Prejudice

Question 1

Discuss prejudice

Answer 1

Thinking or acting less positively towards members of the outgroups compared to ingroups
At its most extreme form, this can lead to persecution

Milner (1981) identified 5 main features of prejudice:
Attitude
Based on faulty/inflexible generalisation
Preconception
Rigid/resilient
Bad

Question 2

Discuss the prejudiced personality

Answer 2

Prejudice thought of as a manifestation of a personality type
People who are more authoritarian and socially dominant thought more likely to be prejudiced

Question 3

Discuss authoritarian personality

Answer 3

Adorno et al. (1950) identified 9 dimensions used in the F-Scale:
conventionalism, submission, aggression, anti-intraception, superstition/stereotypy, power/toughness, destructiveness/cynicism, projectivity, sex
Hypothesised scoring highly on these dimensions would indicate more prejudice but the first 3 of these are important and have more support

Question 4

Discuss conventionalism in the authoritarian personality

Answer 4

Rigid acceptance and adherence to traditional social values perceived to be endorsed by society and those in authority

Question 5

Discuss authoritarian submission in authoritarian personality

Answer 5

Completely submissive to and unquestioning of authority figures

Question 6

Discuss authoritarian aggression in authoritarian personality

Answer 6

Tendency to be hostile to those who violate traditional values people think are endorsed by society and those in power
Being hostile to those perceived to be dislikes

Question 7

Discuss psychodynamic approach and authoritarian personality

Answer 7

Argues people can become authoritarian through internalising childhood experiences eg. strict parenting with harsh/physical punishment means people learn to submit to parents and have exaggerated respect for other authority later in life
This produces anger which is displaced and projected onto other targets (scapegoats), often minority groups and their members

Question 8

Discuss limitations of authoritarian personality and an explanation of prejudice

Answer 8

Based on psychodynamic approach which has many issues (eg. unfalsifiable, based on bias, limited observations etc.)
Underpinnings difficult to establish empirically the link between thinking and action
Research evidence shows no difference in authoritarianism scores between regions known to be high and low in prejudice
F-scale lacks reliability and validity and there may be measurement issues which can explain the lack of evidence

Question 9

Discuss the Right-wing-authoritarianism (RWA) scale a

Answer 9

Ensured this scale has reliability and validity
Argues for 3 dimensions of authoritarianism:
Conventionalism, authoritarian submission and authoritarian aggression

Origins from social learning theory
Argues children start as authoritarian but either start to lose this
However, if individuals experience unfair treatment from authorities they will become more tolerant of outgroups and their members but have more issues with authority
Those who don’t experience unfair treatment will remain authoritarian

Question 11

Discuss research for the right-wing-authoritarian scale

Answer 11

Research supports a link between authoritarian personality and prejudice thinking
Those high in RWA found to:
have faulty reasoning, making incorrect inferences from evidence to uncritically support their beliefs and also have double standards
have other ‘negative’ personality attributes (dogmatic, hypocritical bullies, cause intergroup conflict)
lack insight into own failings/failings of authority figures and are highly self-righteous
hostile towards outgroups, severely punishing when they have the change

Question 12

Discuss social dominance theory

Answer 12

Theory of group conflict which argues all human societies are structured into group-based hierarchies based on social value, producing inequality
This is evolutionary hierarchy gave competitive advantage, allowing survival

3 dimensions of social stratification identified as age, gender and arbitrary set (anything to establish group identification)
Hierarchy of these groups depends on society

Question 13

Discuss social dominance orientation (SOD)

Answer 13

Some people consistently support group based hierarchies and the inequalities produced (high SDO) and others consistently disapprove (low SDO)

Question 14

Discuss attitudes and prejudice

Answer 14

Attitudes are evaluations of entities
Prejudice is attitudes towards groups and/or their members

Question 15

Discuss racism

Answer 15

Racism is prejudice based on race

Old fashioned racism is overt hatred and discrimination towards a minority group

New racism is more subtle

Question 16

Discuss symbolic/modern racism

Answer 16

Rejection of minorities based on values and ideologies
eg. the belief that minority groups have an advantage
These beliefs are seen to be based on empirical ‘facts’

Question 17

Discuss ambivalent racism

Answer 17

Racial attitudes are multi-dimensional
People have pro- and anti- minority attitudes at the same time
When people are given roles to promote quotas, this produces anti-minority attitudes but these people may still have humanitarian values so be pro-minority

Rooted in 2 core independent values:
Humanitarian and egalitarian values (emphasise ideals of equality and social justice)
Individualistic values (emphasise hard work, individual achievements, getting what you deserve)

Question 18

Discuss aversive racism

Answer 18

Dominative racism is overt hatred and discrimination towards minorities

Aversive racism is unintentional and characterised by ambivalent racial attitude
This involves generally positive attitudes about minorities but there is still some negative feelings

