Lecture 5: Stereotyping Flashcards
Definition
a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996).
Types of stereotype x 4
Fiske et al (2000)
High warmth & High competence = unambguously positive.
Low warmth & low competence = unambiguously negative.
High warmth & low competence = ambivalent
Low warmth & high competence = ambivalent
Communication & Maintenance of STs
Language e.g. abstract / concrete terms.
Culture.
Linguistic inter-group bias
Maass et al (1989)
Abstract terms (kind, hostile etc.) more often used to describe desireable in-group behaviour and undesirable out-group behavior.
This is one way STs are communicated via COMMUNICATION.
Self-fulfilling prophecy (3 examples).
STs influence expectations.
E.g. Teachers believing that one group is less intelligent than another. Effect = give those students less attention - => performing less well thus reinforcing ST.
E.g. Inds. believed to be hostile may be treated more aggressively which encourages hostile behavior.
E.g. Women in work given feminine associated tasks -> encourages gender consistent behaviour.
Groups likely to be ST
The 3 most common groups used for categorising are also the most ST:
Gender, race, age.
Psychological essentialism
Prentice & Miller (2007)
Some categories are essentialised meaning that they are believed to have deep, hidden, unchanging properties that make their members who they are. e.g. woman.
Psychological essentialism can mean that social categories are seen as ‘natural kinds’
It could be argued that sex not binary but a spectrum. A child could have XX chromosomes and be born with male genitalia.
Gill-White (2001)
Just as the ugly duckling was always a swan, we have similar intuitions about ehtnic groups - we beleive their nature is fixed and biological.
Haslam & Levy (2006)
Essentialist beliefs predict anti-gay prejudice independently of other measures such as authoritarianism and political conservativism.
Bastion & Haslam (2006)`
Esentialist beliefs correlated with stereotype endorsement.
Consequences of psych essentialism x 4
1) More likely to accept STs associated with essentialised groups.
2) Believing that negative qualities are an essence of members of a stigmatised group means believing that those qualities are fixed and part of who they are.
3) However Haslam & Levy conversely found that some (not all) dimensions of essentialism associated with less prejudice towards gay men and women.
4) Accentuates differences between categories and minimises those within.
Prentice & Miller (2007)
Most strongly essentialised categories are:
Gender, ethnicity, race, physical disability.
Least:
Interests, politics, appearance, social class.
Gender, race & some ethnic categories strongly essentialised across cultures.
It is a heuristic.
Gelman (2004)
Belief that certain categories e.g. lion, female, have an underlying reality that cannot be directly observed.
May be an early cognitive bias.
Contradicts traditional idea of children as concrete thinkers - instead they look beyond the obvious for certain features.
E.g. a leaf but physically resembles a leaf more than a bug but children categorise it as a bug - they go beyond the features of shape and colour.
Williams & Eberhardt (2006)
Individuals that endorse bio concepts of race more likely to accept African American STs than those who see race as a social construct.
Reliability of STs
Varies: some attributes will apply to all members e.g. dogs bark; others only to some members e.g. dogs are friendly.
Most are only weakly reliable.
Stereotype threat
A situational event where a person feels at risk of confirming stereotypes about their social group.
Can reduce performance in members of ST groups.
Most people belong to at least one category that is ST, therefore everyone could experience ST threat in situations where STs may be activated e.g. job interview.
Steele (1995)
ST threat
There is a negative ST that African Americans are less intelligent and this has been shown to negatively impact SAT scores as a result of anxiety.
Steele et al (2002)
ST threat.
Stronger identification with category => higher degree of ST threat.
Stone et al (1999)
Mini-golf study described as test of ‘sports intelligence’ or natural athletic ability.
White performed worse when described as latter, due to ST threat of whites been less naturally athletic than black people. e.g. “White men can’t jump”.
Rydell et al (2009)
Women primed with ether:
Gender ID
Uni student status
Both
Neither (control)
Those primed with gender ID performed worse as a result of ST threat.
Uni student had no effect.
Priming with both also no effect suggesting effect of ST was diminished by Uni status.
ST threat mechanisms
Not well understood.
Schmader et al (2003)
Thought to work due to limited cognitive resources being directed towards stress and anxiety meaning less is available for executive functions needed for difficult tasks.
Criticisms of ST threat theories
Incorrectly used to explain real-world gaps in performance levels (Sackett, 2004).
Incorrect interpretation of evidence (Stoet & Geary, 2012).
Meta-analysis says effect overestimated and field is prone to publication bias (Florence et al, 2015).
Why categorise?
Allows us to infer additional attributes.
Could be functional - some info is better than none.
Cognitive function of STs
Facilitates organisation of info.
Macrae et al (1994)
Pps given a list of traits for fictitious indvs. Asked them to form an impression of them. Concurrently performed an unrelated mental task.
2 conditions:
Stereotype absent
ST present.
Half of traits were ST consistent, half were neutral.
Pps could remember more traits in the ST condition BUT only the traits that were ST consistent. .
Those in ST condition performed better in the test about unrelated info.
Implication: ST frees up cognitive resources = energy saving function, BUT only helps us to remember info about others that is ST consistent.
So NOT stereotyping may be cognitively stressful.
Survival function of ST
Long history if inter-group conflict means that we tend to perceive the world in terms of coalitional alliances.
Also found in non-human primates.
ST summary
ST happens due to a cognitive tendency to categorise.
ST is different from other forms of categorisation as they tend to be positive or negative.
Can help to reduce by being aware of and removing the primes for social identity in situations known to encourage STing.
Discourage essentialist and genetic explanations of between group differences.
Provide positive role models e.g. Women in STEMM subjects.
