Lecture 3: Chapter 5: Perceiving Groups Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What is discrimination? What is the difference between positive and negative discrimination?

A

Positive or negative behavior towards a social group and its members

Negative = Group is disadvantaged
Positive = Group is advantaged

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are the 2 types of prejudice?

A

Hot = emotional hatred for other groups
Cold = based on calm assumptions that other groups are inferior to ours

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are prejudices?

A

Positive or negative evaluations of a social groups and its members

It’s the underlying process leading to discrimination

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are stereotypes?

A

Mental representation or impressions that people of certain groups have by association groups to specific characteristics

Can be positive/negative or accurate/inaccurate

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is a social group?

A

Two or more people that have an agreement that is socially meaningful for them or others

They are the target of prejudice

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?

A

Discrimination concerns behavior, prejudice evaluation/thoughts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is social categorization? What are benefits and what are downsides?

A

If people are seen as members of social groups instead of individuals

Benefit: better understanding of interactions

Downside: see individuals not for who they are, but only as members of one group

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What do we mean with social roles?

A

Ascribing specific properties based on group membership

e.g. city worker is more assertive and a child-care worker is more nurturant and considerate

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is the negative impact of positive stereotypes? Give 3 aspects

A
  • Assume everyone is the same and ignore individuality
  • Set impossibly high standards
  • Be a part of overall paternalistic attitudes toward a social group that reinforce the group’s weakness and interdependence
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is benevolent sexism? What kind of stereotype is this?

A

Women are pure, moral and in need of men’s protection

This reinforces the group’s weakness and dependence

This is a positive stereotype

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

In what cases are stereotypes accurate?

A

When they reflect small differences between groups that all members agree to be true for them

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How do stereotypes and prejudice develop? Give 2 ways

A
  1. Through learning: conditioning, media, socialization
  2. Cognitive processes
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

How are stereotypes conditioned?

A

Repeated emotions associated with group encounters are conditioned and then they form stereotypes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What are category accentuations?

A

When for example there is a continuous spectrum of 6 things. The top 3 are a group and the bottom 3 are a group. You perceive the 2 groups as totally different, whilst actually between thing 3 and 4 there isn’t much of a difference

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is illusory correlation?

A

Perceived association between two variables that are unrelated in reality

If something is more salient, groups form stereotypes through forming illusory correlations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is outgroup homogenization? What is a potential mechanism for this?

A

Outgroup members are perceived to be more similar to one another than ingroup members

Familiarity is a potential mechanism. People know ingroup members better than outgroup members

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Which 4 factors would make people more likely to act based on stereotypes?

A
  1. Time pressure –> reduce cognitive capacity
  2. Complex information
  3. Ambiguity –> strong top-down effects of stereotypes on perception
  4. Emotion –> exaggerate effects of stereotypes on perception
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is ambiguity?

A

When something has more than 1 possible meaning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

How can stereotypes and prejudice be measured while overcoming self-report biases?

A

Implicit association test: automatic activation of stereotypes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What are 3 motives behind stereotyping?

A
  1. Understanding/controlling the world (mastery)
  2. Connectedness with others
  3. Justification of inequality
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is the impact of distinctive members in a group on stereotypes?

A

Distinctive members stand out more and therefor have a disproportionate impact on creation of group stereotypes

22
Q

What is the role of correspondence bias in stereotyping?

A

Correspondence bias leads people to see behavior as reflecting one’s inner characteristics, whilst actually social roles may be the cause

23
Q

How is connectedness with others important in stereotyping?

A

If stereotypes are ingrained in social norms of a culture, people learn them naturally as they grow up

Stereotypes can become stronger through communication. Stereotyping can bring people together

24
Q

How do stereotypes become active?

A

When categorization of a group takes place. The more salient the cues of the category are, the faster stereotypes are activated

25
Q

What was the evidence from an experiment with priming and stereotypes? Describe the experiment

A

People were shown words, so fast they couldn’t be consciously perceived (priming)

Afterwards participants had to indicate as fast as possible if a word that had been shown was real or not

Participants reacted faster on negative stereotypical words if they had been primed with ‘black’ and faster on positive stereotypical words if primed with ‘white’

26
Q

What is the difference between explicit and implicit measuring of prejudice?

