Chapter 13 Flashcards
Prejudice is found ____
everywhere
______ group can be a target of prejudice
Any
prejudice towards Americans
-1960-70s
“running dogs of capitalism”
-Currently
Power-hungry
Immoral
“Great Satan”
Aspects leading to prejudice
nationality racial and ethnic identity gender sexual orientation religion appearance physical state weight disabilities diseases hair color professions hobbies
Dislike can lead to
extreme hatred less-than-human Torture Murder Genocide
Even less extreme cases result in reduced self-esteem of group-members
-Clark & Clark (1947) found most African-American children preferred to play with a white doll
Deemed it prettier and superior
-Part of the evidence leading to school desegregation
Goldberg (1968)
John vs. Joan T. McKay
female students rated the articles much higher if they were attributed to a male author than if the same articles were attributed to a female author
The number of blatant acts of overt prejudice and discrimination has decreased sharply
Affirmative action opened the door to greater opportunities for women and minorities
Self-esteem of minorities and women has been increasing
- African-American children are more content with black dolls
- People no longer discriminate against a piece of writing simply because it is attributed to a woman
Prejudice is still a serious problem
- Exists in subtle and not-so-subtle ways
- Typically underground and less overt
The three components of Prejudice
Affective
Cognitive
Behavioral
Affective
- type of emotion linked with the attitude (e.g., anger, warmth)
- the extremity of the attitude (e.g., mild uneasiness, outright hostility)
Cognitive
the beliefs or thoughts (cognitions) that make up the attitude
Behavioral
relating to one’s actions—
people don’t simply hold attitudes; they usually act on them as well
Define Prejudice
refers to the general attitude structure and its affective (emotional) component.
social psychologists (and people in general) use the word prejudice primarily when referring to
negative attitudes about others.
Prejudice
A hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group,
based solely on their membership in that group
Journalist Walter Lippmann (1922) introduced the term
stereotype
stereotype
- described the distinction between the world out there and stereotypes
- “the little pictures we carry around inside our heads.”
Within a given culture, these pictures tend to be remarkably similar
High-school cheerleader
New York cab-driver
Jewish doctor
Black musician
Stereotype
A generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group,
regardless of actual variation among the members
Stereotypes are resistant to change
Well-spoken “redneck” will most likely not change your perception of rednecks
Stereotype Subcategories
If one encounters someone not matching the stereotype it is viewed as an exception and a subcategory is created Housewives Career women Athletes Feminists Sex objects
Stereotypes reflect the cognitive component
does not necessarily lead to intentional acts of abuse.
Often is merely a technique we use to simplify how we look at the world
Minimizing cognitive effort
If we are astonished at a young African American man’s ineptitude on the basketball court,
This denies individuality
Compared to men, women are:
more socially sensitive,
friendlier
more concerned with the welfare of others
-If a woman is successful at that same task, observers attribute her success to hard work
Compared to women, men are:
dominant
controlling
independent
-When a man is successful on a given task, observers of both sexes attribute his success to ability
Stereotypes, Attribution, & Gender Happens in children
- boys learn to protect their egos by attributing their own failures to bad luck
- girls take more blame for failures
- fourth-grade boys attribute their own successful outcomes on a difficult intellectual task to their ability
- girls tend to derogate their own successful performance
Mothers who hold the strongest gender-stereotypical beliefs also believe:
their own daughters have relatively low math ability
and their sons have relatively high math ability.
Mothers who do not hold gender-stereotypical beliefs:
Do not see own daughters as being less capable at math than their sons
Discrimination
An unjustified negative or harmful action toward the members of a group simply because of their membership in that group.
Discrimination reflects the
the behavioral component
Social Cognition
We automatically create categories
Creates “us versus them”
In-Group
Any group to which we belong
In-Group Bias
- Positive feelings and special treatment for people we have defined as being part of our in-group
- negative feelings and unfair treatment for others simply because we have defined them as being in the out-group
- Appears to be related to self-esteem
- If one affiliates with the superior group (in their minds) then self-esteem will be enhanced
Minimal groups
- Strangers formed based on trivial distinctions
- Labeled X instead of W
- Acted as if they were their dear friends or close kin
- They liked the members of their own group better
- Rated the members of their in-group as more likely to have pleasant personalities and to have done better work than out-group members.
