Class 17 Flashcards
What is Concealing?
Hiding or obscuring your stigma
- Can be partial or complete
- (We’ll focus on complete concealment today)
What is an example of concealment?
- Gay woman dressing heteronormative
- Vs dressing more queer
What are Consequences of Concealing?
(benefit / consequence)
Benefit: You’re not judged negatively according to your stigma
- See: Much of the rest of this class
1.Preoccupation (with what u are hiding)
2.Increased vigilance
What is an example of Cognitive Costs of Concealing?
(with ED)
People with an eating disorder role-played not having an ED (Smart & Wegner, 1999)
-Increased accessibility of eating disorder (measured through a word-completion task; for example, __OOD and __INGE)
- Higher secrecy, suppression, and intrusive thoughts about ED
-Projection of ED thoughts onto interviewer
Eating disorder (ED) participants who were assigned to not reveal their condition to a confederate later performed worse on a cognitive test
What are Emotional Costs of Concealment?
(3)
1.Anxiety (about being caught)
2.Shame (internalizing your stigma)
3.Ambivalence about identity
Study:
When told to conceal identity, what do we find with?
belonging and interactions with a conversation partner
(67%) of participants recruited who had a concealable stigma (LGBT identity, history of mental illness) agreed that it was best to conceal this stigma when meeting a new person
participants were randomly assigned to conceal or not conceal their stigma (made it ur major here)
FOUND:
reported lower levels of belonging and less positive interactions with a conversation partner.
These effects were mediated by lower feelings of authenticity
What are Behavioral Implications of Concealing?
*Avoiding social interactions
*Impression management to conceal stigma
- Counter-stereotypical behavior
- Modifying mannerisms
- Lying or keeping quiet about certain topic
What shapes the decision to conceal or disclose?
(4 things)
- Threat of discovery
- Self-verification motives: Motivations to want others to see us as we see ourselves
- Context(e.g., work, family, friends)
- Degree of disclosure
What is the main takeaway of concealment?
Concealing is a ‘mixed bag’!
Concealing can prevent discrimination, but can have cognitive, emotional & behavioral drawbacks
What is Compensation?
Behaviors that reduce interpersonal discrimination toward one’s self (when stigma is visible or disclosed)
What are example strategies of compensation? (3)
Example Strategies
- Acknowledgement
- Increased positivity
- Individuating information
Example strategies of compensation:
What is Acknowledgment?
Openly addressing one’s stigma
- Eases interactions because they address underlying tension
Ex. “Yes I’m gay and married get over it” poster
Example strategies of compensation:
What is Increased positivity?
Acting in a way to engender more positive attitudes
E.g., acting likeable, friendly, or approachable
- Ex. ppl with disabilities are seen as “welfare” hogs, or positively
(so some act super approachable)
Example strategies of compensation:
What is Individuating Information?
Divulging information that allows others to see one as an individual rather than just a holder of a stigmatized identity
Ex. green jellybeans
How do people act when they expect to be targets of prejudice?
Manipulated stigma consciousness
- Experimental: Read article about how minorities are often the target of racist remarks in social interactions
- Control: Read article about how discrimination is common against the elderly
*Ethnic minorities had a conversation with a White partner & reported on the experience
Found:
Heightened stigma consciousness led ethnic minorities:
- To have more negative emotions
- To feel less authentic
- To like their conversation partner less
How do white people, who interacted with stigma conscious people, rate the experience?
However, White people who had more stigma-conscious conversation partners reported having more positive experiences
Why? Maybe minority members cater to white norms / ideals /comfort when worried about being stigmatized
What are we interested in with discrimination?
*Why don’t people confront?
*When do people confront?
*What makes for an effective confrontation
Explain the following study on confrontation?
Women participated in a “group decision making” study with two other people.
Problem: Pick 12 people out of a list of 30 who would be best suited to survive together on a desert island.
*During group discussion, a male confederate made sexist statements:
1.“Yeah, we definitely need to keep the women in shape”
2.“Let me see, maybe a chef? No, one of the women can cook.”
3.“I think we need more women on the island to keep the men satisfied
How did these women in the confrontation study react?
*55% of women did not confront the man
*25% directly confronted the man (e.g., saying it was sexist)
*20% indirectly confronted the man
- Comments about task (“You can’t pick for that reason. Pick another person.”)
- Surprise (“Oh my God, I can’t believe you said that!”)
- Humor or sarcasm
Why do most people not confront?
- Aspects of a target might make us more / less likely to confront
Explain the study on age and confronting?
In one study, non-Black participants read about a hypothetical scenario that involved a prejudiced expression. Across conditions, the age of the target was manipulated to be either 42, 62, or 82
FOUND:
- Ppl thought= it was less offensive and less intentional when 82
What is the major assumption that underlies why ppl are less likely to confront older ppl?
They think older people are less malleable
Explain the study on confronting discrimination online:
(those identifying as East or Southeast Asian groups)
Someone says smth racist
Either a direct response = call it racist
Indirect response = Explain bias
(people rate direct response as more aggressive)
What happens when people ONLY see the direct response to a racist tweet?
They assume the original post was about as racist as it was (on a rating scale)
How does in group / out group impact confronting someone’s racist tweet?
People assume the original tweet is more racist when an outgroup member is replying (because they are not a target of prejudice)
- Increased likeability if directly confronting racism (+ from outgroup)
What is the final study on twitter bots about:
The researchers compared counter-messages based in:
- humor, (Just put the fries in the bag lil bro)
- warnings of consequences, (ur family will see this btw)
- empathy (using language like this is unnecessarily hurtful towards immigrants)
Which approach led to more tweets being deleted, and less xenophobic tweets being made by the confronted account?
- humor,
- warnings of consequences,
- empathy.
Empathy
(other two don’t show much)
Reasons Why People Don’t Directly Confront?
(4)
*Normative to not engage with prejudiced person
*Social norm to be polite if you do respond
*Concern about retaliation
*Diffusion of responsibility
What does this term mean:
“The Long Road to Confrontation”
There are so many different choices u can make
- One no leads to “not confronting”
- So it’s harder to confront
What are the five steps needed to intervene?
*Step #1: Event interpreted as discrimination
- Detecting whether discrimination happened
*Step #2: Discriminatory incident is an “emergency”
- Is the incident serious enough?
- Was the perpetrator blameworthy?
*Step #3: Take responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility:each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help deceases as the number of witnesses increases
- AKA someone else will handle this
*Step #4: Knowing how to help
- How to confront the perpetrator without escalating the conflict?
*Step #5: Taking action
- Weigh risks, costs, & benefit
What Makes for an Effective Confrontation?
- Focus on behavior or others’ reactions over a person’s character
- “That word made me feel uncomfortable”
- NOT “You’re racist” - Being a member of the non-stigmatized group
- White confronter on anti-Black racism
- Male confronter on anti-female sexism
