prejudice Flashcards
prejudice
attitudinal preferences for some individuals over other individuals based on cultural beliefs about their identity
early measures of racism
old fashioned racism scale: pre 1970s, tested explicit racist beliefs
modern racism scale: 1970s - bias expressed in “rationalizable” ways
both still focus on conscious measures
implicit attitudes test (IAT)
assesses unconscious evaluations of a target group
because it is assessing unconscious views, it gets around the issue of socially desirable responding
example of how a bias would be measured in the the IAT
pro white bias: slower reaction to selecting good when linked with black than when good is linked to white
and slower reaction to selecting bad when linked with white than when bad is linked with black
social standing hypothesis
the IAT reflects the degree to which a group has greater standing in society
white social status internalized and reflected in minority groups pro white bias
How does the IAT compare to explicit measures
not any better at predicting individual behaviour and shows poor test retest behaviour
however, can predict behaviour on a population level
why does the IAT show such poor test retest reliability
scores influenced by factors other than implicit prejudice
- explicit bias, ability to process information quickly, mood
implicit biases and use of lethal force
a study at mcgill found that population level IAT scores were able to predict the use of lethal force against blacks
found that higher county-level white implicit bias against blacks predicted more disproportionate use of lethal force with blacks
Recent patterns of implicit and explicit attitudes
- explicit and implicit prejudice against blacks has declined
- same for homosexuality
- explicit age, disability, and weight attitudes became more neutral - no change in implicit attitudes
dehumanization
attribution of fewer human qualities (traits, emotions, and experiences) to outgroup members compared to oneself one’s ingroup
ascent of man measure
a measure of prejudice - ps indicate how evolved they consider the average member of different groups to be
consequences of dehumanization
studies on dehumanization of arabs in the US have shown an association between dehumanization and
- support for minimizing arab immigration
- less compassionate responses to injustice experienced by an arab person
- less money donated to an arab vs american cause
- support for trump
- support of torture to end terrorist attacks in the middle east
dehumanization hypothesis
dehumanization is a reaction to feeling threatened by an outgroup
studies after the boston marathon attack showed a spike in dehumanization in dehumanization of arabs, suggesting that feeling threatened is linked with dehumanization
social dominance orientation (SDO)
a measure of the extent to which you support hierarchies between social groups
high sdo could be correlated with dehumanization and prejudice
cycle of dehumanization
being dehumanized can start a vicious cycle of dehumanization and hostilities between groups
perceiving another group as dehumanizing you can lead to you dehumanizing them is response
