meanings depending on the group or item being evaluated.

Question 17

Singlism:

Answer 17

an inequality - negative stereotyping and discrimination towards people who are single - that isn’t salient or protested by its victims.

Targets may not notice or they too see it as a ligitamate bias.
> serves to protect marriage - an important social institution.

Question 18

What is Modern Racism?

Answer 18

it consists mainly of:

• perceiving minorities as seeking and receiving more benefits than they deserve, and
• the denial that discrimination affects minorities outcomes.

it can involve:

• concealing prejudice in public, or
• attempting to appear color blind

Question 19

Explain the bona fide pipeline:

Answer 19

It’s a technique used to measure implicit attitudes (of prejudice) based on priming.

> attitudes are revealed based on how quickly one responds towards words with positive or negative meanings after being exposed to different racial faces.

Question 20

Collective Guilt:

Answer 20

An emotion experienced when we’re exposed to instances in which our ingroup has behaved in prejudice ways.

can be reduced through:

• victim-blaming
• dehumanization
• moral dissengagement
• motivated forgetting

It’s most likely felt when the actions are seen as illegitimate.

Question 21

The contact hypothesis:

Explain it, when is it most effective?

Answer 21

The view that increased contact between groups and their members can effectively reduce prejudice
> because it leads to recognized similarities between members - which can result in a change of the categorizations people employ.

Most effective when the contact is:

• with outgroup members who are seen as ‘typical’ of their group,
• seen as important,
• results in cross-group friendships (which suggest that the groups don’t necessarily dislike one another), and
• reduces anxiety about future outcomes with other outgroup members.

Question 22

Another method of reducing prejudice suggested by the common ingroup identity model suggests, what?

Answer 22

Recategorization: shifts in the boundaries between “us” and “them”

as a result of recategorization:
- people formerly viewed as outgroup members can be viewed as belonging to the group > consequentially, they’re viewed more positively.

Question 23

What is the common ingroup identity model, what does it suggest?

Answer 23

It’s a theory suggesting that the extent that individuals of different groups view themselves to be members of a single identity, intergroup biases are reduced!

This perspective can be effectively induced through superordinate goals.

Question 24

How are stereotypes acquired and used?

Answer 24

1. Social learning

> we form stereotypes regarding characteristics and behaviors for various groups,
once implicit (automatic) associations are formed - members of these groups serve to prime such frameworks,
which are then automatically activated!

Question 25

How can we use our knowledge of the fundamental attribution error to counteract stereotypes?

Answer 25

by consciously and repeatedly pairing external causes and attributions to outgroup members - implicit racial stereotyping can be reduced.

Question 26

How do social influences play a role in minimizing prejudice?

Answer 26

By providing evidence that our ingroup is less prejudice than once believed - it can reduce prejudice because:
people want to hold beliefs that are seen as normative of their groups.

Question 27

Realistic conflict theory suggests that conflict stems from, what?

Answer 27

Competition of valuble and scarce resourses.

Question 28

People who have identity infusion are more likely to, what?

Answer 28

Identify as their group and self-sacrifice for their group’s causes.

Question 29

Examine how inequality is perceived by different groups.

Answer 29

Widely shared beliefs and basing our perceptions of inequality on our social circle account for misconceptions concerning inequality.

Also, since people are risk-adverse - racial divide in public perceptions may stem from framing social changes as a ‘loss’ for majorities or a ‘gain’ for minorities.
>when seen as a loss: majorities suppose sufficient change has already occurred resulting in a decrease in policies aimed at increasing equality.

In addition, tokens create perceptions that substantial change has occurred - in addition to creating the perceptions that sufficient change has occurred and lowering support for beneficial policies - they also act to maintain the status quo by giving the impression of fairness and meritocracy.

Question 30

Evaluate how people form and use stereotypes.

Answer 30

We form stereotypes through social learning:

• from caretakers, this is especially true for children who strongly identify with their parents.
• from institutions and peer groups that justify stereotypes and discrimination

Stereotypes are a function of schemas - they provide us with a prototype which act as theories regarding group members.

> they affect our cognitive and affective processes as well as our interpretations.

> categorization based on group membership conserves cognitive functioning; and once activated, they can both explicitly and implicitly affect our interactions.

> we attend to and better remember info consistent with schemas and construe info that is inconsistent in ways that allow us to maintain them (subtyping).

Question 31

Recall factors leading up to prejudice against specific groups.

Answer 31

1. Social identity theory - suggests “us” vs “them”; is the most basic cause.
2. Realistic conflict theory - suggest it stems from direct competition over resources.
3. Threat - whether it be materialistic or symbolic
4. Incidental feelings - feelings induced separately or prior to encountering a target.
5. Implicit associations - between members of a group and traits.
6. Essences believed to make victims inferior - justification.
7. Minimal group characteristics
8. Distinct emotions
9. Derogating outgroups can protect self-esteem and bolster ingroup image

Question 32

Explain how the subtle forms of discrimination are manifestations of prejudice.

Answer 32

Modern Racism:

• concealing in public, and
• appearing to be color blind.

Question 33

Outline 7 ways of reducing prejudice.

Answer 33

1. The contact hypothesis -
2. Recategorization -
3. Actively saying no to stereotypes and associations
4. Subordinate goals -
5. Actively pairing external attributions to outgroup members
6. Collective guilt - when people believe they can make a difference.
7. providing evidence that our ingroup is less prejudice than once believed