Prejudice Flashcards
Prejudice definition - ATTITUDE ATTITUDE ATTITUDE ATTITUDE
A shared attitude, generally negative towards a social outgroup and its members purely on the their membership of that group. (Martin 2007)
Types of Prejudice: Racism, sexism Sexism study Homophobia: a mental illness until 1973 Ageism Health
Males believed to be more competent than females Pheterson (1971) males success more likely to be attributed towards ability, women-luck
Minimal groups- random groups enough to cause prejudice
T^ajfel minimal groups enough to cause prejudice, no knowledge of group membership.
Schoolboys assigned to 2 groups (kandinsky or klee) with no knowledge of group membership, asked to distribute money between group members- favoured their own group (Tajfel 1971)
Old and new prejudice
Less overt nowadays, people may still be prejudice but less likely to show it, alternatives given such as; culture, economy.
Aversive racism- persistent avoidance of interaction with other racial, ethnic groups. People still value equality but hold prejudicial views.
Personality approaches- flawed personality
Frustration Authoritarian personality- F scale Right wing AP- Altemeyer Social dominance orientation Dogmatism- Palmer and Klain- avoid information...
Frustration leads to aggression- example of Nazi’s prejudice towards jews, who were already seen as an outside culture with their own practices, struggling encomony leads to scapegoat…
Authoritarian personality- measured on f scale, subservient attitude towards authority fuguires, caused by repressive childhood disciplinary parents.
Right wing- SUPPORTS BELIEFS Altemyer- cognitive errors and faulty reasoning, accept insufficient evidence that supports beliefs, less likely to acknowledge their own limitations, those who score highly; fear of living in a dangerous world, self-righteousness.
Social dominance orientation
Dogmatism- closed mindlessness e.g. communists, right, intolerant attitude, palmer and plain- high in dogmatism avoid information that is inconsistent with beliefs, react by ignoring or minimising.
DOMINANCE AND SUBMISSION
right wing- accept insufficient evidence that supports beliefs
Dogmatism- avoid information inconsistent.
Altemyer- right wing authoritarian- cognitive errors and faulty reasoning.
ACCEPT (p+k AVOID) insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs, they are also less likely to ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR OWN LIMITATIONS
DOGMATISM- closed mindedness, not just authoritarian personality e.g. communists- rigid, intolerant attitude.
Positively correlated- dominance
Negatively- emphatic concern and perspective taking
Palmer and Klain- avoid information that its inconsistent with their beliefs and do this by minimising or ignoring it.
Frustration- leads to aggression (Dollard) if goals are not met we become frustrated- scapegoat found and displacement occurs when cause of frustration unknowable or too strong- suggested German FRUSTRATION= anti-semitism, goals not being met leads to frustration. After WW1 there was an economic collapse, jews were already seen as a people apart- separate religious beliefs and distinct cultural practices- the german frustration led to Jews being the scapegoat.
Authoritarian Personality (Adorno) attempted to explain Nazi war crimes- measured on the F scale, subservient attitude towards authority figures, caused by repressive disciplinary parents- creates conflict between aggression and love for parents.
Right wing authoritarian: updated- According to research by Altemeyer, right-wing authoritarians tend to exhibit COGNITIVE ERRORS AND FAULTY REASONING. incorrect inferences from evidence and to hold contradictory ideas that result from compartmentalised thinking- ACCEPT INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE that supports their beliefs and they are less likely to acknowledge their own limitations
People who score highly for self-righteousness and fear of living in a dangerous world- most likely to harbour prejudice. authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression and conventionalism. SUPPORTS AND ACKNOWLEDGE
Social dominance orientation- acceptance of group based hierarchy and domination of inferior groups by superior groups. Preference for inequality among social groups. Men are more social dominance orientated than women. Negatively correlated with empathy, tolerance.
