Lecture 18: Experiencing Discrimination ll Flashcards
concealment
Hiding or obscuring your stigma
two types of concealment
partial & complete
benefit of concealment
you’re not judged negatively according to your stigma
example of concealment
Sorry to Bother You, 2018: a telemarketer had greater success when using a “white accent”
cognitive costs about concealing
Preoccupation
Increased vigilance
eating-disorder roleplay study
people with an eating disorder role-played not having an ED. They reported having higher secrecy, suppression, and intrusive thoughts about their ED and projected ED thoughts onto the interviewer.
eating disorder concealment study
eating disorder participants who were assigned to not reveal their condition to a confederate later performed worse on a cognitive test
emotional costs of concealment
- Anxiety (about being caught)
- Shame (internalizing your stigma)
- Ambivalence about identity
do most people conceal their stigmas when meeting new people?
A majority (67%) of participants recruited who had a concealable stigma agreed that it was best to conceal this stigma when meeting a new person
concealing identities with a conversation partner experiment
Participants told to hide their identity reported lower levels of belonging and less positive interactions with a conversation partner. These effects were explained by lower feelings of authenticity.
behavioural implications of concealing
- Avoiding social interactions
- Impression management to conceal stigma (ex. Counter-stereotypical behaviour, Modifying mannerisms, Lying or keeping quiet about certain topics)
what shapes the decision to conceal or disclose?
- Threat of discovery
- Self-verification motives
- Context
- Degree of disclosure
self-verification motives
motivations to want others to see us as we see ourselves
compensation
Behaviours that reduce interpersonal discrimination toward one’s self (when stigma is visible or disclosed)
acknowledgement
openly addressing one’s stigma
result of acknowledgement
Eases interactions because they address underlying tension
increased positivity
acting in a way to engender more positive attitudes
examples of increased positivity
acting likeable, friendly, or approachable
individuating information
divulging information that allows others to see one as an individual rather than just a holder of a stigmatized identity
example of individuating information
Jennifer Richeson revealing her candy preferences to take away attention from her race & gender
manipulating stigma consciousness experiment conditions
- Experimental: read an article about how minorities are often the target of racist remarks in social interactions
- Control: read an article about how discrimination is common against the elderly
result of stigma consciousness for ethnic minorities
- More negative emotions
- Felt less authentic
- Like their conversation partner less
result of stigma consciousness for White people
reported having more positive experiences
desert island and confronting discrimination study method
women participated in a group decision-making study with two other people, where they had to pick 12 people out of a list of 30 who would be best suited to survive together on a desert island
During the discussion, a male confederate made sexist statements.
desert island and confronting discrimination study results
- 55% of women didn’t confront the man
- 25% directly confronted the man (ex. saying it was sexist)
- 20% indirectly confronted the man
Black confederate and racial slur study method
two male confederates (one Black and one white) posed as fellow participants and then the experimenter exited the room. Shortly after, the Black confederate left the room to retrieve his phone and gently bumped the white confederate’s knee on his way out
Black confederate and racial slur study conditions
- Control condition: no comment
- Moderate slur: once the Black confederate had left the room, the white confederate remarked “I hate it when Black people do that.”
- Extreme slur: the White confederate uttered a racial slur once the Black confederate left
Black confederate and racial slur study results
Forecasters predicted that they would feel more negatively about experiencing prejudice than they really did
Meyers’ aggressive vs. passive confrontation study
Statements that received an aggressive confrontation were seen as more offensive, particularly for those confronted by an outgroup member. Outgroup members who responded in an aggressive manner were also liked more
confronting hate speech online findings
Empathy-based approaches led to more tweets being deleted, and less xenophobic tweets being made by the confronted account
why don’t people directly confront prejudice
- Normative to not engage with a prejudiced person
- The social norm to be polite if you do respond
- Concern about retaliation
- Diffusion of responsibility
5 steps of confronting discrimination
- An event is interpreted as discrimination
- A discriminatory incident is an emergency
- Take responsibility
- Knowing how to help
- Taking action
step 1 of confronting discrimination
An event is interpreted as discrimination
(Detecting whether discrimination happened)
step 2 of confronting discrimination
A discriminatory incident is an emergency
(Is the incident serious enough? Was the perpetrator blameworthy?)
step 3 of confronting discrimination
Take responsibility
diffusion of responsibility
each bystander’s sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses increases
step 4 of confronting discrimination
knowing how to help (How to confront the perpetrator without escalating the conflict?)
step 5 of confronting discrimination
Taking action (Weigh risks, costs, and benefits)
what makes for effective confrontation?
- Focus on behaviour or other’s reactions over a person’s character
- Being a member of the non-stigmatized group
