Prejudice

Question 1

What is prejudice

Answer 1

Little consensus on terms definition

Mutually agreed basic tenets
1. Occurs between groups
2. Involves a negative or positive evaluation
3. Involves a bias in favour or against a group
4. Is based on characteristics (real or imagined) that are attributed to a group
Jones (2002)
Prejudice is considered a positive or negative attitude, directed towards members of other social groups, determined by virtue of their membership status within a particular social group.

Question 2

Prejudice according to jones 2002

Answer 2

An attitude directed towards another person or group based on the group they belong to

Contingent on group membership

Not only negative but by virtue of viewing other groups negatively we inherently view our own group as positive

Question 3

attitude of prejudice

Answer 3

A general feeling or evaluation, positive or negative about a person object or issue

Question 4

Three component model of attitude

Answer 4

Cognitive, beliefs about the Attitude object/person/group e.g. negative stereotypes

Affective - strong feelings about the attitude object/person/group and qualities it may or may not possess

Behavioural - an intention to act a certain way towards attitude object

Question 5

Affective component

Answer 5

Prejudice clearly concerned with emotions towards social groups

The affective dimension refers to an individuals feelings or emotional responses towards a particular social group

E.g. Gays associated with feelings of disgust and discomfort
Aboriginal Canadians associated with feelings of unease or anger (zanna 1994)

Question 6

Cognitive component

Answer 6

Refers to an individuals perceptions, attributes judgements and beliefs about a group (huskinson and haddock 2006)

Stereotypes (feature based beliefs)
Can be positive or negative providing the holder with simplistic assumptions about a social group

Cognitive component also contains value based beliefs, defined as specific beliefs that social groups violate or promote the attainment of individuals cherished values

Question 7

The behavioural component

Answer 7

Discrimination

A negative action towards a social group or its members (allport 1954)

Question 8

Discrimination

Answer 8

An unjustified negative or harmful action towards a member of a group simply because of his or her membership of that group

A negative action toward a social group or members on account of their group membership (allport 1954)

Question 9

Mild to severe behavioural component

Answer 9

Mild, e.g. Avoiding people of certain groups

Medium e.g. Expressing verbally antipathy

Severe eg deliberate victimisation

Question 10

Targets of prejudice and discrimination

Answer 10

Sexism
Gender 
Racism 
Age
Disability

Question 11

Changing face of prejudice

Answer 11

In western societies laws and political correctness have affected attitudes towards certain groups, e.g. Gay and lesbians
So no longer are people overtly prejudiced, so traditional forms of prejudice appear to have diminished, although certain individuals are still overtly prejudiced (tougas brown beaten and joly 1995)

Question 12

Old fashioned prejudice

Answer 12

Overt in nature

Rooted in religious and moral beliefs
Rooted in common inaccurate misconceptions mcConahay 1986

Question 13

Modern prejudice

Answer 13

More covert in nature

Reflects beliefs certain groups are pushing too far in society for undeserved gains

Reflects beliefs prejudice is largely a thing of the past
Mcconahay 1986

Question 14

old fashioned prejudice towards gays and lesbians

Answer 14

Morrison and Morrison (2002)
Old fashioned homonegativity

Homosexuality is a sin and contravenes gods law

Gay men and women are mentally sick

Question 15

Modern homonegativity

Answer 15

Gay men and women are pushing too hard for underserved gains in society

Homophobia is historical

They contribute to their own marginalisation by placing emphasis on their own sexual orientation

Question 16

Forms of discrimination

Answer 16

Reluctance to help. E.g. Landlords reluctant to rent to ethnic minorities
Tokenism. trivial positive act towards minority group to prevent criticism
Reverse discrimination. Going out of your way to favour person of minority group to make self look good

Question 17

Social stigma

Answer 17

Stigmatised individuals posses or are believed to posses an attribute or characteristic that conveys a social identity that is devalued in society leading to possible prejudice
Visible stigmas include race gender obesity
Concealable stigmas include homosexuality, illnesses, religious group membership.
People can try and hide their own stigmas to avoid prejudice, can become internalised stigma

Question 18

Stereotype threat

Answer 18

When individuals try to avoid stereotypes assigned to their group membership, e.g., West Indian Briton aware of stereotype black People are less intelligent tries hard to appear intelligent went answering class question, causing anxiety. Anxiety may affect answering question so stereotype can become a self fulfilling prophecy

Question 19

Extremes of prejudice and discrimination

Answer 19

Genocide, dehumanisation, violence

E.g. Jews in world war 2

Question 20

Explanations of prejudice and discrimination.

Answer 20

Mere exposure effect, zajonc 1968
Learnt, allport and tajifel suggest learnt from early childhood
Inherent fear of unknown
Processeses such as social identity theory

Question 21

Scapegoat theory

Answer 21

Scapegoat theory is a social psychological term that relates to prejudice. According to this theory, people may be prejudice toward a group in order to vent their anger. In essence, they use the group they dislike as their target for all of their anger…as a vent. One example that has been suggested is the holocaust. According to scapegoat theory, the Germans used the Jews as scapegoats for all of their countries problems (which included economic problems across the country), focused all of their anger on the Jews, allowed their anger and hatred to build, and focused all of their anger, frustration, and problems on the Jews. (This is not “the” explanation for the holocaust, but one component of it.)

