Midterm 2 - Readings Flashcards
What is social categorization
the natural cognitive process by which we place individuals into social groups
Social categorization (is/is not) spontaneous
IS!!
Explain Taylor et al.’s study on spontaneous social categorization in a discussion group
- showed slide & tape presentation of 3 male and 3 female uni students in discussion group
- 1/2 told they would be asked to remember which person had made which suggestion, 1/2 told just to observe interaction
- given memory test: asked to indicate who made each statement
- statements made by men more often wrongly attributed to other men (same for women)
- shows automatic categorization by gender
- instructions given made no difference
when is the use of social categories informative?
when stereotypes held by the individual abt that category are accurate
Explain Tajfel & Wilkes’ 1963 study on perceptual accentuation
- asked Ps to judge length of 6 lines
- lines C and D were same length but C perceived as longer when lines were categorized into groups (order stayed same just changed colour of A B and C)
- lines were perceived differently when they were categorized such that the differences btw the groups and the similarities within the groups were emphasized: produced a perceptual bias such that the two groups of lines were seen as more different than they rly were
Explain Steele & Aronson’s study on why Black kids perform more poorly on standardized tests
- hypothesis that diffs might eb due to activation of negative stereotypes
- Black uni students did worse on math test when it was described as diagnostic of math ability
- performance not affected when test framed as exercise in problem solving
- Black students also did worse when asked to indicate their race before taking a test
What is a stereotype threat?
performance decrements that are caused by the knowledge of cultural stereotypes
when is stereotype threat created?
in situations that pose a significant threat to self-concern, such that our perceptions of ourselves as important, valuable, and capable individuals are threatened
the discrepancy btw our positive concept of our skills and abilities and the neg stereotypes suggesting poor performance
Explain Linville & Jones’ study on outgroup homogeneity
- Ps given list of trait terms, asked them to think abt either members of their own group (black) or members of another group (white) and to place the trait terms into piles that represented different types of people in the group
- ppl perceive outgroups as more homogeneous than their ingroup
- white people used fewer piles of traits to describe blacks than whites
- young people used fewer piles of traits to describe elderly people than they did young people
what did Yaacov Trope and Thompson find about stereotypes and asking questions?
- indivs addressed fewer Qs to members of categories they had strong stereotypes ab
- questions they did ask were likely to confirm stereotypes
why did John Bargh describe stereotypes as cognitive monsters?
bc their activation was so powerful and bc the activated beliefs had such insidious influences on social judgement
stereotypes are strongest for the people who are most in need of change, the people who are most prejudiced
What is the bogus pipeline procedure?
- indirect approach to assessing prejudice
- convince P you have access to their true beliefs (ie via questionnaire they completed earlier)
- ppl act in more honest way bc they don’t want to be caught lying
- ppl express more prejudice when in bogus pipeline!
- suggests we frequently mask negative beliefs
how are stereotypes self-fulfilling prophecies?
our expectations abt the group members make the stereotypes come true
how does affect relate to stereotypes?
- we exp more neg affect (anxiety) when we are with members of other groups vs own group
- need to use more cog resources to control our behaviour bc of our anxiety abt revealing our stereotypes or prejudices
explain how stereotype threat is caused by both cognitive and affective factors
- cognitive: people experiencing stereotype threat show an impairment in cog processing that is caused by increased vigilance toward the environment and attempts to suppress their stereotypical thoughts
- affective: stereotype threat creates stress as well as a variety of affective responses including anxiety
In Nazi era, how did the film The Eternal Jew depict jews?
as rats
During Rwandan genocide, what did Hutu official scall Tutsis?
cockroaches that needed to be cleared out
what experiments were done to understand the holocaust? (3)
Milgram’s infamous electroshock experiment (showed how quickly people cave to authority)
Zimbardo’s prison experiment (showed how easily people in positions of power can abuse others
Bandora showed that when participants overhear an experimenter call another study subject an animal, they’re more likely to give that subject a shock
what does Adam Waltz say? (conclusions from studies following holocaust)
its extremely easy to turn down someone’s ability to see someone else in their full humanity
children as young as 5yo see the world in terms of us vs them
what happens in our brains when we dehumanize others?
the regions of our brain associated with disgust turn on and the regions associated with empathy turn off
what does willingness to dehumanize on the ascent of man scale predict? (2)
aggressive attitudes towards the muslim world
people who dehumanize are more likely to blame muslims as a whole for the actions of a few perpetrators
how do the results on the ascent of man scale relate to the Boston marathon bombing?
after the attack, blatant dehumanization of muslims jumped up significantly
found that people who dehumanized were more likely to support the statement “muslims bombed Boston, we as a planet need to wipe the off this world”
what happens when white participants read that muslims admired Americans?
they didnt dehumanize them as much on the ascent scale
what is the #1 way to combat dehumanization?
simply getting to know people who are different from us
Why is it hard to combat dehumanization?
we have many opportunities via news and social media to get the thin slice exposure to unfamiliar groups that activates the us vs them program
explain how a belief in meritocracy may be all you need to introduce bias
studies have shown that a belief in your own personal objectivity or a belief that you are not sexist makes you less objective and more likely to behave in a sexist way
men (women not found to exhibit this bias) who believe that they are objective in hiring decisions are more likely to hire a male applicant than an identically described female applicant
who is most likely to believe in meritocracy?
white upper class Americans, academia (STEM since they are dominated by white, middle and upper class men)
what have studies found about female authored papers?
are accepted more often or rated higher under double blind review (when neither author nor reviewer are identifiable)
how is the citation gap compounded by male-default thinking?
as a result of the widespread academic practice of using initials rather than full names, the gender of academics is often not immediately obvious, leading female academics to be male
other than the citation gap, what else is male-default thinking behind?
that research perceived to have been done by men is associated with greater scientific quality
how does brilliance bias affect academia?
the more a field is culturally understood to require brilliance to succeed (STEM), the fewer women there will be studying and working in it – we just dont see women as naturally brilliant
how do we teach brilliance bias to children?
when girls start primary school at the age of 5, they are as likely as 5yo boys to think women could be smart, but by the time they turn six, they start doubting their gender (schools are teaching little girls that brilliance doesn’t belong to them)
draw a scientist studies show children overwhelmingly drew men as a scientist
