E3: Social causes of prejudice

Question 1

social psychological perspective on where prejudice comes from

Answer 1

social psychological standpoint tells us that prejudice comes from group and individual interactions

Question 2

what are the group and individual interactions that lead to prejudice

Answer 2

-social categorization
-self fulfilling prophecy
-illusory correlation
-realistic conflict theory
-social identity theory

Question 3

social categorization as interactional cause of prejudice

Answer 3

idea that it is cognitively easier for us to group people into social categories

Question 4

what does social categorization lead to

Answer 4

-outgroup homogeneity: viewing everyone you don’t identify with as completely the same

-ingroup bias: favor our ingroups

Question 5

self fulfilling prophecy as interactional cause of prejudice

Answer 5

people act in ways that confirm our biased expectations and this helps to maintain our prejudiced attitudes

Question 6

illusory correlation as interactional cause of prejudice

Answer 6

we see relationships that do not exist between two unrelated events or traits which perpetuates stereotypes

-media is notorious for informing these inaccurate associations

Question 7

realistic conflict theory as interactional cause of prejudice

Answer 7

another reason for prejudice is the competition for limited resources
-relative deprivation: we assess that our quantity and security of resources based on others

-could be real or simply perception of scarcity that leads to conflict and prejudice

Question 8

social identity theory as interactional cause of prejudice “us vs them”

Answer 8

while we do understand ourselves as individuals with unique personal achievements we ALSO think about ourselves in terms of the groups we identify with and what accomplishments that group has

-egocentrism tells us that our group is better and that anybody not in our group is “not us” and is worse