Prejudice Flashcards
What is prejudice?
Antipathy (Strong feeling of dislike) or a derogatory social attitude towards particular social groups or their members, combined with the feeling and expression of negative affect
- An attitude or orientation that devalues a group
What is social discrimination?
Explicit display of negative or disadvantaging behaviour towards particular social groups or their members
What are individualistic approaches to prejudice?
- Authoritarian personality theory
- social dominance orientation
What are intergroup relations approaches to prejudice?
- Realistic conflict theory
- Social identity theory
According to Allport (1954) what is a prejudiced personality?
People with negative attitudes toward one outgroup also tend to have negative attitudes toward other groups
Who conceptualised authoritarian personality theory?
Adorno et al., 1950
What is authoritarian personality theory (Adorno et al., 1950) highly influenced by and in what ways?
Psychodynamic theory
- Human behaviour - a dynamic interplay of conscious and unconscious motivations.
- Prejudice as a manifestation of a particular pathological personality
What are some characteristics of authoritarian parenting?
- Extremely strict parents
- Children concerned with obedience to parents
- Conformity to social norms
- Conflicting feelings of admiration and aggression towards parents
What are resolutions to authoritarian parenting?
Scapegoating - the tendency to blame someone else for one’s own problems - negative feelings displaced onto weaker groups (Scapegoats)
Personality syndrome - reflected in a person’s social attitudes, rigid regard for social conventions, simplistic thinking etc. - parents (authority figures) loved and respected
How is the authoritarian personality measured?
Adorno et al. (1947) California F-Scale - a personality test
What does the California F-scale measure?
People’s susceptibility to fascist ideas:
- Authoritarian submission (high degree of submissiveness to authority)
- Conventionalism (desire to adhere to group norms)
- Authoritarian aggression (intolerance of those who violate conventional values)
What are 2 limitations of Adorno et al. (1947) F-scale? When did research into this decline?
- Use of unrepresentative samples
- Interviewer bias in clinic interviews
Research declined in 60s and 70s
In the 1980’s, who reviewed the F-scale and what did they conceptualise as a result?
Altemeyer, 1981 - Right-wing authoritarianism scale - the social environment reinforces obedience, conventionalism and aggression.
What variable is still widely used to predict social attitudes and prejudice towards social groups in Altemeyer’s (1981) right-wing authoritarianism?
Personality variable
What does social dominance theory (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999) suggest?
All human societies tend to be structured as systems of group-based hierarchies
- Universal tendency (in stable societies) to be organised hierarchically (one social group holds disproportionate power over the others)
- Hierarchies often based on ethnic, religious, national, or racial aspects
What is social dominance orientation (Pratto et al., 1994)?
SDO scale measure acceptance of and desire for group based social hierarchy
- People with higher SDO tend to be more sexist, racist and prejudiced towards immigrants.
- 14 items on very negative (1) to very positive (7) likert scale.
What is social order maintained by and how is this supported by legitimising myths? (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999)?
Discrimination (including institutional discrimination)
- Those values, beliefs, or cultural ideologies that provide moral and intellectual justification for group inequality and oppression
What is explicit prejudice and how is it assessed?
Collection of attitudes that the holder is aware of having and is able to express consciously
- assessed via self-report measures eg. surveys
What happened in The Robbers Cave Experiment and how does this support Realistic Conflict Theory (Sherif, 1954; 1958; 1961)?
- Intergroup conflict - competition over limited resources
- Bringing hostile groups together is not enough to reduce intergroup prejudice
- Superordinate goals - whcih can only be achieved by both groups acting together
What are limitations of individualistic approaches to prejudice?
Methodological individualism - subjective individual motivation to explain a social phenomena
- Assume that individuals are prejudiced (eg. a personality trait), failing to consider the role of social contexts
- Ignores intergroup context in which the prejudice is embedded.
What is implicit prejudice and how is it assessed?
Collection of attitudes that the holder is not consciously aware of having
- Assessed through implicit association test
What is ethnocentrism?
The tendency to judge ingroup attributes as superior to those of the outgroup and more generally to judge outgroups from an ingroup perspective
What is the minimal group paradigm?
Minimal conditions that are required for discrimination to occur between groups
What does social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) attempt to explain?
Intergroup relations as a function of group-based self-definition
What is social identity?
The part of our self-concept corresponding to group memberships and the value and emotional significance of those memberships
How does social identity theory explain prejudice in terms of social categorisation, social identification, social comparison, and positive distinctiveness?
