prejudice and intergroup relations

Question 1

what are the three main components of attitudes and what are the different kinds of components relevant to prejudice

Answer 1

1) stereotyping - cognitions/thoughts
2) prejudice - affect/feelings
3) discrimination - behaviors

Question 2

what is stereotyping

Answer 2

beliefs about a group of people that are generalized to all members of groups

• set of cognitions
• assumptions about people or groups of people

Question 3

what is prejudice

Answer 3

negative attitude or emotions towards a group of people

-affect/feelings

Question 4

what is discrimination

Answer 4

unjustified negative action toward a member of that group simply because of their membership in that group
-behaviors

Question 5

what are the three varieties of oppression

Answer 5

individual, institutional and culture

Question 6

explain individual oppression

Answer 6

biased thoughts, feelings or actions on the part of individual people

Question 7

explain institutional oppression

Answer 7

organizational or societal practices that even when applied by “unbiased” individuals, result in differential outcomes for similarly situated persons

Question 8

explain cultural oppression

Answer 8

patterns of racist “stuff” embedded (often implicitly) in ideologies, values, institutions, practices and artifacts
ex. language we use

Question 9

what is the definition of oppression

Answer 9

when someone is disadvantaged

Question 10

individual and institutional relations?

Answer 10

individual prejudice can start at institutional level

-outside factors

Question 11

what is institutionalized discrimination and an example

Answer 11

built into the legal, political, social and economic institutions of a culture
-don’t necessarily sound like discrimination, but can create discrimination

ex. legal punishments for different kinds of cocaine, powder cocaine (wealth whites) lower punishment than crack cocaine (poor blacks, tend to use)
- you need 500g of powder to get the same punishment for 5g of crack cocaine

Question 12

what are examples of institutional discrimination

Answer 12

• children of institutional discrimination
• persons accused of crime who cannot post bail are imprisoned and thus appear in court dressed in prison uniform (Brown saw this in traffic court)
• different penalties for crimes that differ by race and wealth
• corporation fills an opening “in-house” rather than advertise
• public forum held on 3rd floor of building without elevators (people with disabilities cannot attend, ableism)
• voter suppression

Question 13

what is voter suppression

Answer 13

institutional discrimination

• active attempts to make votes not count
  ex. have to go to certain locations to vote, different number of polling booths at locations (which can be tampered with), some people cannot wait all day in line to vote

Question 14

what is systematic oppression and an example in typecast

Answer 14

the sociocultural legacy of historical oppression continues to exert hidden influence on present-day influence
-people are passively exposed to prejudice externally which can cause them to develop implicit bias and stereotypes

ex. typecast: black actor consistently plays a criminal in movies, the roles we see other people in society (even when they do not have a choice) affect our thoughts

Question 15

explain some cultural oppression examples

Answer 15

1) sports teams use Native American mascots
- people do not realize how this is harmful, paints Native Americans as war chiefs, savage and aggressive winners (not done just because people like indians)
2) Aunt Jemima is a portrayal of a servant (southern mammy), speaks broken english and was portrayed as being happy making white people pancakes
- these ads have changed

Question 16

what are the implications of cultural oppression

Answer 16

the cultural legacy of oppression is like a “threat in the air” that can influence situations and cause harm even in the absence of differential treatment

Question 17

what is stereotype threat

Answer 17

fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group. this fear can actually disrupt performance and result in confirming the stereotype

Question 18

how is stereotype threat different from self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 18

self fulfilling prophecy is when one’s expectations cause them to treat a person different based on expectations which can cause behavior to change
stereotype threat is when the stereotype already exists and causes one to feel anxious in a place where the stereotype is present

Question 19

what is a study that shows the stereotype threat of blacks being less intelligent

Answer 19

2 (race: black x white) x 2(test description: diagnostic x non-diagnostic)
diagnostic: stereotype- test measures intelligence which is threatening to blacks “will i fulfill stereotype?”
non diagnostic: non-stereotype- test was laboratory solving
Difference in ability was controlled for
-all participants had to take math questions on GRE

results: in the non-diagnostic condition there was no difference between black participants and white participants
- in the diagnostic condition the black participants performed much worse

Question 20

what is a study that shows gender stereotypes and stereotype threat

Answer 20

women are worse at math than men

• when women have to indicate gender at the top of math test or take the math test in a room of men, they score worse on the test than men
• *Same is true for driving stimulations**

Question 21

how can you get rid of the gender stereotype threat

Answer 21

indicating there are no gender differences on performance

Question 22

in which groups does stereotype threat exists

Answer 22

exists in every group that has a negative stereotype about them

• black and intelligence
• women and math/driving
• white males and athletics/math
• latinx and math

Question 23

are there differences among the different stereotype threats

Answer 23

if you make a stereotype present in mind, it can make people anxious to fulfill it
-differs depending on threat/stereotype

