Lecture 7

Question 1

What is social psychology:

Answer 1

Related to com science and org science

Quantitative methods

It takes a narrower/micro focus. Three levels of analysis

• -> Cognitive: what happens in people’s mind
• -> interpersonal: what are consequences of stereotypes for interactions between individuals
• -> intergroup: how do tensions between different groups emerge

Question 2

Social categories and stereotypes

Answer 2

Social category: a perceived collection/group of people that have certain characteristics or traits (visible or invisible) in common.

Stereotype: cognitive representation people hold about a social category, consisting of beliefs and expectancies about probable behaviors, features and traits.

We learn to categorize because it is a basic of our developmental world. We try to form categories and associate because of the complexity of the world. Learning language is also learning categories.

Categories can be based on visible and non-visible commonalities (you can’t see directly if someone it vegetarian – non-visible)

Question 3

1. How/Why do we categorize people?

Answer 3

It is usually functional:

Makes the environment more predictable;

Draw on existing knowlegde and experiences in new situations

Frees mental capacity

Functional, but also negative consequences

Stereotyping (deduction): applying stereotypic belifs to categorized individuals

Prejudice (usually for negative) = affective response / attitude (pos/neg) about social category

Influences judgments and behaviors towards categorized individuals

Question 4

Fundamental variables in (shared) social category cognition (see Beukeboom & Burgers, 2019):

Answer 4

Category entitativity (Campbell)

The extent in which a category Is perceived as a meaningful, unified and coherent group, as opposed to a loose set of individuals.

Stereotype content

The content of the set stereotypic characteristics associated with a given category

Category essentialism

The extent in which this is associated set of characteristics is perceived to be essential to category members:
–> ummutable, dispositional, stable over time and across situations

Question 5

High entitativitity:

Answer 5

Similarity among group members in visible and or un-visible aspects (common origin, goals, experiences)

Particularly with high category entitativity: Stereotype formation –> within group similarities

–> Or between group differences (will be exaggerated)

Question 6

Consequences of social categorization

Answer 6

Are there gender differences in height/length - yes there are,

The problem with generic stereotypes:

A stereotypic expectation can be totally detached from reality

Still, even if there is a connection with reality (length), then:

By definition, the expectation does not apply to all individual members of a category

Some characteristics are stable (LENGTH) across situations others vary much more (assertiveness, sensitivity) and express themselves in different ways

Question 7

Effects on how men and women are judged and how they are expected to behave

Stereotypes are resilient to change

Answer 7

We have a tendency to see stereotype confirming evidence
–> seen as more real, reliable, and informative than counter-stereotypical observations

An activated stereotype can evoke the behavior you expect;

1. Self-fulfilling prophecy
2. Self-stereotyping: categorizing oneself can also induce behavior that confirms the stereotype (cf. Stereotype threat)
3. Stereotypes prescribe how men and women should behave
   - -> motivation to be a ‘good’ group member
   - -> devaluation of a-typical group members (e.g. modest men; ambitious, competitive women)
   - -> relate this to anti-gender responses

Question 8

Link to intersectionality

Answer 8

Social psychological approach

Compartmentalized perception:

Perceivers have a repertoire of distinct social categories in their minds

Perceivers attend to just one identity (or one intersection of identities) at a time, as a function of the social context.

Question 9

Category and stereotype activation

Answer 9

Which category is activated depends on:

• -> Cognitive accesibility: chronic salience and situational salience (context!)
• -> fit (overlap between observed features and category stereotype)

People seek the category with the most information fain in a given situation, to maximize the accuracy of predictive inference

Question 10

Category labels: maintaining categories

Answer 10

Once a group is labeled:

• • similarities within categories + differences between categories exaggerated
• • perceived as a unified and coherent whole that is distinguish from other categories within a conceptual hierarchy/

e.g. gender labels strenghten gender entitativity

Exclude individuals who do not fit in binary categories

Question 11

Linguistic content

Answer 11

Label content: “soccer specators”, fans, supporters or hooligans

Immigrants, fortune-seekers, aliens, outsiders, parasites, newcomers, kolonisten

Sissy, slut, bitch, whore (sexist derogatory sluts)

Question 12

Subtypes: marking exceptions: nurse and male nurse.

male generics: firefighter, surgeon, farmer, lawyer

Answer 12

Marking exceptions also occurs in longer texts

Explanations of inter-category differences typically focus on the atypical category

• • differences between gay and straight men
• • gender differences (female professors are..)