A

Explicit = questionnaires

Implicit = implicit association task (IAT) + affective priming paradigm

27
Q

What is the affective priming paradigm?

A

1 A black or white face is shown
2 A positive or negative evaluation is shown unrelated to a stereotype
3 Participants have to categorize words as fast as possible as positive or negative
4 Differences in reaction speed are indication of person’s relative evaluation of dark vs. white skinned people

28
Q

Why do researchers often use implicit and explicit measures of stereotyping in their studies?

A

To produce the fullest possible picture of people’s impressions and reactions to other groups

29
Q

What are the benefits of measuring stereotypes implicitly?

A

We can avoid social desirability because reaction times are hard to manipulate

30
Q

What are disadvantages of implicit methods for measuring stereotypes?

A

1 measuring associations, not true prejudice
2 relativity of evaluations that are measured

31
Q

Which processing principle is most important for the formation of groups and stereotypes?

A

Conservatism

32
Q

Why do stereotypes don’t change easily?

A

People are searching for stereotype-conforming and consistent information

33
Q

What is the impact of time-pressure on the influence of stereotypes in decision making?

A

Time pressure reduces cognitive capacity, which leads to more influence of stereotypes on decisions

34
Q

What is the influence of strong emotions on stereotypes?

A

Strong emotions cause us to trust more in stereotypes

35
Q

What are 2 main impacts of stereotypes?

A

1 Influence interpretation of behavior of groups and their members
2 Influence the way we behave towards members of the group, which can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies

36
Q

What are 3 ways to avoid stereotypes?

A
  1. Repressing stereotypes and prejudice
  2. Correcting stereotypes
  3. Activating counter-stereotypical information by opposing a mental image to the stereotype
37
Q

What is the risk of correcting stereotypes?

A

Overcorrection

E.g. make overly positive judgements of stereotyped group members

38
Q

What is the risk of repressing stereotypes?

A

Rebound effect = suppressed thoughts come back even stronger

39
Q

Give an example of counterstereotypic information

A

Stereotype: women are weaker

Counterstereotypic: picture of a body builder woman

40
Q

What are barriers to change and which 3 types are there?

A

These protect stereotypes

1 Explaining away inconsistent information
2 Creating new categories: compartmentalizing in subtypes
3 Considering behavior of unusual group members as irrelevant –> contrast effects

41
Q

Give 3 ways to overcome barriers to change

A
  1. Continuity of repeated exposure to stereotype inconsistent info
  2. Frequency: stronger effect if more members display a specific behavior
  3. Reminders of group membership
42
Q

What is the contact hypothesis of Allport?

A

Under certain circumstances, direct contact between members of different groups can decrease intergroup stereotyping

Contact itself is not enough, because people have certain mechanisms that protect the stereotypes

43
Q

What are 4 important conditions for contact between groups to work to reduce stereotypes?

A
  • Equality of status
  • Common goals
  • Intergroup cooperation
  • Support from authorities, social norms

See slide 60!

44
Q

Give an example of eliciting stereotypic behavior

A

Someone is absent-minded

So I’m not going to tell this person about this event, because he’d forget anyway

45
Q

What is a subtype?

A

A narrower and more specific social group, such as housewife or feminist that is included within a broad social group, like women

46
Q

What is a contrast effect?

A

When stereotypic expectations serve as a background against which individual group members are judged, people who don’t behave as expected seem even more different, which creates a contrast effect

47
Q

To have effective contact one has to provide stereotype-inconsistent information that is repeated. Why?

A

So it can’t be explained away

48
Q

Effective contact has to involve many group members. Why?

A

So that subtyping is prevented

49
Q

Effective contact has to come from typical group members. Why?

A

To avoid contrasting effect

50
Q

What is most effective in reducing prejudice?

A

Formation of friendships across group lines. This contact doesn’t have to alter stereotypes

51
Q

What were the conclusions of the research on Orinthians and Ackmians by Hoffman?

A

Information about individuals in a group is less important in forming an impression of a group member if this info doesn’t correspond to the typical social role of members of that group