forms of prejudice Flashcards
what is Jim Crowe/old-fashioned prejudice? when was it dominant?
- post-Reconstruction to 1960s
- characterized by…
1. whites’ absolute belief in their biological superiority over other races
2. a firm belief in racial separation and subjugation
3. the use of government authority to establish a system of segregation and other forms of discrimination
what is symbolic/modern prejudice?
- portray members of stigmatized groups as morally inferior because they violate traditional values such as hard work and self-reliance
- expressed through acts that could be mostly justified on a non-racial basis, but that work to maintain the racial status quo
- characterized by the following beliefs…
1. racial prejudice no longer exists, or are not barriers to success
2. differences in economic status result from a lack of motivation
3. anger over inequality and unfair treatment is unjustified
4. rather than working to get ahead, Black people seek special favours from the govt
5. Black people are now getting more than they deserve economically
what is the paradox of symbolic prejudice? how is it resolved
- people with symbolic prejudice endorse racial equality in principle, but oppose policies that could bring it about
- Sears, Henry, and Kosterman argue that there are two meanings to equality: (1) equality of opportunity, and (2) equality of outcome (higher modern racism predicts stronger agreement with (1))
what is the main criticism of symbolic prejudice?
begs the question: how do you distinguish between anti-Black prejudice and principled ideological views (eg. neoliberalism/meritocracy)?
what is aversive prejudice?
- having positive explicit attitudes toward Black people while holding negative implicit attitudes toward Black people
- characterized by feelings of unease or discomfort rather than hostility
- discrimination arises under certain conditions in which it is unclear what the “correct” behaviour is (eg. picking between two job candidates of different races who both very well-qualified)
what is ambivalent prejudice?
- people may see minorities as both disadvantaged (elicits sympathy response) and culturally deviant (elicits aversion response)
what do our implicit prejudices stem from?
- understanding of social hierarchy and what groups are higher status
- personal identity - who we are and what our experiences have been
in what conditions are implicit prejudices influential?
- motivation and ability: when you don’t think things through (eg. due to stress, tiredness, drunkenness, laziness, being on a deadline)
- discretion: when (a) criteria for making a decision are unclear, or (b) when information is ambiguous or incomplete
- organizations and institutions: when policies and systems allow for it
what is the representativeness heuristic?
a mental shortcut in which the likelihood of an object belonging to a category is evaluated based on the extent to which the object appears similar to one’s mental representation of the category
what is the availability heuristic?
a mental shortcut in which the frequency or likelihood of an event is based on how easily instances of it come to mind
what is the planning fallacy?
a cognitive bias in which one underestimates how long it will take to complete a task
what is impact bias?
the tendency for a person to overestimate the intensity of their future feelings
what is the durability bias?
a bias in affective forecasting, referring to the tendency for people to overestimate how long positive and negative events will affect them
what is hot cognition?
refers to the mental processes that are influenced by desires and emotions
what is motivational skepticism?
a form of bias in which we are skeptical of evidence that goes against what we want to believe
