Lecture 11 Flashcards
What is generalized prejudice?
Those relatively more prejudiced towards one outgroup (ex: gay men) are generally more prejudiced towards other groups (same with low prejudice).
Why can it be so difficult to change prejudice?
Because it is often within our personality and becomes really hard to get rid of. Have to change the person to change the prejudice,
What are the two strongest individual predictors of prejudice?
Right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation.
What is authoritarianism and the 9 characteristics?
Personality type especially susceptible to unthinking obediance. 9 characteristics: Conventionalism, authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, stereotype, projectivity, anti-intraception, power and toughness, destructiveness and cynicism, and sex.
What is conventionalism?
Rigid adherence to conventional values
What is authoritarian submission?
Unquestioning and uncritical attitudes towards authority
What is authoritarian aggression?
Condemn, reject, and punish norm violators
What is stereotypy?
Disposition to think in rigid categories
What is projectivity?
Sensitivity to danger; personal urges projected onto others. Projecting bad urges onto others.
What is anti-intraception?
Opposition to the subjective, imaginative, and tender minded.
What is power and toughness?
Exaggerated concerns with and displays of power
What is destructiveness and cynicism?
Outward negativism regarding humanity
What is sex?
Preoccupation with the sexual behaviours of others.
According to psychoanalytic theory, why does the authoritarian personality arise and how does it arise in response to prejudice?
Prejudice is an ego-defence, displacing aggression away from the powerful and toward scapegoat targets. The origins of this personality trait arose from strict child-rearing, humiliation/deprecation of the child, affection for complete compliance. This results in repressed anger towards parents and displaced hostility towards outgroups.
What are some of the strengths of the authoritarian personality theory?
Prejudice has something to do with dominance and submission-also a generalized prejudice tendency
What are some of the weaknesses of the authoritarian personality theory?
Fascism scale, agreement bias (all items worded the same, agreement always = authoritarianism) , political bias (authoritarianism on political right), child rearing explanation not well researched, psychoanalytic bias-presents authoritarianism as pathological and rare. Prejudice is more a side effect of human cognitive functioning.
What are the 3 dimensions of right-wing authoritarianism?
Submission, aggression, and conventionalism
What is the idea behind submission?
Submission to established and legitimate authorities
What is the idea behind aggression?
Generalized aggression sanctioned by authorities
What is the idea behind conventionalism?
Strong adherence to social conventions that appear to be endorsed by society.
How does RWA differ from the authoritarian personality type?
Set of attitudes rather than a personality type. Psychological rather than pathological. Scale does not refer to politics and is balanced. Less psychoanalytic origin.
What is the origin of RWA?
Genetics, experiences, especially during adolescence (social learning theory), lower levels in highly educated (associated with intelligence), societal threats can increase levels of authoritarianism in society.
What does right wing authoritarianism predict?
Prejudice towards a wide variety of groups, especially if the group is perceived to violate traditional values or whom authority figures condemn.
What is social dominance orientation?
Support for intergroup inequality, group hierarchies, and dominance.
What characteristics does the social dominance orientation share with authoritarianism?
Anti-intraception, power and toughness, destructiveness and cynicism.
What are the 2 components of SDO?
Group based dominance, and oppositions to equality. There should be a hierarchy and my group should be on top. Lower groups deserve to be there.
How is SDO related to power?
Bidirectionaly. Higher SDO means you hold more power and are also more attracted to it, power means higher SDO.
What predicts more negative attitudes towards the group under SDO?
If the group is currently trying to gain equality, or if they are perceived to challenge the legitimacy of social inequality.
What are legitimizing myths?
A set of beliefs that people high in SDO use to justify their dominant position into society-leads to attitudes/behaviours to keep low status groups in their place. These myths can also be positive but still aren’t beneficial.
What did Ekehammer et al look at with regards to personality and prejudice?
Measured RWA and SDO as well as Big 5 Personality factors.
What are the Big 5 factors?
Openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism.
What were the results of Ekehammer et al’s study?
None of the big 5 personality factors were directly related to prejudice-all were related through RWA and SDO.
Which 3 factors were related to RWA and what was the direction of this relationship?
Openness (negative), Conscientiousness (positive), extraversion (positive)- but might be an anomaly.
Which factor was related to SDO and what was the direction of this relationship?
Agreeableness (negatively).
What are the biggest factors in these relationships?
Openness and agreeableness.
Which factor (RWA or SDO) is more strongly related to generalized prejudice?
SDO.
What are the aspects of the HEXACO personality test?
Honesty/humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience.
Which HEXACO factors were related to RWA and what was the direction?
Honesty/humility (positive), openness to experience (negative).
Which HEXACO factors related to SDO and what was the direction?
Emotionality (negative), Extraversion (negative), openness to experience (negative).
What is the biggest personality predictor of prejudice?
Openness.
What is a liberal?
Support for social change, rejection of inequality
What is a conservative?
Preference of tradition, acceptance of inequality. Associated with more prejudice and both RWA and SDO.
What did Dovidio and Gaertner look at with regards to political orientation and prejudice?
Can liberals be prejudiced? Found that conservatives express symbolic prejudice and liberals express aversive. Both liberals and conservatives are prejudiced towards their respective outgroups.
What is the value-conflict hypothesis?
People prefer individuals who share their own values and may have animosity towards those who don’t. Prejudice is expressed at the same strength for both liberals and conservatives.