Dogmatism/closed mindedness- IMPORTANT- Prejudice can occur in people who are not right wing e.g. communists rigid and intolerant attitude, closed mindedness. The updated dogmatism correlated positively with dominance and submission and negatively with perspective-taking and empathic concern. Palmer and Klain (1985) reported that individuals high in dogmatism attempt to avoid information that is inconsistent with their belief systems, and they react to inconsistent information by minimising or ignoring it.
Cognitive Approaches: Prejudice is a result of faulty cognition.
Illusory correlation- paired distinctiveness, associated meaning.
The kernel truth
Cognitive misers (reference opposite to Heiders Naive Psychology)
ILLUSORY CORRELATION- Cognitive exaggeration of false perception of two co-occuring factors:
Paired distinctiveness- minority group associated with negative things
Associated meaning- stereotypes persist because people assume negative attributes go with minority groups.
The Kernel of truth- stereotypes are cognitive exaggerations of real differences between groups.
Eagly and steffen (1984)
Stereotypes are cognitive exaggerations of REAL differences between groups- exaggerations of true differences between groups- stereotypes focus on differences- creates belief distortions. e.g. some blondes are ditsy.
Cognitive miser- opposed to naive psychology (idea of rational thinking- make sense of others behaviour) instead of acting like scientists who rationally weigh costs and benefits, test hypothesis- we instead condense- taylor says this is rational due to volume of information.
We minimise our cognitive load because cognitive processes require effort- so we use cognitive misers (Taylor 1981)- this reduction leads to stereotyping to process groups as a whole rather than differences between people.
Social Approaches- CRITIQUE OF DEFICIT THEORIES- FLAWED PERSONALITY AND COGNITION
SOCIAL CATEGORISATION- us and them- in-group vis out-group
AND SOCIAL LEARNING- OBSERVE AGGRESSION CAN ALSO OBSERVE PREJUDICE (Bandura) 72 children 3 conditions- brief discussion surrounding this.
RCT- Sherrif Robbers cave
SIT- Tajfel- random groups- minimal groups- distribute money
Define Social identity theory- the identity which is part of our self concept in which we derive from group membership. We are motivated to think positively of our in-group and negatively of our outgroup- show superiority- motivation due to increases in self esteem- Fein and Spencer.
Critical of flawed cognition and personality
RCT- Prejudice through limited resources and intense competition between groups- not related to any individual personality flaw or faulty cognition- Robbers cave (Sherrif) positive interdependence- no conflict. negative interdependence- conflict
Trophies to winning groups and awards to individuals- one group gained at the expense of the other.
Burned flag, aggression had to be separated
2 days cooling off- listed in-group positively and outgrip negatively
SIT- Determines how we think and behave as part of a group
fein and spencer
We are motivated to think well of our in groups
Prejudice towards outgroup increases self-esteem.
To enhance self image
Groups give us a sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world
Tajfel- minimal groups- random groups enough to cause discrimination- distribute money then bring in- social identity is part of the self-concept that derives from group membership- positive group associations- self-esteem increases
POSITIVE DISTINCTIVENESS- motivation to show superiority of in-group over out-group- this causes comparisons to be made which leads to/causes prejudice.
We are motivated to think well of our in groups and prejudice towards out-groups increases self-esteem.
Motivation due to increase in self-esteem as highlighted by Fein and Spencer
Self categorisation theory (turner)- differences between in-group perceived as smaller than differences between outgroup
Updating of SIT- group members ensure that differences within their group perceived as smaller than differences between in-group and outgroup.
Stereotypes as accurate
SIT- stereotypes accurate at group level identity
We stereotype other groups
We stereotype our own groups and conform to this
Discursive approach?
Prejudice is done in talk- it is discourse that denies, rationalises and excuses dehumanisation and discrimination against minority groups
5 features of race talk
Denial of prejudice
Grounding one’s views as being reflective of the external world rather than ones own psychology
Reducing prejudice- ALLPORT
Positive interdependence
Social norms of equality and equal status
Superordinate goals (a common goal)
No competition between groups
