consequences of prejudice (and ways to reduce it) Flashcards
consequences of prejudice for discriminated groups
internalization of stereotypes
attributional ambiguity
stereotype threat
internalization of stereotypes
When one privately accepts that descriptive stereotypes of one’s group is an accurate description of oneself
learning from others behaviour, and believing the stereotypes that are said about them
clark doll experiments
study to see if children internalized stereotypes that black children are less smart, more mean etc..
showed that children internalized stereotypes
Clark did this to show how schools need to be de-segregated because stereotypes were strongest for children who attended segregated schools
heterosexual questionnaire
questionnaire asks heterosexual people same weird questions that LGBTQ people are asked
when you ask questions like “when did u know” they have an assumption of abnormality
asking these questions can contribute to stereotype internalization
process of internalization of stereotypes
people conform in their estimates
people use the behaviour of others to inform their behaviours and privately accept that the information is accurate
** conforming because they think others might be right
which is why informational social influence is very similar to the internalization of stereotypes if you are a person from an equity seeking group
attributional ambiguity
difficulty interpreting feedback from others
uncertainty whether the feedback reflects their own performance or others’ biases
being a member of a stereotype group adds complexity to the reasons that people act towards you
negative feedback: did I do poorly or is the person giving feedback prejudiced
positive feedback: did I do well or is the person giving feedback being patronizing/compensating for their biases
– is the evaluator scared of looking racist/biased?
attributional ambiguity study
when black participants are given positive feedback, makes them feel worse because think that it might be because the evaluator doesn’t want to seem racist
when they think the participant can’t see them and gives them good feedback – boosts self esteem
when black participants are seen and get negative feedback, it doesn’t really impact their self esteem because maybe they are being racist, but it has nothing to do with them, so the feedback is invalid
when can’t see them and get negative feedback it decreases their self esteem because they know they aren’t being mean because of racism
tokenism
the practice of being inclusive to members of minority groups only to give the appearance of being inclusive
people may not get a boost to self-esteem for their achievements
self esteem boost is less guaranteed for minority groups
(maybe they promoted me because they don’t want to look racist)
strongest affect in feeling bad in response to good feedback is for people who are obese
stereotype threat
Claude Steele was interested in why black people tended to underperform on aptitude tests
hypothesis: fears that one will confirm the stereotypes about one’s group interferes with performance, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
black people have to deal with stereotypes that they are less intelligent, so have the fear of confirming that stereotype
– same happens with women in stem, fears hinder performance and ends up confirming stereotype that men are better in stem
stereotype threat study
if black students are told that the test is diagnostic when it is, they do worse
when told that the test is not diagnostic (even if it is), they end up doing better because they don’t have to prove the stereotype wrong
stereotype manipulations
telling the participants that the test is diagnostic or not
making people self report race or gender before taking a test
making stereotypes salient (important)
female students who watched a tv commercial that was stereotypical, ended up doing worse on tests after because stereotypes are linked
threat that they will confirm stereotypes
after doing worse on test, reported less interest in careers requiring quantitative skills
how can we reduce the negative effects of stereotype threat? (5)
- not emphasizing social categories
– moving from group testing to individual testing - self affirmation - has huge effect to boost self esteem
- emphasizing incremental models of ability - if you show people that IQ can grow undermines the idea that you are restricted to the internalized stereotypes that you might have
- learning about stereotype threat can reduce its effects
- reframing the test – if you change what the test is diagnostic of, it can reduce stereotype threats
ways that prejudice affects non-group members
self-fulfilling prophecy
shooter bias
the self-fulfilling prophecy
process by which your expectations about another person lead you to engage with them in ways that confirm those expectations
perceivers expectations –> perceivers behaviour towards target –> affects target’s behaviour to confirm those expectation
studied by seeing the way that interviewers interviewed black participants and measured speech errors and distance away from
then the confederates interviewed participants and copied distance and speech errors that happened when interviewing black participants, and these participants came out of the interview feeling worse than if they had been treated normally
