prejudice and intergroup relations Flashcards
what are the three main components of attitudes and what are the different kinds of components relevant to prejudice
1) stereotyping - cognitions/thoughts
2) prejudice - affect/feelings
3) discrimination - behaviors
what is stereotyping
beliefs about a group of people that are generalized to all members of groups
- set of cognitions
- assumptions about people or groups of people
what is prejudice
negative attitude or emotions towards a group of people
-affect/feelings
what is discrimination
unjustified negative action toward a member of that group simply because of their membership in that group
-behaviors
what are the three varieties of oppression
individual, institutional and culture
explain individual oppression
biased thoughts, feelings or actions on the part of individual people
explain institutional oppression
organizational or societal practices that even when applied by “unbiased” individuals, result in differential outcomes for similarly situated persons
explain cultural oppression
patterns of racist “stuff” embedded (often implicitly) in ideologies, values, institutions, practices and artifacts
ex. language we use
what is the definition of oppression
when someone is disadvantaged
individual and institutional relations?
individual prejudice can start at institutional level
-outside factors
what is institutionalized discrimination and an example
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
what are examples of institutional discrimination
- 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
what is voter suppression
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
what is systematic oppression and an example in typecast
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
explain some cultural oppression examples
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
what are the implications of cultural oppression
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
what is stereotype threat
fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s group. this fear can actually disrupt performance and result in confirming the stereotype
how is stereotype threat different from self-fulfilling prophecy
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
what is a study that shows the stereotype threat of blacks being less intelligent
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
what is a study that shows gender stereotypes and stereotype threat
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**
how can you get rid of the gender stereotype threat
indicating there are no gender differences on performance
in which groups does stereotype threat exists
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
are there differences among the different stereotype threats
if you make a stereotype present in mind, it can make people anxious to fulfill it
-differs depending on threat/stereotype
explain local vs. systemic threat and an example
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
what is privilege
the flip side of oppression
what was brown’s example of privilege
using her gender and race to take advantage and get out of speeding tickets
what is the study that shows cultural representations and self-esteem
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
why is saying “blacks are good at sports” bad
because it limits people through a lens
what is stereotype lift
conditions that promote underperformance among stereotyped groups also tend to promote over-performance among advantaged groups
-not as significant as stereotype threat
explain the studies that show stereotype lift
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
explain defensiveness about privilege
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
explain the study that shows defensiveness about privilege
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
what is a forgotten form of privilege
not having to think about race
what is in-group bias
tendency to favor members of one’s own group and give them preference over people who belong to other groups
what is “color blindness”
race does not matter/does not exist, ignore it
what does research show about color blindness
- research shows this backfires because doing this ignores the discrimination that occurs
- by denying that race matters we ignore historical and continued oppression
what is the study that shows how white adults and children (10+) avoid mentioning race when trying to describe another person
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%
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
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
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
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)
explain the study that compares teaching children multicultural vs. colorblind perspectives
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
so what did the study about colorblind vs. multiculturalism show us
teaching multiculturalism - valuing differences and diversity - is more effective
-more likely to recognize racial injustice
what was the follow up study about colorblind vs. multiculturalism
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
what is the implication of multiculturalism in organizations
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
what is the longheld theory of how to reduce prejudice
contact hypothesis
what is contact hypothesis and proof of this
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)
explain change at the institutional and societal level
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
what do we have to do with the factors that exacerbate intergroup conflict
recognize and address them
what are the factors that exacerbate intergroup conflict
realistic group conflict theory and social identity theory
what is realistic group conflict theory
actual conflict
limited resources lead to conflict between groups and result in increased prejudice
ex. claiming illegal immigrants are stealing jobs
what is social identity theory
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
what is evidence for ingroup bias
minimal group paradigms- just being a part of a group causes bias
what are some examples of ingroup bias
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)
explain the difficulties of controlling bias
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
explain the study about difficulty of controlling bias
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
explain the difference between activation and application of stereotypes
activation is when they are made accessible, and application is when people rely on them or use them
what is the self-regulation model of prejudice
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
explain the study that shows the self-regulation model of prejudice
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
so,, what does the study that shows the self-regulation model of prejudice tell us
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
