Chapter 9 Flashcards
Be able to distinguish between prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes
prejudice - a preconceived negative judgement of a group and its individual members
discrimination - unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its members
stereotype - a belief about the personal attributes of a group of people, sometimes overgeneralized, inaccurate and resistant to new info
Know the role of unequal status on prejudice
unequal status breeds prejudice because it becomes a justification for the unequal status
ex: black people are slaves because they are inferior, in Mormon culture, they couldn’t have the priesthood because they were less valiant in the premortal life
Know the research on in-group vs out-group and how it relates to prejudice
when asked how good racial relations are in your neighborhood, people rated their own neighborhood higher than the national average
teenagers rated abstract art and then were grouped by who they had favored, these groups still showed bias towards their own group
when the need to belong is met, we are less prejudiced against outgroups (israeli students were either primed to feel belonging or not, those who felt they belonged rated a jewish student’s essay the same as an arab student, but those with no belonging priming rated the jewish student’s essay as better than the arab student)
ingroup bias causes us to perhaps be prejudiced against outgroups. We view our ingroup as better in all ways, and then compare to other groups and see them as inferior
Explain the scapegoat theory of prejudice and the personality dynamics of authoritarianism
scapegoat theory - prejudice arises because one groups blames a different group for difficulties. ex: when people struggle to find jobs, they tend to have more negative views of immigrants
authoritarian personality - favors obedience to authority and intolerance of outgroups and those lower in status
have a right/wrong way of thinking and don’t like ambiguity
Know how stereotypes can be a by-product of our normal thinking processes
we simplify our environments by categorizing things, so we can think about them more easily and make more speedy judgements on predicting behavior and thoughts
use stereotypes when we are pressed for time preoccupied, tired, emotionally aroused and too young to appreciate diversity
Describe the just world phenomenon
just world phenomenon - tendency of people to believe that the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get
Identify cognitive consequences of stereotypes
prejudgements are self-perpetuating - when a member of group acts according to our expectations, we accept it as it is, but when someone violates our expectations, we explain it away as special circumstances
causes self fulfilling prophecies
Know the theories on sources of prejudice (cognitive, realistic group conflict, social categorization, social learning)
realistic conflict theory - prejudice stems from competition between various social groups over valued commodities (immigrants taking jobs)
social categorization - people typically perceive members of an out-group (a group in which they are not a member) as homogeneous and less virtuous than members of their in-group (a group in which they are a member)
social learning - through imitation and direct reinforcement, children learn prejudicial attitudes
Know Claude Steele’s theory of “Stereotype Threat” and it’s long-term effects on the targets of prejudice
stereotype threat - a disruptive concern, when facing a negative stereotype, that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
These things can affect people throughout their whole lives and basically cause people in fulfill the stereotypes they were trying to avoid
