module 7 Flashcards
What are social categories?
defined over number of dimensions that differ in different properties, incl. where one is born, person’s belief system, person’s biological properties
function:
- reasoning: evaluation/attitudes & stereotypes
- facilitates social interaction: helping, friendships
What is implicit processing?
what’s uncontrollable & not accessible via introspection
- processing: automatic, unconscious, uncontrollable
What is explicit processing?
controllable & accessible via conscious thought
- processing: deliberate, intentional, consciously accessible
What is the developmental trajectory of explicit bias and the paradox therein?
developmental decrease in negative attitudes toward outgroup:
- race bias:
- emerges by age 3/4
- peaks near age 7
- declines thru adolescence
developmental increase in negative behaviour toward outgroup:
- fewer interracial interactions & friendships
- discrimination: housing, employment, healthcare, education
What is the paradox of the development of explicit bias?
why is there an increase in negative behaviours toward outgroup w/ age when developmentally there is a decrease in negative attitudes toward outgroup?
- w/ age, explicit intergroup preferences changes
What is the Implicit Association Test (IAT):?
- reaction time measure
- measures strength of association b/w concepts
- stronger association = faster, more accurate responses
- the more implicit bias we have, predicts:
- friendliness
- hiring
- voting
- medical treatment
What is the developmental trajectory of implicit bias?
- early acquisition & automatic:
- ingroup preference
- innate preference to familiarity
- influence of group membership
- stable across development
- formed prior to age 6
- early life experiences important for acquisition
What is the developmental trajectory of implicit bias? (by age)
- age 6: formed detectable implicit attitudes toward social groups
- age 10:
- early & strong preference for members of own social group subsides
- split b/w mean levels of conscious & less conscious race attitudes emerges
- adulthood: equal preference for in- & out-group
What is the developmental trajectory of implicit bias? (childhood)
- implicit preferences for high-status over lower status racial groups emerge early at levels that remain stable across development
- biases stronger in ethnically homogenous communities
What is the developmental trajectory of implicit bias? (older children)
- cognitive flexibility increases w/ age & better allow them to shift evaluations of racial group after being presented w/ counter-stereotypical info about group
- children from majority groups: lower explicit prejudice against out-groups, potentially due to motivational processes
- may form novel associations
What is the developmental trajectory of implicit bias? (adults)
- implicit racial biases reduce after brief interventions
- due to shift in social context that places emphasis on individuals who contrast w/ stereotypes
- shift prime subtypes rather than lead them to revise prior beliefs
What are the 4 factors that influence implicit attitudes?
- early experiences
- affective experiences
- cultural biases
- cognitive consistency principles
How do early experiences influence implicit attitudes?
- stem from past experiences
- developmental events inform implicit attitudes:
- early in life: learning preverbal & taught indirectly
- form foundation for later learning and may serve as nonconscious source of related evaluations & actions
- developmental events inform automatic mental habits
How do affective experiences influence implicit attitudes?
- more sensitive to affective experiences:
- attitudes positively covaried w/ activation of amygdala
- attitudes stem from automatic emotional reactions to stimuli
- attitudes may depend on emotional reconditioning
- sensitive to priming effects, due to feelings aroused by stimuli
How do cultural biases influence implicit attitudes?
- influenced by one’s cultural milieu
- societal evaluations have assimilative effect on automatic attitudes
- influence of cultural biases may be reconcilable w/ influence of early & affective experiences
