Lecture 12 - Stereotyping, Prejudice And Discrimination

Question 1

Name the concept:
- Belief that certain attributes are characteristic of a group of people
- Negative, positive or neutral

Answer 1

Stereotypes

Question 2

Name the concept:
- An affect-laden judgment/evaluation of a group and its members

Answer 2

Prejudice

Question 3

Name the concept:
- Deferential treatment of individuals based on their membership in a particular group
- Typically referred to negative behaviour directed against a group

Answer 3

Discrimination

Question 4

True or false:

• Prejudice, Discrimination and Stereotypes always go together

Answer 4

FALSE

• Stereotype can lead to prejudice that can lead to discrimination,
  BUT
• Recall that attitudes do not always predict behaviour, since laws, cultural norms and egalitarian values may prevent people from acting on their prejudices

Question 5

Which is stronger in discrimination: outgroup prejudice or in group favouritism?

Answer 5

• Liking the ingroup is, in most cases, stronger than the dislike of the outgroup.
• Thus, many cases of discrimination are driven by the desire to help members of an ingroup rather than hurt members of the outgroup

Question 6

What is the evolutionary perspective on discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices?

Answer 6

• We tend to prefer the familiar over the unfamiliar
• Preference for familiar others is probably adaptive : safest when staying with the group you know + outsiders could be potential threat
• Use appearance-based cues of outsiderness to identify danger, trigger ingroup favouritism and cohesion

Question 7

What were the findings of the Robber’s cave study?

Answer 7

Study:
- 11-12 yo boys
- divided into 2 groups
- 3 phases to experiment

Results:
- Ingroup formation formed very quickly after the groups were required to co-operate, discuss and plan as a group
- competitions were orchestrated between the two groups —> strengthened within-group solidarity + stereotyping of other group + hostile interactions between groups
- inter group hostility calmed by making two groups work together towards common goals

Question 8

What is the realistic group conflict theory?

Answer 8

Competition for resources can lead to negative inter group attitudes
- Could explain heightened hostility towards immigrants during tough economic times
- These negative feelings can be culturally transmitted from generation to generation, so inter group hostility may persist even when the original conflict is no longer relevant

Question 9

What were the findings of Henri Tajfel’s minimal group studies?

Answer 9

• Ps favoured members of one’s own group over members of the other group
• More focused on maximizing difference in outcome between ingroup — outgroup than on maximizing the absolute value of the ingroup income (rivalry)

Question 10

Name the theory:
- We derive a considerable portion of our self-esteem from the groups with which we identify

Answer 10

Social identity theory

Question 11

What is “basking in reflected glory”?

Answer 11

Tend to take pride in the group’s accomplishments even when we had nothing to do with the group’s accomplishment
- Can boost self-esteem by associating with successful groups

Question 12

How does social identity theory influence inter group conflict?

Answer 12

• Because we derive self-esteem from group membership, we want to boost our group’s status — want our group to be the best of the groups
• Helps understand the counterintuitive distribution strategies in Tajfel’s studies

Question 13

What do the minimal group studies tell us?

Answer 13

• Some group memberships feel very meaningful
• it’s not about race, ideology or politics….. just the group membership

Question 14

Name the concept:
- Singling out a group to blame during times of threat and hardship

Answer 14

Scapegoating

Question 15

What is explicit prejudice?

Answer 15

“I don’t like those people”
- Conscious and deliberate prejudice
- Can be measured via self-report

Question 16

What is “old-fashioned” racism and sexism?

Answer 16

“Black people are generally not as smart as while people” OR “Women are generally not as smart as men”
- Conscious and deliberate thinking

Question 17

What is “modern” racism and sexism?

Answer 17

“Discrimination is no longer a problem in North America” OR “Black people/women are getting too demanding in their push for equal rights”
- Kind of an unconscious, sneaky and hiding racism and sexism. Not outright saying anything bad

Question 18

How does the implicit association test work?

Answer 18

People are shown words or images two times. There is the name of a group and good and bad written on the left and right top corners of the screen. The groups are changed the second round. People have to click right and left for each group or good and bad thing. We calculate the time taken the first round and the second round. The difference in time could show an implicit bias.

Question 19

What does the implicit association test capture?

Answer 19

-Semantic memory: stuff you know about the world
- Concepts are organized in networks in our mind, with some concepts more tightly or loosely linked
- Patterns and strength of association determined by experience

Implicit bias
- thought to capture the automatic, difficult to control associations between groups and positivity/negativity