A. Placing the atypical category in sentence subject position

B. Mentioning it first in a comparison with a referent

C. Simply in more frequent use of the minority (vs. Majority) category label.

Question 13

Biases in describing behaviors and characteristics

Answer 13

Biases in communication content (what);

Privileging stereotype consistent information

Stereotype consistency bias

• • Sharing of category/label congruent info more likely
• • Particularly when already part of common ground
• • increased accessibility
• • relationally beneficial
• • more exposure to congruent information of shared stereotypes

Stereotype content (+essentialism)

Question 14

Biases in linguistic form (how)

Answer 14

Differences in formulation of stereotype consistent vs inconsistent behaviors

Linguistic intergroup/expectancy bias

• • language abstraction:
• the women is emotional vs the man is crying
• the woman is quarreling vs the man is tough
• He is smart vs she did well on the test

Stereotypic explanatory bias; because he has a rough day

Category essentialism

Negation bias

• • The junk brings the found money to the police
• He is not deceitful (vs. He is honest
• • The priest puts the found money in his own pocket
• He is not honest (vs. He is deceitful)

Stereotype content + essentialism

Stronger with increasing entitativity

Question 15

Social categories and stereotypes:

Answer 15

Social category is a perceived collection/group of people that have certain characteristics or traits (visible or invisible) in common.

Stereotype: cognitive representation people hold about a social category, consisting of beliefs and expectancies about probable behaviors, features and traits.

Categories can be based on visible and non-visible commonalities

Question 16

Social categorization:

Answer 16

1 How/why do we categorize people?

n Why? It is (usually) functional: - makes the environment more predictable;

• draw on existing knowledge and experiences in new situations (=deduction); - frees mental capacity.

Social categorization:

1 How/why do we categorize people?

Functional, but also negative consequences

Stereotyping (deduction): applying stereotypic beliefs to categorized individuals

Prejudice (usually for negative) = affective response/ attitude (positive/negative) about social category

Influences judgements and behaviors towards categorized individuals

(discrimination) o Including subtle (less-monitored) behaviors o E.g., nonverbal behavior in interracial interactions o Ellemers (2017): at the implicit level, gender stereotypes continue to shape our judgments and behaviors

Question 17

Particularly with high category entitativity:

Answer 17

Between group differences ↑

Within group similarities ↑

Question 18

The problem with generic stereotypes:

Answer 18

Ø A stereotypic expectation can be totally detached from reality Still, even if there is a connection with reality (e.g., length), then:

Ø By definition, the expectation does not apply to all individual members of a category

Ø Some characteristics are stable across situations (e.g. length), others vary much more (e.g., assertive, sensitive), and express themselves in different ways.

n Stereotypes are resilient to change (Ellemers, 2017) Ø We have a tendency to see stereotype confirming evidence

seen as more real, reliable, and informative than counter-stereotypicalobservations

Ø An activated stereotype can evoke the behavior you expect;

1) self-fulfilling prophecy
2) self-stereotyping: categorizing oneself can also induce behavior that confirmsthe stereotype (cf. stereotype threat).
3) stereotypes prescribe how men and women should behaveo Motivation to be a ‘good’ group member o Devaluation of a-typical group members (e.g., modest men; ambitious, competitive women)

o Relate this to response to trans-people (see story Irina)

Question 19

Category and stereotype activation Which category is activated depends on:

Answer 19

¤ Cognitive accessibility

¤ Chronic salience and situational salience (context!)

¤ Fit (overlap between observed features and category stereotype) ¤ People seek the category with the most information gain in a given situation, to maximize the accuracy of predictive inference

Question 20

The role of language

Answer 20

Perceived category entitativity + stereot. content + essentialism

Language Use Perceived category entitativity + stereot. content + essentialism

Linguistic labeling

Describing behavior and characteristics

Question 21

Category Labels: maintaining categories

Answer 21

n Once a group is labeled:

similarities within categories + differences between categories areexaggerated

perceived as a unified and coherent whole that is distinguished from othercategories within a conceptual hierarchy

Ø E.g., Gender labels strengthen gender entitativity Ø Exclude individuals who do not fit in binary categories Ø Label content:

‘soccer spectators’, ‘fans’, ‘supporters’ or ‘hooligans’

‘immigrants’, ‘fortune-seekers’, ‘aliens’, ‘outsiders’, ‘parasites’, ‘newcomers’,‘kolonisten’

‘Sissy’, “slut”, “bitch,” “whore” (sexist derogatory slurs, see Fasoli et al., 2015)

Question 22

Category Labels: Linguistic form

Answer 22

Ø Biases in linguistic form of labels:

Generic (women are…) vs subtypes vs. specific (this woman is…) - Generic (immigrants) vs subtype (e.g., non-western vs. western immigrants), vs more specific subtype (e.g., second generation Turkish immigrants)

vs focus on individual person

Ø Generics: plural nouns (or gen. singulars) + present tense verbs - Boys play with trucks; Girls are sweet; The hipster eats quinoa.