Question 24

explain local vs. systemic threat and an example

Answer 24

people from advantaged groups sometimes are targets of prejudice, etc. but this experience is not accompanied by the legacy of oppression (“threat in the air”). the experience of oppressed groups is qualitatively different and more harmful

ex. Brown’s dad was disadvantaged in a scholarship award (Black kid won but was less qualified)
- but he does not have to worry about walking on the street at night or being killed when pulled over by cop

systemic threat is always there, local is not

Question 25

what is privilege

Answer 25

the flip side of oppression

Question 26

what was brown’s example of privilege

Answer 26

using her gender and race to take advantage and get out of speeding tickets

Question 27

what is the study that shows cultural representations and self-esteem

Answer 27

control group, groups shown pictures of chief wahoo (indians mascot), Pocahontas, and reading negative stereotypes

• rated self-esteem
  results: self esteem dropped in all conditions (showing pictures or reading statements) for first nation students, native americans, self-esteem was boosted for european americans in all conditions (outside of control)

this study shows us that it is not just oppression, but self esteem can be boosted in the groups who are not stereotyped/privileged

Question 28

why is saying “blacks are good at sports” bad

Answer 28

because it limits people through a lens

Question 29

what is stereotype lift

Answer 29

conditions that promote underperformance among stereotyped groups also tend to promote over-performance among advantaged groups
-not as significant as stereotype threat

Question 30

explain the studies that show stereotype lift

Answer 30

mean performance on a difficult math test as function of gender and of race

women and men take a hard test in two conditions: 1) there was a gender difference on this test and 2) there was no difference in gender
results: not only did the women do worse in the gender difference test, but the men did better

blacks and whites take a hard test in the same two conditions
results: not only did the blacks do worse in the race difference test, but the whites did better

Question 31

explain defensiveness about privilege

Answer 31

confronting people with own privilege can create threat

• they think it implies their success is less deserved or legitimate (and achieved though unfair advantage)
• if status quo changes, future success becomes uncertain

Question 32

explain the study that shows defensiveness about privilege

Answer 32

manipulation: expose participants to privileges as a white person
IV: consider white advantage, consider white disadvantage, or control group (think about life events)
DV: had to list thoughts after prompt and take the Modern Racism Scale (rate agreement with statements)
ex. “Discrimination against blacks was not a problem”
“Blacks are too demanding for equal rights”

-non-manipulated predictor variable: how much participants identified with being white (personality scale)

results: racism was greatest in white advantage condition, control and white disadvantage were the same
- identification with white race moderated the results (there was an interaction)
- high white identifiers scored higher on Modern Racism Scale after privilege reminder
- low white identifiers scored lower on Modern Racism scale after privilege reminder

Question 33

what is a forgotten form of privilege

Answer 33

not having to think about race

Question 34

what is in-group bias

Answer 34

tendency to favor members of one’s own group and give them preference over people who belong to other groups

Question 35

what is “color blindness”

Answer 35

race does not matter/does not exist, ignore it

Question 36

what does research show about color blindness

Answer 36

• research shows this backfires because doing this ignores the discrimination that occurs
• by denying that race matters we ignore historical and continued oppression

Question 37

what is the study that shows how white adults and children (10+) avoid mentioning race when trying to describe another person

Answer 37

Guess who game: “does your person wear a hat?”

• participants have photo album of people (white and black individuals) and had to guess who other people had
• would participants say “is your person black?”

found that white participants were reluctant to ask about race when playing with black confederate and were more comfortable saying “white” than “black”

% of trials with racial descriptors: black confederate - 64% white confederate- 93%
% of trials saying “black”: black confederate - 21% white confederate - 57%

Question 38

what were the other measures in the study that shows how white adults and children (10+) avoid mentioning race when trying to describe another person

Answer 38

measured some of participants traits

• participants who scored high in external motivation to avoid prejudice were least likely to say race (do not want to look bad)
• same was true with those who scored high in color blindness

Question 39

what were the follow up studies in the study that shows how white adults and children (10+) avoid mentioning race when trying to describe another person

Answer 39

replicated with child sample, 10 and 11 (36% asked about race) year olds avoided race more than 8-9 (76% asked about race) year olds

people follow norm (mentioning or avoiding race) set by partner
-had partner go first and manipulated if they mentioned race or not

avoiding race is correlated with less friendliness to black partner
-statistically mediated by cognitive disruption (scored worse on the stroop test, showed they were anxious or distracted)

Question 40

explain the study that compares teaching children multicultural vs. colorblind perspectives

Answer 40

children taught “colorblind” approach or multicultural approach and had to read interaction between kids (either racial injustice or no injustice), both approaches promoted racial equality

colorblind: focus on similarities, race is not important, we are all the same
multicultural: appreciate differences, racial differences make people special

then read scenarios about other schools and asked if racial injustice occurred while also verbally being recorded when asked about what happened in scenario

