Lecture 1: Introduction

Question 1

stereotypes (1)

Answer 1

• Beliefs about the characteristics, attributes and behaviours of individuals because of their group membership.

Question 2

stereotyping (1)

Answer 2

• The application of these stereotypes when we interact with members of a particular social groups.

Question 3

prejudice (2)

Answer 3

• Thinking ill of others (positive vs. negative prejudices) without sufficient warrant (sufficient vs. insufficient evidence).
  
  • Definition developed by Allport (1954) after WWII to try and understand how things like genocide can happen.
  • Based on this definition, when would we have sufficient warrant?
• A more recent definition: A biased evaluation of a group, based on real or imagined characteristics of group members.

Question 4

discrimination (1)

Answer 4

• An act or decision that treats a person or group negatively because of their group membership (e.g. age, gender, race).
• e.g. Denying someone goods, services, facilities, or accommodations or refusing to employ someone or treating them unfairly in the workplace.

Question 5

interpersonal discrimination (1)

Answer 5

• One person treats another unfairly because of their group membership.

Question 6

organizational discrimination (1)

Answer 6

• Policy or rules of organizations have discriminatory outcomes.

Question 7

institutional discrimination (1)

Answer 7

• Norms, policies, or practices of a social institution result in different outcomes for members of different groups.

Question 8

stigma (4)

Answer 8

• Disapproval of a person or group because of particular traits associated with that group or person; “an attribute that is deeply discrediting” (Goffman, 1963).
• Three forms of stigma:
  
  • Abominations of the body; physical or external deformities.
  • Blemishes of individual character; mental disorders/dementia, deviations in personality traits.
  • Tribal stigma; group membership (e.g. ethnicity, race).

Question 9

Allport’s prejudice continuum (6)

Answer 9

• anti-locution: Freely talking about your biases with (usually close) others (and sometimes strangers, but only if you feel like it’s a safe context).
• avoidance: Making an effort to avoid the group(s) you hold prejudice against, even when it’s inconvenient for you to do so.
• discrimination: Actively trying to exclude members of the stigmatized group from all sorts of domains (e.g. education, employment, housing, political rights; segregation).
• physical attack: Includes violence against individuals and vandalism (i.e. physical attacks against property).
• extermination: Anything from genocide (large-scale) to lynching (individual).
• Allport suggested that most prejudice happens at the anti-locution and avoidance levels.
  
  • Also noted that just because you’re someone who engages in anti-locution, it doesn’t mean that you’re bound to move up to physical attack or extermination.

Question 10

ingroup (3)

Answer 10

• The members of this group all use the term ‘we’ with the same significance; it’s a social group with which a person identifies as a member.
• People have multiple in-groups.
• Ingroup memberships are not permanently fixed—the salient group membership will depend on the context, the current situation, etc.

Question 11

outgroup (1)

Answer 11

• A social group with which a person does not identify as a member.

Question 12

mediation (2)

Answer 12

• Identify the mechanism or process that underlies an observed relationship between an IV and a DV.
  
  • X causes Y vs. X causes M & M causes Y.
• e.g. Increased age (X) correlates to better driving ability (Y). Does this mean that all older drivers are better drivers?
  
  • The older you are, the more years you might have been driving, therefore, you’re likely to be a better driver.
  • Thus, years experience (M) mediates the relationship between age and driving ability.

Question 13

moderation (3)

Answer 13

• The relationship between an IV and a DV depends on a third variable.
  
  • The moderator variable affects the direction or strength of the relationship between the IV and the DV.
• e.g. Does stress cause depression?
  
  • Yes, but only for some people (people without social support systems).
  • Stress causes depression in those low in social support.
  • Stress does not cause depression in people high in social support.
  • Therefore, the relationship between stress and depression depends on the amount of social support people have.
  • In other words, the relationship between stress and depression is moderated by the amount of social support.