There is a positive cognitive attitude but a negative affective attitude

Question 19

Compare subtle and blatant prejudice

Answer 19

Blatant prejudice is old fashioned where threat is perceived from the outgroup, leading to rejection and opposition to immediate contact with the outgroup

Subtle prejudice is where minorities are perceived to violate traditional social values and cultural differences are exaggerated. Individuals deny feeling positive emotions towards minorities. Although they reject blatant prejudice, they still see outgroups negatively

Question 20

Discuss blatant and subtle prejudice research

Answer 20

Meertens & Pettigrew (1997)
Those high on blatant and subtle prejudice called bigots
Those high on subtle prejudice but low on blatant prejudice called susbtles
Those low on blatant and subtle prejudice called equalitarians

Found when asked about immigrants, equalitarians most likely to say rights should be extended, subtles to say rights should stay the same and bigots that they should be restricted

However, when told the immigrant is a criminal, subtles join bigots in supporting punishment as they can justify this

Question 21

Discuss stereotypes

Answer 21

The social cognition perspective views stereotypes as schemas (mental representations of a social group and its members which organises information, directs attention/perception, influences recall and perseveres)

A stereotype can be defined as applying the same cast to all members of a group

Triggering stimuli can activate negative stereotypes which guide thoughts and behaviours, leading to social injustice

Question 22

Do priming studies suggest stereotyping is inevitable?

Answer 22

Originally thought stereotyping is unconditionally automatic in the presence of a triggering stimuli
Supported by priming studies Eg. where the prime was ‘black’/’white’ and the characteristics presented were stereotypical characteristics or non-stereotypical characteristics. Participants responded quicker when the categories were primed with stereotypical characteristics
However, individuals may have conscious awareness of the triggering stimulus and of the task

Question 23

Discuss automatic processing in stereotypes and prejudice

Answer 23

Automatic processing is fast, unintentional, not conscious and uncontrollable

When priming tasks present the prime outwith conscious awareness, there is evidence of stereotypical thinking which supports automatic processing

Question 24

Discuss the dissociation model of prejudice

Answer 24

Devine (1989)
Suggests we learn stereotypes early in life.
These become established though ‘cultural transmission’ and are activated automatically
However, knowledge and activation of the stereotype is the same for those high and low in prejudice and it may be that people may know stereotypes even if they don’t believe them.
Those low in prejudice are able to dissociate themselves from the stereotype.
Automatic processing is inhibited by conscious processing
High prejudice don’t inhibit the stereotype as it is consistent with their beliefs

Question 25

Discuss variables which can determine whether stereotypical or conscious processing occurs

Answer 25

Motivational goals to think of people as individuals
When people are cognitively busy and concentrating on other things they rely on stereotypes as they can’t attend to everything
When the context doesn’t require people to judge others

Question 26

Discuss implications and critique of the dissociation model

Answer 26

High and low prejudiced people aren’t distinguishable at the automatic level of processing
However, they are distinguishable at the conscious level of processing

However, it could be that low prejudiced don’t automatically activate negative stereotypes so don’t need to inhibit them

Question 27

Discuss research against the dissociation model

Answer 27

Lepore & Brown (1997)
High prejudiced activate negative stereotypes automatically
Low prejudiced don’t activate negative stereotypes automatically so don’t need to inhibit it

Here, high and low are distinguishable at the automatic and conscious levels and hold different representations in memory about minorities

Question 28

Discuss SIT/SCT in prejudice

Answer 28

Implies categorising people is the first step in stereotyping discrimination and prejudice (eg, minimal group experiments where devalue outgroup relevant to ingroup)

People aren’t perceived as individuals but as prototypical group members

However, categorising may not always lead to prejudice
Groups may categorise themselves as tolerant so be more generous towards outgroups to achieve a positive social identity
When social identity is threatened, they will strive for positive intergroup differentiation

Question 29

Discuss factors impacting how people respond to threats

Answer 29

According to SIT, achieving positive intergroup differentiation is important when social identity is threatened

How people best respond to threats depends on:
High/low status of group
Whether status difference is perceived as legitimate
Whether status difference is perceived as stable
Whether group boundaries are perceived as stable

Question 30

Discuss social competition

Answer 30

Direct confrontation between high and low statis groups to achieve social change
Likely to happen when low status groups perceive status difference is illegitimate, changeable (unstable) and boundaries are impermeable

Social competition can be legitimate where social change is achieved through political processes or illegitimate where social change is achieved through means outside normal politics

Question 31

Discuss responses of high-status group members to perceived status differences between groups

Answer 31

This depends on how threats to social identity are perceived

If the high status group perceives intergroup difference is legitimate:
focus on low-status group will produce indignation, disdain or pity
focus on themselves will produce pride

If the high status group perceives the difference is illegitimate:
focus on low-status group will produce moral outrage or sympathy
focus on themselves will produce fear, guilt or gloating