Read more: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Scapegoat%20Theory#ixzz4UWt1TxRm

Question 22

Frustration aggression theory

Answer 22

Definition: The frustration-aggression theory argues that social movements occur when frustration leads to collective, often aggressive behavior. Frustration has a variety of sources and can take two forms. First, it can be absolute, which happens when people do not have enough to survive, and second, it can be relative, which happens when people have enough to survive but have less than those around them.

Question 23

Displacement

Answer 23

Psychodynamic concept referring to the transfer of negative feelings on to an individual or group

Question 24

The authoritarian personality

Answer 24

Adorno 1950
Authoritarian Personality was an attempt by a group of researchers to explain the conditions that allowed Nazi-ism to gain a foothold in Europe. The researchers, led by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, used various psychological scales to attempt to explain racism and the atmosphere that led to the slaughter of six million Jews and others in psychological terms. The book weighed in at a hefty near-1000 pages, and included contributions from a number of social psychologists who helped to correlate and analyze the data collected.

Question 25

3 approaches to prejudice

Answer 25

Personality

Social cognition

Group membership

Question 26

Personality theory of prejudice

Answer 26

Authoritarian personality linked to socialisation in childhood
Emotional as well as cognitive dimensions,influenced by socio political circumstances as well as internal mechanisms

Question 27

Authoritarian personality

Answer 27

Roots lie in harsh childhood experience especially within patriarchal capitalist society

Features include
Respects perceived strength
Obedience
Dislikes weakness
Conformist
The f scale
Evidence for, correlation on scales between authoritive personality and prejudice
Linking of racism between parents and children
Against, role of context overlooked, role of culture overlooked

Question 28

Group membership theories of prejudice

Answer 28

Sherif and sherif realistic group conflict theory

Turner and tajifel
Social identity theory

Question 29

Realistic group conflict theory

Answer 29

Scarcity of resources leads to competition leading to intergroup conflict
Individuals fall in line with the feelings and behaviour of their group (in group) towards the out group
Evidence
The robbers cave study
(Sherif and sherif 1969)

But methodological flaws

Question 30

Criticisms of realistic group conflict theory

Answer 30

If prejudice is a natural response to group conflict how can it be a problem
Prejudice is not universal so why are some groups targeted more than other

Methodological flaws e.g. Role of experimenters

Question 31

The contact hypothesis

Answer 31

ordon W. Allport (1954) is often credited with the development of the contact hypothesis, also known as Intergroup Contact Theory. The premise of Allport’s theory states that under appropriate conditions interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.[3] If one has the opportunity to communicate with others, they are able to understand and appreciate different points of views involving their way of life. As a result of new appreciation and understanding, prejudice should diminish.

Question 32

Criteria and conditions for contact to reduce prejudice

Answer 32

Equal status Equal status. Both groups must engage equally in the relationship. Members of the group should have similar backgrounds, qualities, and characteristics. Differences in academic backgrounds, wealth, skill, or experiences should be minimized if these qualities will influence perceptions of prestige and rank in the group.[5]
Common goals. Both groups must work on a problem/task and share this as a common goal, sometimes called a superordinate goal, a goal that can only be attained if the members of two or more groups work together by pooling their efforts and resources.
Intergroup cooperation. Both groups must work together for their common goals without competition. Groups need to work together in the pursuit of common goals.[5]
Support of authorities, law or customs. Both groups must acknowledge some authority that supports the contact and interactions between the groups. The contact should encourage friendly, helpful, egalitarian attitudes and condemn ingroup-outgroup comparisons.
Personal interaction. The contact situation needs to involve informal, personal interaction with outgroup members. Members of the conflicting groups need to mingle with one another. Without this criterion they learn very little about each other and cross-group friendships do not occur.

Question 33

Critical perspective prejudice

Answer 33

We don’t have prejudice we do it
Discursive psychology approach
The categories groupings identities and evaluations involved in language occur through language
The task for researchers is to identify the key linguistic resources through which prejudices occur
How does prejudice happpen through the way we talk about ourselves and others

Question 34

Examples of critical perspective of prejudice

Answer 34

That’s so gay

Her husband took the maternity leave she was back the next day, have you noticed she even looks like a man

Question 35

Personality perspective of prejudice

Answer 35

Linked to harsh childhood

Abnormal childhood socialisation leads to authoritarian personality

Question 36

Cognitive perspective to prejudice

Answer 36

Prejudice is due to normal limitations of our cognitive processes

Question 37

Group membership perspective of prejudice

Answer 37

Social identity and realistic conflict approaches explain prejudice

Question 38

Critical social psychology approach to prejudice

Answer 38

Prejudice is embedded in language

Question 39

Implicit association test

Answer 39

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to report. The IAT may be especially interesting if it shows that you have an implicit attitude that you did not know about. For example, you may believe that women and men should be equally associated with science, but your automatic associations could show that you (like many others) associate men with science more than you associate women with science.