- allocated more rewards to those who shared their label
Out-group homogeneity
- “they” are all alike
- Out-group members are seen as being more homogeneous than they actually are
- as more similar than in-group members are
The Failure of Logic
-Rational, logical arguments generally do not work to combat prejudice
-The emotional aspect of attitudes is not effectively countered by logical arguments
-Attitudes tend to change the way in which one processes information about the target
-See things based on the filter of the prejudice (schema of the group)
- Information consistent with their notions about these target groups will be:
Given more attention
Rehearsed (or recalled) more often, and
Therefore remembered better than information that contradicts these notions.
Persistence of Stereotypes
- We are aware of stereotypes even if we do not endorse/believe them
- The stereotypes embed themselves in our cultures
Activation of Stereotypes
Seemed to activate other negative stereotypes
Automatic and Controlled Processing of Stereotypes
- Stereotypes can come to mind automatically
- Can’t control this part
- One can then choose to override the stereotype (controlled part)
Justification-Suppression Model
- Crandall and Eschleman’s (2003) most people struggle between their urge to express prejudice and need to maintain positive self-concept (as a non-bigot).
- However, it requires energy to suppress prejudiced impulses
- Seek information that can convince us there is a valid justification for holding a negative attitude toward a particular out-group
- Once we find a valid justification for disliking this group, we can act against them and still feel as though we are not bigots—thus avoiding cognitive dissonance
Illusory correlation
- Tendency to see relationships or correlations between events that are unrelated
- Most likely when people or events are distinctive or conspicuous–
- -“You’re the only one”
- -Know few Xs
Changing Stereotypical Beliefs
- Subgroups keep only a few examples from changing beliefs
- Consistent disconfirming information (bombardment) can potentially change beliefs
Attributional Biases
-Recall that we tend to make dispositional attributions about others
This includes members of other groups
Ultimate Attribution Error
The tendency to make dispositional attributions about an entire group of people
Fictionalized files on prisoners to make a parole decision
- Sometimes the crime matched the common stereotype of the offender–
- -Hispanic male committed assault and battery
- -Upper-class Anglo-American committed embezzlement.
- When prisoners’ crimes were consistent with participants’ stereotypes the students’ recommendations for parole were harsher
- Most ignored additional information that was relevant to a parole decision but inconsistent with the stereotype, such as evidence of good behavior in prison
Stereotype Threat
- Disturbing awareness among members of a negatively stereotyped group that any of their actions that fit the stereotype may confirm a cultural stereotype
- May have a difficult time concentrating on a task
Blaming the Victim
-tendency to blame individuals for their victimization
-typically motivated by a desire to see the world as a fair and just place, one where people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
-Story of an interaction between a woman and a man
Woman’s behavior judged to be appropriate
Unless the same story ended with information that she was raped
Realistic Conflict
-Limited resources can lead to conflict between groups
-During tough times
In-group is more threatened by out-group members then
Prejudice, discrimination, and violence increase
Scapegoating
when frustrated or unhappy, individuals tend to displace aggression onto groups that are disliked, are visible, and are relatively powerless.
Jews
Homosexuals
“Them”
Normative Conformity
The strong tendency to go along with the group in order to fulfill the group’s expectations and gain acceptance
- Institutionalized Racism
- Institutionalized Sexism
Modern Racism
- Outwardly acting unprejudiced while inwardly maintaining prejudiced attitudes
- Bogus pipeline
Hostile Sexism
actively and openly sexist behavior like insulting a particular sex
Benevolent Sexism
liking one sex more than the other by saying excessively complimenting things about it
ending discrimination Six Required Conditions
- Mutual interdependence
- Common goal
- Equal status
- Friendly, informal setting
- Knowing multiple out-group members
- Social norms of equality