- Social categorisation: people categorise themselves as belonging to certain social groups
- Social identification: identification with those categories
- Social comparison: through social comparison, people evaluate their salient in-group relative to relevant outgroups
- Positive distinctiveness: people seek to maintain positive social identities. In-group bias
What are 2 different types of perceived identity threats?
- Realistic threats to the ingroups power, resources, or well-being
- Symbolic threats to the ingroups values, identity or way of life
What is existential threat?
Collective level of concern for ingroup’s present and future existence - encompassing the fear of group annihilation
What is a potentiality for social identity theory?
SIT is a starting point for understanding individual experience, attitudes and behaviours in terms of the person’s membership in social groupings
- shows how group membership can lead to negative behaviour
What are 4 limitations of social identity theory in explaining prejudice?
- It does not fully explain the criteria we use to distinguish the groups
- It cannot explain the meaning we give to these distinctions
- It does not explain how multiple identities interact and how new ones are created
- It neglects how identity construction is influenced by social context and power relations
What is modern racism?
- symbolic racism
- aversive racism and subtle racism
Deeply held prejudices conflict with more inclusive norms
New racism is not directly expressed but might appeal to widely shared norms
Racism simultaneously expressed and denied
According to APA (2016) what percentage of black Americans reported daily discrimination?
75%
What are the 3 forms of micro-aggressions?
- Micro-assaults
- Micro-invalidations
- Micro-insults
What are the goals of micro-interventions?
- To make the invisible visible
- Disarm the microaggression
- Educate the offender
Seem external support where needed
What are the objective, rationale, tactic and an example of the micro-intervention of making the invisible visible?
Objective: force perpetrator to consider impact and meaning of they they’ve done
Rationale: When allies and bystanders intervene, reassures targets they’re not crazy and their experiences are valid
Tactic: ask for clarification
Example: “do you realise what you just did?”
What are the objective, rationale, tactic and an example of the micro-intervention of disarming the microaggression?
Objective: instantly stop or deflect microaggression
Rationale: provides targets, allies adn bystanders with a sense of control and self-efficacy to react to perpetrators in here and now
Tactic: express disagreement
Example: “I dont agree with what you just said”
What are the objective, rationale, tactic and an example of the micro-intervention of educating the offender?
Objective: facilitate a possibly more enlightening conversation and exploration of perpetrator’s biases
Rationale: lowers defense of perpetrator and helps them recognise harmful impact
Tactic: Appeal to offender’s values and principles
Example: “I know you really care about representing everyone on campus and being a good student government leader but acting in this way really undermines your intentions to be inclusive”
What are the objective, rationale, tactic and an example of the micro-intervention of seeking external reinforcement or support?
Objective: check in with self and others to ensure optimal levels of functioning
Rationale: reminds targets, allies and bystanders that they are not alone
Tactic: report
Example: report incident in person, use anonymous online portals/hashtag on social media to make experience go viral
What is the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954)?
Contact between members of opposing groups is likely to be the most effective way to reduce prejudice
What are the 4 optimal conditions of the contact hypothesis?
- acquaintance potential
- Equal status
- Cooperation
- Normative climate
What is acquaintance potential in the context of the contact hypothesis?
- contact must allow relationship to develop
- increased knowledge of outgroup
- positive relationships are rewarding
What is equal status in the context of the contact hypothesis?
- Equal status during intergoup contact
- Contact between individuals of similar social status
- Disconfirms negative group stereotypes
What is cooperation in the context of the contact hypothesis?
- Contact activity should involve working together
- Mutual benefit
- Outcome must be positive
What is a normative climate in the context of the contact hypothesis?
- Occurs in a supportive climate
- Contact should be supported by authorities
- Power to promote/enforce change
What is imagined contact? (Crisp and Turner, 2009)
Imagined contact encourages positive intergroup behaviour
- useful in hostile or segregated contexts and can be implemented easily
- especially effective in children
What is extended (vicarious) contact?
- Based on contact hypothesis but does not involve f2f contact
- indirect cross-group experience
- extended contact reduces intergroup anxiety
BUT research suggests it only works when a member of outgroup is already known.
How can VR interventions reduce prejudice surrounding those with psychosis?
Simulate positive symptoms of psychosis
Measure pre and post knowledge, attitudes and empathy
Results: Higher scores post-test across all three measures
BUT can also increase prejudice
