Lecture 9: Perceiving Groups Flashcards
What are stereotypes?
*Beliefs that associate groups of people with certain traits (e.g. England supporters are hooligans).
What is the meaning of a Prejudice?
*Negative feelings towards person’s based solely on their connection to a certain group (A english supporter… Probably a hooligan).
What is discrimination?
*Any behaviour directed against persons because of their connection to certain groups. (We don’t allow England supporters in our country).
What was Broverman et al’s (1970) study on gender stereotypes find?
- Asked 79 male and female nurses to describe males and females on the basis of 122 items.
- No differences emerged between male and female participants.
- Description of males:
- Independant
- Not emotional
- Objective
- Logical
- Leader qualities
- Ambitious
- Description of females:
- Talkative
- Tactful
- Gentle
- Emotional
- Neat in habits.
What are the US labour stereotypes statistics for men?
- Airline pilots 94%
- Auto mechanic 99%
- Childcare worker 3%
- Dentist 90%
- Dental assistant 1%
- Lawyer, judge 77%
- Nurse 6%
What is social categorisation?
- The classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes.
e. g. gender, country, profession, ethnicity.
What is the Outgroup homogeneity effect?
*The tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than of ingroups.
What is the effect of outgroup homogeneity effect?
- One example is enough to form an impression about the entire group.
- Caused by:
1) lack of familiarity with the outgroup
2) lack of diversity in experiences with the outgroup
3) When perceiving unknown faces of ingroup and outgroup members, greater neural activity in the brain when perceiving the ingroup members.
What is Illusory correlations?
- An overestimate of the association between variables that are slightly or not at all correlated.
- Overestimation of distinctive words lead to stereotypes (e.g. black person commits a crime).
What is the social identity theory?
- Stereotypes are usually negative
* People favour ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self - esteem.
What are the implications of the social identity theory?
- Emphasising differences/increasing competition between groups leads to negative evaluation of outgroup.
- olympic games
- Explaining cultural habits/customs
- Religious clothing
What did Vrij et al’s (1987) study?
*40 participants were showed newspapers headings in which black and white offenders were associated with different types of crime.
*Black man convicted for rape
*White man convicted for rape
*Participants were asked to estimate how many headings they saw.
Results: overestimation: - 38% of theft expected for black offenders whilst only 10% of white offenders.
Whilst 58% of drugs for black offenders and only 4% for white offenders.
*Overestimation of distinctive words leads to stereotypes.
What features are used for a good campaign?
- Be explicit
- Be positive
- Use many examples.
Why is reducing prejudice policy not working?
- Lack of insight
- Lots of money
- Policy makers believe campaigns don’t work
- They don’t communicate with researchers
- Campaigns can harm people
- Campaigns should be tested before implemented.
What is confirmation bias?
*The tendency to seek and interpret information that seems to support existing beliefs.
