Lecture 4 Flashcards
What happened in the replication of Howard and Giffords study?
They made positive behaviours more infrequent as well as Group B-people still draw illusory correlations when behaviour and group are low frequency
What are the implications of Howard and Giffords study?
Demonstrates the cognitive bias of stereotype formation-distortions arise from processing information about co-occuring events.
What is the outgroup homogeneity effect?
Outgroup members are viewed as more similar to one another than are ingroup members
Why does the outgroup homogenity effect happen?
We have more interactions with ingroup members than outgroup members, ingroup interactions are higher quality and we gain more information about unique characteristics. We also have a motivation to see ourself as unique so we distance ourselves from the group.
What level are outgroup comparisons made at versus ingroup?
Outgroup: Group level
Ingroup: Individual level
What is the outgroup homogenity effect demonstrating?
Dispersion innaccuracy. q
What was Jones et al’s study on the outgroup homogeneity effect?
Students in 4 different clubs rated members of their own group and members of 3 other groups on personality dimensions
What were the results of Jones et al’s study?
Members of ones own group were rated as having a more varied personality than members of the outgroup-regardless of group
When is outgroup homogeneity at it’s largest?
When groups are enduring, real life groups, and when the ingroup is large
What is the cognitive function of stereotypes?
Stereotypes help us conserve our limited cognitive resources-we ract to categorization quickly and rarely receive negative outcomes for applying incorrect categorizations.
When do we stereotype?
When we have low levels of cognitive resources, for example when we are multitasking, or when we have low levels of ability/motivation. Low cognitive resources + motivation= stereotypes
What was the study done on whether stereotypes make encoding easier or not?
Participants did 2 tasks similtanously: 1) Form impressions of individuals with presented traits (half of the individuals were given a category label)
2) Listen to information about the geography/economy of Indonesia.
Participants in the no stereotype condition were shown a fixation point between the targets name and trait, participants in the stereotype condition given a category label rather than a fixation point
What were the results of the study on stereotypes and encoding?
When asked to recall traits about a name, the stereotype consistent categories would facilitate recall. No label meant less recall, and for stereotype irrelevant there was no significant difference.
For recalling information about Indonesia, the stereotype label made recall easier.
What are the conclusions of the study on stereotypes and encoding?
If you provide participants with a stereotype that is relevant, it frees up cognitive space and people have more resources to help them on a cognitively taxing task.
What was the study that Maass et al did on linguistics and stereotype maintenance?
Used a linguistic category model to interpret a photo using language-had more abstract and less abstract statements. Abstract statements are seen as less verifiable, but provide temporal stability-reveals more about a person than actions.
