Lecture 11 April 11 Flashcards
What is the Glass Slipper effect? (Rudman & Heppen)
- Female participants (university students)
- Measured (implicit and Explicit) romantic fantasies
- implicit: pairing “boyfriend” with images of romantic chivalry
- Explicit: “I think of my friend as a hero”
- “My boyfriend treats me like a queen”
Measured interest in personal power
- Projected income
- Educational goals
- Interest in High-status jobs
- Interest in a leadership position
Results:
- Explicit and Implicit Measure of Romantic Fantasy were unrelated (not necessarily higher)
- Explicit Romantic Fantasy had no effect on interest in Power
- Implicit Romantic Fantasy predicted interest in Power
- No similar effects for men
- Replicated with younger women
Does Benevolent Sexism Matter? Benevolent Sexism & Collective Action
- Women participants told most men agreed with six statements that represent either:
1. Benevolent sexist statements OR
2. Hostile sexism statements - Measured; participants’ willingness to engage in collective action to improve the position of women at the university.
Conclusion
- Sexism is not dead
- There are many manifestations of sexism in terms of the way power and opportunities are distributed.
- There are numerous subtle ways that sexism influences women, such as:
- Glass clift
- Glass elevator
- Androcentism
- Sexualization
- Sexism is not just blatant disrespect towards women. It includes what appear to be very positive representations of women (benevolent sexism), which nonetheless limit women’s opportunities.
- These institutions and beliefs have important implications for the thinking, expectations and behaviours of both men and women.
What is the contact hypothesis? Improving Intergroup Relations & Reducing Inequality
The Contact Hypothesis (Allport, 1954)
The basic premise:
- interaction/ contact between members of different groups can, under a prescribed set of conditions, lead to more positive intergroup attitudes and behaviours.
How does it work?
- Allport’s Conditions = Friendship Conditions
- Equal status
- Common Goals and Interdependence
- Cooperation
- Supportive norms
Critical underlying mechanism: Interpersonal Closeness
- With high closeness, the more contact, the less prejudice
- With low closeness, no relation between contact and prejudice
- BUT… all correlational NOT clear that friendship causes less prejudice.
How does friendship/closeness explain the generalization of positive feelings from an individual outgroup member to attitudes toward the whole group?
- Inclusion of the outgroup in the self
Theoretical Foundation: Including Others in the Self (Aron & Aron)
- The self is Relational and Collective. It includes (is defined by) more than our unique personal qualities.
- As people form close interpersonal relationships, they include the other in the self - they see themselves as, to some extent, possessing the other’s resources, perspectives & identities.
- The outcome is that the other is spontaneously treated like self (e.g., feeling empathy with their troubles, taking pride in their successes, and generously sharing resources).
THE Process…. Including the Outgroup in the Self
- Friendship Development (Interpersonal Closeness) Cross-group contact leads to the inclusion of the other in the self.
- Social Identity Salience Friendly interaction in a variety of settings results in situational cues focusing attention on group memberships.
- Inclusion of Friend’s Group (the Outgroup) in the Self Outgroup becomes connected to the self and is treated to some degree like the self.
- Thus, the positive attitude change is (in part) a byproduct of changes in the content of the self.
Outgroup Members and the Self: A Self-Expansion View
- People seek relationships with others in part to meet their need for self-expansion.
- Outgroup members have perspectives, resources, and identities currently unavailable to the self.
- Thus, outgroup members may offer particularly attractive opportunities for self-expansion/self-growth.
- Under the right circumstances, self-expansion motives should lead people towards outgroup members.
- General orientation towards an outgroup - approach.
Self-Expansion & Interest in Cross-Group Interactions – Majority Group Members
Participants; 57 White undergrads (SFU)
Procedures:
- completed a bogus personality test
Manipulation: false feedback that primed either:
- High Self-Expansion Motive
- Low Self-Expansion Motive
- No Manipulation of Self-Expansion (Control)
Dependent Measures:
- Interest in Interacting with Ethnic Ingroup & Outgroup Members
Self-Expansion & Interest in Cross-Group Interactions – Minority Group Members
- Participants
- 58 ethnic minority undergraduate students (SFU) 20 Chinese, 11 East Indian, 7 Korean, 5 Middle Eastern, 5 Southeast Asian/Philipino, 2 First Nations Canadians, 2 Black (African/Caribbean), 2 Vietnamese, and 4 self-identified as non-White Mixed Heritage.
