Lecture 16: From Prejudice to Discrimination

Question 1

are prejudice and discrimination correlated?

Answer 1

Prejudice and discrimination have a small correlation

Question 2

resume whitening study

Answer 2

found that the same resumes with Black-sounding names were 50% less likely to get a callback

Question 3

what prejudices are relevant for behaviour?

Answer 3

• global attitudes
• attitudes toward a specific target
• attitudes toward behaviour in a given time, target, and context

Question 4

example of a global attitude

Answer 4

How much do you like Mexicans?

Question 5

example of attitudes toward a specific target

Answer 5

How much do you like undocumented Mexican immigrants?

Question 6

example of attitudes towards behaviour in a given time, target, and context

Answer 6

For the upcoming election, how much do you support giving undocumented Mexican immigrants a path to legal status?

Question 7

what attitudes are more likely to predict behaviour?

Answer 7

As attitudes become more specific, they are more likely to predict behaviour

Question 8

Dovidio et al., 2002 study design

Answer 8

White participants had a conversation with a Black confederate. They measured:
- Implicit prejudice
- Explicit prejudice
- Coders’ ratings of verbal friendliness
- Coders’ ratings of nonverbal friendliness

Question 9

Dovidio et al., 2002 findings

Answer 9

• Explicit prejudice + verbal friendliness were significantly negatively correlated
• Implicit prejudice + nonverbal friendliness were significantly negatively correlated

Question 10

hate crimes trends

Answer 10

• In both the U.S. and Canada, the number of hate crimes is increasing
• They increased significantly in the days following Donald Trump’s 2016 election
• Anti-Asian hate crimes, particularly verbal harassment, increased following the COVID-19 pandemic

Question 11

Crandall et al., 2018 study design

Answer 11

participants took two measures of prejudice and perceived norms about prejudice 9-12 days before the 2016 election and 3 days after the election. they divided people into 9 groups targeted by Donald Trump’s campaign and 9 groups that weren’t

Question 12

Crandall et al., 2018 findings

Answer 12

Self-reported prejudice went down for targeted groups following the election because people began comparing themselves to Trump and viewing themselves as less prejudiced. Prejudice was perceived to be more normatively acceptable

Question 13

status quo vs. personal prejudice following same-sex marriage legalization

Answer 13

tracked perceptions of norms & attitudes over time and found that the perceived status quo on norms increased immediately after, but there was little change in personal prejudice

Question 14

University of Wisconsin

Answer 14

exposure to messages about social norms of combating prejudice increased perceptions of an inclusive environment

Question 15

Murrar et al., 2020: treatment of marginalized peers following an intervention

Answer 15

disadvantaged students exposed to social manipulation reported two weeks later that their advantaged students’ peers treated them with more respect and behaved more inclusively. Interestingly, participants who were advantaged didn’t self-report behaving in a more respectful manner following the manipulation

Question 16

Murrar et al., 2020: academic performance and intervention videos

Answer 16

marginalized students exposed to social norms manipulation performed better in STEM courses

Question 17

explanation of Murrar et al’s 2020 academic performance and intervention results

Answer 17

Frees up cognitive resources; less worried about being the target of discrimination

Question 18

Internal motivation to respond without prejudice

Answer 18

motivation to be unprejudiced for its own sake

Question 19

External motivation to respond without prejudice

Answer 19

motivations to appear unprejudiced to others

Question 20

internal motivation to respond without prejudice and prejudice

Answer 20

Internal motivation is weakly to moderately negatively related to prejudice

Question 21

external motivation to respond without prejudice and prejudice

Answer 21

External motivation is weakly positively related to prejudice

Question 22

are internal and external motivations to control prejudice related?

Answer 22

no

Question 23

motivation to express prejudice

Answer 23

a small proportion of people who want to be prejudiced, often for sake of their self concept

Question 24

percentage of people who display a motivation to express prejudice

Answer 24

• Race: 7.0%
• Sexual orientation: 6.5%
• Political orientation: 14.3%

Question 25

first-person shooter task and sleep

Answer 25

randomly assigned participants in the first-person shooter task to either get a full night’s rest or stay up the entire night. Racial bias increased for participants who lacked rest

Question 26

factors that impact the ability to control prejudiced behaviour

Answer 26

• Time of day
• Age reduces the ability to inhibit automatic impulses
• Alcohol reduces inhibition
• Cognitive resources

Question 27

Stanley Milgram

Answer 27

was interested in trying to understand situations like Nazi Germany

Question 28

Eichmann trial

Answer 28

used following orders as a justification for the crimes he committed in Nazi Germany

Question 29

Milgram’s experimental setup

Answer 29

the experiment was described as a study of learning. Participants were instructed to shock other participants for any wrong answers. The other person, who is a confederate, never receives any real shocks

Question 30

milgram’s findings

Answer 30

• Everyone went up to at least 300 v (when the confederate began to pound on the wall)
• 65% went all the way to the end after that
• Everyone who reached 375 v continued to the end

Question 31

factors influencing obedience

Answer 31

• Proximity: if you are physically or socially closer to the victim, you were less likely to comply
• Social power: if the experimenter is perceived to be less powerful, you’re less to comply
• Social status: if the setting conveys authority, you’re more likely to comply

Question 32

reactions to Milgram’s results

Answer 32

Milgram’s results were surprising. A high % of Americans showed obedience to authority to the extent that they could have harmed another person

Question 33

why did people obey in Milgram’s study?

Answer 33

• No exit
• Participants were motivated to follow the rules
• The feeling of responsibility is transferred to the experimenter
• The victim was blamed for their situation
• Escalating commitment can create a slippery slope

Question 34

Rwandan Genocide

Answer 34

mass slaughter of the Tutsi by the Hutu majority from April-June 1994

Question 35

number of deaths in the Rwandan genocide

Answer 35

500,000- 1,000,000 Tutsi were killed (70% of the Tutsi population)

Question 36

role of radio stations in the Rwandan genocide

Answer 36

Radio stations set the stage for genocide

Question 37

design of Rwandan genocide study

Answer 37

communities randomly assigned to reconciliation-focused soap operas or control soap operas about health

Question 38

Reconciliation soap opera

Answer 38

featured typical Rwandans as protagonists. depicted that the roots of prejudice & violence were located in frustration with basic psychological needs and that trauma is normal and can be healed

Question 39

results of the Rwandan genocide study

Answer 39

• Did not change personal beliefs about prejudice and violence
• Changed perceived norms about how people do and should behave in situations related to prejudice, conflict, and trauma
• Increased empathy for genocide survivors
• More likely to share radio batteries at the end of the study

Question 40

what did Dr. Murrar attribute the increased performance of disadvantaged students following the intervention to?

Answer 40

social norms