1) no discrimination (2 kids interaction)
2) ambiguous discrimination (Brady did not invited black kid to party because he didnt think he would be able to buy him a present)
3) overt discrimination (Max tripped black kid in ball game because he thought the kid was playing dirty because he was black)

results: when kids were taught colorblind perspective they were less likely to see racial injustice as discrimination

if race is not processed at all, than neither is race discrimination

Question 41

so what did the study about colorblind vs. multiculturalism show us

Answer 41

teaching multiculturalism - valuing differences and diversity - is more effective
-more likely to recognize racial injustice

Question 42

what was the follow up study about colorblind vs. multiculturalism

Answer 42

recordings of kids and what they said had happened were played to teachers and the teachers were asked if they would intervene (if it was a discriminatory situation)

results: teachers who heard colorblind kids said they would be less likely to intervene and that it didnt seem like a problem that would cause them to intervene

Question 43

what is the implication of multiculturalism in organizations

Answer 43

people assume organizations with multicultural policies are more fair, even when there is evidence of racial bias
-when participants read a company about diversity then read a lawsuit about discrimination, that lawsuit was rated as less serious/severe

Question 44

what is the longheld theory of how to reduce prejudice

Answer 44

contact hypothesis

Question 45

what is contact hypothesis and proof of this

Answer 45

theory that under certain conditions (eg. when there are egalitarian norms) direct contact between antagonistic groups will reduce prejudice

review of hundreds of studies on the contact hypothesis

• contact and prejudice correlation, r = -.23
• significant and negative correlation
• contact is more effective in egalitarian environments (than hierarchical ones)

Question 46

explain change at the institutional and societal level

Answer 46

contact is the individual level
-it can help, but even if a person strives for equality individually, if society still perpetuates discrimination, oppression will still occur

Question 47

what do we have to do with the factors that exacerbate intergroup conflict

Answer 47

recognize and address them

Question 48

what are the factors that exacerbate intergroup conflict

Answer 48

realistic group conflict theory and social identity theory

Question 49

what is realistic group conflict theory

Answer 49

actual conflict
limited resources lead to conflict between groups and result in increased prejudice
ex. claiming illegal immigrants are stealing jobs

Question 50

what is social identity theory

Answer 50

identifying with specific social groups (ingroups) and perceiving those groups as better than other groups (outgroups), affects self-esteem
-takes little to get ingroup bias (favoring ones own group), do not need hostility but if you put groups in conflict this increases

Question 51

what is evidence for ingroup bias

Answer 51

minimal group paradigms- just being a part of a group causes bias

Question 52

what are some examples of ingroup bias

Answer 52

ex. how many dots on the screen?
- whether you overestimate or underestimate how many dots it says something about you (even though it actually does not)
- this can cause people to feel ingroup bias

ex. show participants shapes or have them take a fake personality test and randomly tell them they are green type or blue type
- then shown faces either green or blue type or circle or square type
- found participants do not pay as much attention to faces not of their type (remember fewer faces)

Question 53

explain the difficulties of controlling bias

Answer 53

automatic (implicit) vs. controlled (explicit)

• stereotypes are activated automatically, even if one does not support it if they are exposed to it, it can still come forth (to mind)
• stereotypes are easy to use (does not require as much energy to create something from scratch) - cognitive misers

Question 54

explain the study about difficulty of controlling bias

Answer 54

when people are tired they want to exert less mental energy- this should cause people to stereotype more

participants read scenario describing athlete who was accused of cheating (athlete- stereotype or non) or scenario described a roommate accused of assault (black-stereotype or white non)

measured likelihood of being guilty, when people do not want to use energy they rely on stereotypes

morning people used stereotypes at night and evening people used stereotypes in the morning

Question 55

explain the difference between activation and application of stereotypes

Answer 55

activation is when they are made accessible, and application is when people rely on them or use them

Question 56

what is the self-regulation model of prejudice

Answer 56

negative self-direct feelings (eg. guilt) indicate self-reflection and steps to control future bias
people will correct for stereotypes if they feel bad about it coming to mind

Question 57

explain the study that shows the self-regulation model of prejudice

Answer 57

IV: some participants were asked to consider how they would vs. should respond in interracial situations

• how would white participants feel if people in higher status were black
  should: I should act the same to a black supervisor
  would: I would feel awkward with black supervisor

DV: Stereotype activation

study 1:
stereotype inferences
control: white person “this person can be found in movies”
stereotype: person can be found on street (black)
stereotype: criminal vs. jogger
-those who had the feeling of guilt (ranked on emotional measure) were less likely to answer with stereotype response than those who did not have that feeling (these stereotypes were recognized after the should/would activity)

study 2: finding racist jokes funny

• measured how funny people found them
• the discrepancy group rated the racist jokes as less funny

Question 58

so,, what does the study that shows the self-regulation model of prejudice tell us

Answer 58

participants who felt emotions like guilt in response to should-would discrepancies applied stereotypes less
-internal motivation to control prejudice matters, but true change requires “sitting with” some uncomfortable self-directed feelings