Lecture 15: Other Forms of Stigma ll Flashcards
perception of age over time
- People over 25 tend to feel younger than they are
- People under 25 tend to feel older than they are
what differentiates ageism from other forms of discrimination?
- Age is differentiated by biology & experience
- Social roles are strongly differentiated by age
- Age is complicated by familial relations
- Age is malleable
- Age is continuous but can be perceived categorically
- Older people tend to be more powerful (to a point)
- There is a difference between age identity and generational identity
benevolent ageism
Subjectively positive attitudes & beliefs about people on the basis of age that justify paternalistic care & the status quo
what kind of beliefs characterize benevolent ageism towards older people
- Older people are physically weak
- Older people are mentally impaired
- Older people are lonely
what kinds of beliefs characterize benevolent ageism towards younger people?
- Young people are outgoing and fun
- Young people succumb to peer pressure
- Young people lack mental faculties & knowledge
- Young people are emotionally underdeveloped
ageism and discrimination field study
- in a field study, researchers sent out fictitious resumes to companies that were hiring in either the restaurant or sales industries. The applicants were listed as being either 31 or 46 years old
- For the sales assistant job, the younger applicant was 4x as likely to receive an interview
- For the restaurant job, the younger applicant was 3x as likely to receive an interview
- Pattern held for whether the job was full-time vs. part-time or permanent vs. temporary
implicit attitudes about age
- implicitly, people prefer young people over old people
- There is some ingroup component; people in their 40s & 50s get less positive towards young adults and more positive towards older adults
ok boomer
an example of dismissing older generations’ voices & ideas
egalitarianism and ageism study method
Participants completed measures of
- Egalitarianism advocacy
- Anti-social dominance orientation
- Hostile racism
- Hostile sexism
- Hostile ageism
egalitarianism advocacy
motivation to advocate for equality across groups
Anti-social dominance orientation
motivation to flatten hierarchies
egalitarianism and ageism experiment findings
- Egalitarianism advocacy is negatively correlated with hostile sexism & racism but isn’t correlated with ageism
- Anti-SDO is negatively correlated with hostile sexism & racism but isn’t correlated with ageism
why isn’t egalitarianism correlated with ageism
older adults are seen as “opportunity blockers” that work to prevent other underrepresented groups from getting ahead
the experiences of people with disabilities varies according to:
- visibility
- controllability
- disruptiveness
- aesthetic qualities
- peril
visibility
Can you see it?
controllability
Was it your fault?
disruptiveness
Does it disrupt normal social living?
aesthetic qualities
Does it impact perceptions of attractiveness?
peril
Are you seen as dangerous because of it?
general attitudes towards people with disabilities
People report positive general attitudes toward people with disabilities (PWDs)
prejudice towards PWDs
- People are less willing to date or marry PWDs
- Strong implicit preferences for abled over disabled people
- PWDs commonly report experiences of discrimination
what makes mental illness discrimination unique?
- Mental illnesses are often seen as controllable
- Some forms of mental illnesses are highly linked to peril
- Stigma reduces the likelihood that people will seek treatment for mental illness
seeking mental health treatment
- <40% of people with mental illness have sought treatment
- Seeking mental illness treatment is stigmatized in itself
halo effect
attractive people are thought to have more positive qualities
self-fulfilling prophecy
the beautiful receive more social attention, which helps them develop good social skills
do highly attractive people really have better social skills?
- they do develop good social interaction skills
- they report having more satisfying interactions with others
attractiveness prejudice is a form of ___
benevolent prejudice
attractiveness and discrimination study method
manipulated a job application with either a more or less physically attractive photo
attractiveness and discrimination study findings
- More attractive men: 35% callback rate
- Less attractive men: 29% callback rate
- More attractive women: 40% callback rate
- Less attractive women: 32% receive a callback
Lighter-skinned Black people are:
- Perceived to be more competent & sociable
- Less likely to be stereotyped
- Have higher income, SES, and occupational outcomes
historical preferences for skin tone
Historically, darker skin tone was linked to working in the sun all day as a farmer or labourer. Light skin tone meant you had a privileged position
current preferences for skin tone
White people today want to have darker skin tones on average. Being tanned means you have the privilege of going on vacation
skin tone and sentencing study
coded the skin tones of Black and white features for 1100 felony defendants from the Minneapolis area. Found that skin tone and Afro-centric features resulted in harsher sentences
skin lightening industry
The global skin-lightening industry is worth $4.8 billion dollars and is projected to grow to $8.9 billion by 2027
what is special about weight stigma?
- Overweight people are assumed to be personally responsible for their weight
- Weight discrimination is common and not seen as personally problematic as in other domains (religion, race, etc)
stereotypes about people who are overweight
Lazy, lacking willpower, unintelligent, sloppy, and dishonest
who is more vulnerable to weight stigma
Women; greater pay discrimination, greater connection to gender roles, judged to be overweight at lower weight levels
what is weight stigma associated with?
Low self-esteem, depression, and suicide
acceptance of weight-based prejudice vs. other forms of prejudice
- Most people are highly motivated to not be prejudiced based on race and disability
- However, for weight, this is less true. Most people are motivated to not be prejudiced based on race and disability but less so
Jeff Hunger’s Weight Stigma Study procedure
- Looked at the psychological and physiological consequences of interacting with an explicitly anti-fat person
- Participants completed a “get to know you” questionnaire and then looked over the questionnaire of the person they believed they would soon be interacting with. They then had a brief interaction with the person
- In the weight bias condition, the person indicated agreement with some anti-fat attitudes
- In the control condition, the person disagreed with these items
Jeff Hunger’s Weight Stigma Study findings
Women exposed to the anti-fat peer showed both psychological and physiological changes:
- Greater feelings of anticipated rejection from the interaction partner, particularly for women higher in BMI
- Greater feelings of anger
- Greater heart-rate reactivity
- Worse cognitive performance
persistence of biases over the last 15 years
- Race and sexuality implicit attitudes have changed over the last 15 years
- Weight, disability, and age attitudes haven’t changed much over the last 15 years
Androgyny studies
a novel IAT showed stronger implicit biases in favour of gender-conforming over gender-non-conforming people
singlehood studies
single people reported greater discrimination both towards themselves and single people more generally compared to people in a relationship
Consensual non-monogamy studies
participants reported monogamous relationships as more respectful, romantic, comforting, and morally superior than consensual non-monogamous relationships
Voluntary childlessness studies
a couple described as choosing not to have children was viewed as less caring than a couple with children or who wanted to but couldn’t have children
