Chapter 11: Intergroup relations

Question 1

What is a stereotype?

Answer 1

A simplified but widely shared belief about a characteristic of a group and its members.

Question 2

What is a prejudice?

Answer 2

A negative, affective prejudgement about a group and its individual members.

Question 3

What is discrimination?

Answer 3

Negative treatment of a group member simply because of their group membership.

Question 4

What is one reason stereotypes arise?

Answer 4

Because human beings have limited cognitive resources. People draw on stereotypes to get rich, elaborate knowledge about people they barely know.

Question 5

In what conditions do we use stereotypes the most?

Answer 5

When the relationship is not outcome-dependent.

Question 6

What is the illusory correlation bias?

Answer 6

The perception that a behaviour is more frequently displayed by a minority than by a majority group, when the behaviour is displayed equally by both groups in proportional terms.

Question 7

What is a well-known explanation for the illusory correlation effect?

Answer 7

The tendency for distinctive behaviours to capture our attention and receive the most elaborate processing.

Question 8

How are minority behaviours more distinctive?

Answer 8

They seize the most attention, and they carry the most weight.

Question 9

What is the category accentuation error?

Answer 9

The mere act of categorization can distort the way people think about members of groups and the groups themselves.

Question 10

What is dogmatism?

Answer 10

The tendency for people to be able to tolerate mutually inconsistent beliefs by isolating them from each other in memory.

Question 11

What is the personal need for structure (PNS)?

Answer 11

A person’s preference for structure and clarity in most situations, and level of annoyance experienced by ambiguity.

Question 12

How do prejudiced people understand the world?

Answer 12

In simple, highly structured terms.

Question 13

What variables are linked to prejudice?

Answer 13

Political conservatism and values of security, conformity and tradition.

Question 14

What are Marx’s key ideas linked to ideology?

Answer 14

• Groups have unequal levels of status in society.
• Individuals within these groups tend to have interests in common.
• These groups tend to have conflicting interests.
• Members of these groups are not fully aware of their interests and hence fail to act on them.
• Awareness is hampered by ideologies that obscure status inequalities, justify them, or make them seem unchangeable.

Question 15

What is authoritarianism?

Answer 15

A form of social organization characterized by preference for, and submission to, authority.

Question 16

What is right-wing authoritarianism?

Answer 16

An individual differences variable characterized by authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression and conventionalism.

Question 17

What is social dominance orientation?

Answer 17

An individual differences variable that measures people’s preference for hierarchy within any social system.

Question 18

What are the two components of social dominance orientation?

Answer 18

A general preference for hierarchical relations between groups; a desire for one’s own group to dominate or be superior to other groups.

Question 19

What is realistic group conflict theory?

Answer 19

Theory of intergroup conflict that explains intergroup behaviour with respect to the need to secure scarce resources.

Question 20

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 20

Preference for one’s own group, and features of one’s own group, over others.

Question 21

What is the main difference between realistic group conflict theory and social identity theory?

Answer 21

RGCT (realpolitik?) is about real resources and political power, and material security. SIT is about symbolic status, social categories, relative superiority and self-esteem.

Question 22

What were the three phases of the Robber’s Cave experiment?

Answer 22

Group attachment, intergroup competition, intergroup reconciliation.

Question 23

What is the contact hypothesis?

Answer 23

Theory of prejudice reduction, which proposes that prejudice and conflict between groups can be reduced by bringing them together.

Question 24

What is a superordinate goal?

Answer 24

A goal that two or more groups can aspire to but that can only be achieved by working together in cooperation.

Question 25

What is the strength of the Robber’s Cave study?

Answer 25

It has great external validity (generalization and resemblance to real situations).

Question 26

What is the minimal group paradigm?

Answer 26

Experimental manipulation that tests the effects of mere categorization on behaviour.

Question 27

What were the two main findings of the minimal group paradigm research by Tajfel et al.?

Answer 27

• Merely belonging to a group is enough to produce ingroup favouritism.
• In striving to favour ingroup members in relative terms, participants were prepared to sacrifice some of the resources in absolute terms.

Question 28

What is sexism?

Answer 28

Beliefs about differences between men and women, the roles they perform, and beliefs concerning the appropriateness of these differences.

Question 29

What is hostile sexism?

Answer 29

Traditionally sexist view of women that is characterized by the belief that they pose a threat to men’s position.

Question 30

What is benevolent sexism?

Answer 30

Apparently positive view of women in which they are seen as necessary for men’s happiness, and superior in a number of ways (morality, etc.).

Question 31

What is ambivalent sexism?

Answer 31

Reconceptualization of sexism to take into account the fact that sexism can include both positive and negative attitudes at the same time.

Question 32

What is objectification?

Answer 32

The view of women as being represented by their bodies.

Or: WE ARE NOT SEXUAL OBJECTS WE HAVE FEELINGS AND DESIRES AND THOUGHTS OF OUR OWN. God.

Question 33

What is moral credentialing?

Answer 33

Demonstrating one’s credentials (e.g. to be not prejudiced) often means that people will express more prejudice.

Question 34

What is modern racism?

Answer 34

A variant of racism where it is expressed in forms and situations that make it appear to be socially acceptable and consistent with the prevailing sense of fair play. “They’re criminals.”

Question 35

What is aversive racism?

Answer 35

Inner conflict between an egalitarian view and racist impulses can be aversive, such that people avoid contact with specific racial groups.

Question 36

What is ageism?

Answer 36

Prejudiced attitudes about a person or group because of their age.

Question 37

What is spontaneous trait inference?

Answer 37

People sometimes spontaneously infer others’ traits from their behaviour without intending to, or being aware.

Question 38

What is the intergroup anxiety model?

Answer 38

Model arguing that people expect negative outcomes when they interact with, or anticipate interaction with, outgroups.

Question 39

What is a stereotype threat?

Answer 39

Fear of being judged in terms of a stereotype and negatively fulfilling the stereotype. Stereotype threat leads to poorer performance on a task.

Question 40

What is stereotype lift?

Answer 40

The reverse of stereotype threat. Fulfilling a positive stereotype leads to enhanced performance.