Recipients infer: qualities are stable (non-accidental), enduring, and persistentacross time and situations (i.e., essential).

implies that category is a coherent, stable entity

Ø Relates to category entitativity + essentialism

Question 23

Biases in describing behaviors and characteristics

Answer 23

Ø Biases in communication content (what):

Ø Privileging stereotype consistent information (see Ellemers, 2017, Beukeboom & Burgers, 2019)

Ø Biases in communication content (what):

Ø Stereotype consistency bias

Sharing of category/ label congruent info more likely

Particularly when already part of common ground

increased accessibility

relationally beneficial

more exposure to congruent information of shared stereotypesØ stereotype content (+ essentialism)

Question 24

Biases in describing behaviors and characteristics

Answer 24

Ø Biases in linguistic form (how):

Ø Differences in formulation of stereotype consistent vs inconsistent behaviors

Ø Linguistic intergroup/ expectancy bias - Language abstraction:

The woman is emotional vs. the man is crying

The woman is quarreling vs. the man is tough- “He is smart” versus “She did well on the test

Stereotypic explanatory bias

…because he has a rough day

Ø category essentialism

Ø Biases in linguistic form (how):

Ø Negation bias

The junky brings the found money to the police.

He is not deceitful (vs. he is honest)

The priest puts the found money in his own pocket

He is not honest (vs. he is deceitful)

She is not sweet, He is tough

Ø stereotype content + essentialism

Ø Stronger with increasing entitativity

Question 25

Describing categorized individuals and their behavior Consistent with stereotype -> More generalization

Answer 25

generic labels

more abstract behavior descriptions

Question 26

Inconsistent with stereotype -> Less generalization

Answer 26

subtype labels, individual

concrete behavior descriptions

explanations

negations, irony

Question 27

Beukeboom (2019) How stereotypes are shared through language

Answer 27

Language use plays a crucial role in the consensualization of stereotypes within cultural groups. Based on an integrative review of the literature on stereotyping and biased language use, we propose the Social Categories and Stereotypes Communication (SCSC) framework. The framework integrates largely independent areas of literature and explicates the linguistic processes through which socialcategory stereotypes are shared and maintained.

We distinguish two groups of biases in language use that jointly feed and maintain three fundamental cognitive variables in (shared) social-category cognition: perceived category entitativity, stereotype content, and perceived essentialism of associated stereotypic charac- teristics. These are: (1) Biases in linguistic labels used to denote categories, within which we discuss biases in (a) label content and (b) linguistic form of labels; (2) Biases in describing behaviors and characteristics of categorized individuals, within which we discuss biases in (a) communication content (i.e., what information is communicated), and (b) linguistic form of descriptions (i.e., how is information formulated).

Together, these biases create a self-perpetuating cycle in which social-category stereotypes are shared and maintained. The framework allows for a better understanding of stereotypes and maintaining biases in natural language.

The SCSC framework

Biases in the type of linguistic labels used to denote and distinguish categories, in which we distinguish biases in:

label content (i.e., meaning of the used terms)

linguistic form of labels

Biases in describing behaviors and characteristics of catego- rized individuals, in which we distinguish biases in

communication content (i.e., what information about cat- egorized individuals is communicated (i.e., topic prominence).

linguistic form of descriptions (i.e., how is information about categorized individuals formulated (e.g., grammar, predicate types).

Question 28

Shared category recognition

Answer 28

We distinguish three fundamental variables in social-category cognition:

a. perceived category entitativity: the extent in which a category is perceived as ameaningful, unified and coherent group, as opposed to a loose set of individuals.
b. stereotype content: the content of the cognitive representation people hold about a socialcategory, consisting of beliefs and expectancies about probable behaviors, features, and traits
c. perceived category essentialism: refers to the extent in which an associated set ofcharacteristics is perceived to be immutable to its members, and stable across time and situations.

Question 29

Ellemers (2018) Gender stereotypes

Answer 29

There are many differences between men and women. To some extent, these are captured in the stereotypical images of these groups. Stereotypes about the way men and women think and behave are widely shared, suggesting a kernel of truth.

However, stereotypical expectations not only reflect existing differences, but also impact the way men and women define themselves and are treated by others.

This article reviews evidence on the nature and content of gender stereotypes and considers how these relate to gender differences in important life outcomes. Empirical studies show that gender stereotypes affect the way people attend to, interpret, and remember information about themselves and others.

Considering the cognitive and motivational functions of gender stereotypes helps us understand their impact on implicit beliefs and communications about men and women. Knowledge of the literature on this subject can benefit the fair judgment of individuals in situations where gender stereotypes are likely to play a role.

Question 30

How to change our stereotypical associations?

Answer 30

Acknowledge the pervasive nature and the cognitive and motivational functions of gender stereotypes. This constitutes an important step in combating their negative side effects.

Lift the burden of proof from those who may be disadvantaged. This makes us less dependent on their ability to recognize unequal treatment and their willingness to complain.

Educate people about the descriptive and prescriptive nature of stereotypes. Knowledge of the pervasiveness and implicit effects of stereotypes releases people from the conviction that all gender differences are biologically determined and hardwired.

Support employees in reconciling stereotypical male and female role expectations regarding work and family demands. Male and female workers experience stress when work and family roles seem incompatible.

Reconsider and re-evaluate the nature of different social roles and job types. The unidimen- sional distinction between masculine roles that rely mainly on competition and achievement and feminine roles that require empathy and care does not do justice to contemporary requirements in social interactions or in the workplace.