Summary
- Self-expansion motivates interest in cross-group interactions.
- Manipulation to raise self-expansion motives increased interest in cross-group interaction
- Manipulation to lower self-expansion motives decrease interest in cross-group interaction
ALSO
- In other research, we have found that measures of general self-expansion motivation also predict interest in cross-group interactions (especially among majority group members).
Summary of Cross-Group Contact
- Generally, positive interactions between individuals from different groups can produce more positive intergroup attitudes.
- Especially when these interactions have the potential to produce feelings of closeness/friendship.
- Under the right circumstances, self-expansion motives can encourage interest in outgroup members – produce a general approach orientation.
What is collective action?
- When a person acts as a representative of their ingroup and engages in behaviours directed at improving the status or conditions of the entire ingroup.
- Hunger strike is an example
- 2 criteria: Seeing oneself as a group member and acting on behalf of the group
Defining Collective Action
- Collective action versus Inaction versus Individual action
- Seeking to improve the group’s collective situation (collective action) versus
- Doing nothing (Inaction) or
- Seeking to improve my personal situation (individual action)
- Collective action versus Intergroup Behaviour
- Intergroup Behaviour is broader – includes any action based on collective identities.
- Collective action is a special case of Intergroup Behaviour
Defining Collective Action
- Collective action is Psychological:
- Collective action is about the level of identity and the intentions of the action.
- Collective action is not about the numbers.
- Collective action is not about the specific form of action.
What “Types” of Collective Action are there?
Ingroup Support
- Any action that supports or advances group interests.
- Not necessarily “intergroup”
Conversionary Collective Action
- Actions designed to recruit non-members to join the ingroup.
Maintaining Group Status (Advantaged Groups)
- Collective action to support of current ingroup privilege & oppression.
Resistance (Disadvantaged Groups)
- The process and act of challenging the ingroup’s mistreatment or subordinated position in a given social system.
What is the Psychology of Resistance?
- The process and act of challenging the ingroup’s mistreatment or subordinate position in a given social system.
Whether resistance is “good” is an ethical judgment. Perhaps this judgement will depend on the following:
- whether inequality is a “good thing” or not
- what the new system will be
- means used to achieve the desired change
What is the individual Mobility Strategy?
- Focus on individual outcomes
- Seek to change group memberships
- Distance from low-status ingroup norms
- Seek to pass as a member of the high-status group
- High-status groups, including a small number, and only a small number, of low-status group members.
- Creates the appearance of boundary permeability.
- Creates the appearance of fairness.
- Can undermine collective identity.
- Even a small chance of moving up as an individual can encourage individual mobility
Perceptions of Illegitimacy (Injustice): Resistance is more likely if:
- Status quo is seen to be illegitimate (unjust inequality)
- Authorities/Oppressors attempt to undermine perceptions of illegitimacy:
- Authorities must see their own power as legitimate.
- Encourage subordinated to internalize their “inferiority”
Perceptions of Control Instability:
- The system is malleable and can be changed (“Change is possible”)
- Collective Efficacy: We (the ingroup) have the resources, talents, strength, etc., to make these changes. (“Yes, we can”)
- Authorities/Oppressors attempt to undermine perceptions of control:
- Encourage essentialist views of intergroup relations
- Undermine disadvantaged group resources.
Confronting Prejudice & Discrimination
Confronting is somewhat different from other kinds of Resistance.
We Think We Will – But we don’t
1. Notice the event
2. Interpret as prejudice/discrimination
3. Feel personal responsibility to intervene
4. Knowing what to do
5. Deciding to act (weighing costs and benefits)
- Physical Harm
- Time
- Psychological costs of conflict
- Social Costs
Beware of Pluralistic Ignorance
- In ambiguous situations, we often wait to see what others will do…
- If everyone waits, people then infer that there isn’t any problem to confront.
Try Confronting because it can…
- reduce “pluralistic ignorance”.
- point out to the speaker that his/her position may not be normative.
- help to reinforce a social norm of non-racist (sexism, heterosexist, classist) speech.
- reinforce your own commitment to your non-prejudice attitudes.
