Prejudice & discrimination Flashcards
How did Brown (1995) define ‘prejudice’?
Holding derogatory social beliefs, expressing negative affect or displaying hostile behaviour towards members of a group because of their membership of that group
What did Crandall, Eshleman & O’Brien (2002) find correlated highly with the public expression of prejudice towards 105 social groups?
The public expression of prejudice toward 105 social groups was highly correlated with social approval of that expression
Pps adhered to social norms when expressing prejudice, evaluating scenarios of discrimination & reacting to hostile jokes
Who proposed the 3 components of prejudice?
Allport (1954)
What are Allport’s (1954) components of prejudice?
- cognitive (beliefs about the attitude object)
- affective (strong feelings about the attitude object & its perceived qualities)
- conative (intentions to behave in a certain way towards the attitude object, not actual behaviour)
What is discrimination?
The behavioural component of prejudice
A preconceived opinion that isn’t based on reason/experience
How can discrimination be conscious?
- overt displays of negative attitude
- supporting organisations that advocate discriminatory behaviour
- reluctance to help minority groups improve their position in society
How can discrimination be subconscious?
- body language (lack of eye contact, distancing yourself, ‘unfriendly’)
Which researcher/s found evidence that discriminatory attitudes do not predict behaviour well? What did they do?
LaPiere (1934) had a Chinese couple visit different establishments (in a time when Chinese people were commonly discriminated against) - they were only refused service once
6 months later, a survey was sent to each establishment asking if they would serve a Chinese could
–> 92% said ‘no’ = discrepancy
Attitudes don’t correspond with overt behaviours
What is a limitation with LaPiere’s (1934) Chinese couple study?
There were probably issues with the questionnaire they used to assess attitudes
More sophisticated measures have been used to study the attitude-behaviour relationship. What have they found?
There is still only a weak relationship between attitudes & behaviour
Wicker (1969) reviewed 42 studies & concluded that it is likely that attitudes will be unrelated/only slightly related to overt behaviours
Certain conditions can promote/disrupt the correspondence between attitudes & behaviour.
Which study supports this?
Doll & Azjen (1992)
Pps had an indirect OR direct experience with 6 videogames & given fun OR skill instructions
Pps did questionnaires before & after free-play
- -> the time played on each game correlated with their attitudes, PBC & intentions with respect to playing each game
- -> a direct experience + fun instructions improved the prediction of behaviour
What does the attitude-behaviour relationship depend on?
- whether the attitude is expressed publicly (e.g. in a group) or privately (e.g. on a questionnaire)
- how strongly the individual identified with the in-group
- how accessible the attitude is
Holding prejudicial attitudes doesn’t always lead to overt displays of discriminatory behaviour. Why?
Such displays are socially unacceptable in many Western countries
Subconscious displays can be harder to control
What is ‘modern prejudice’?
The discrepancy between our feelings of prejudice towards certain out-groups & modern egalitarian values that state that we shouldn’t behave in a prejudiced way
Subtle prejudice has emerged in the place of overt displays. Give examples.
- racism
- homophobia
- sexism
Which researcher/s studied the characteristics of modern sexism?
Swim, Aikin, Hall & Hunter (1995)
Modern sexism is characterised by a denial of continued discrimination, antagonism towards women’s demands & a lack of support for policies that help women
Hogg & Vaughn (2014) state that modern racism include…
- avoiding racial out-groups
- avoiding the topic of race
- denial of being prejudiced
- denial of racial disadvantage
- opposing to measures aimed at addressing racial disadvantage
Who are the targets of prejudice?
- anyone identified as being an out-group member
- groups with ‘low power’ positions in society
- can be based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, health
Who found evidence of a dramatic reduction in explicit negative attitudes since the 1930s?
Dovidio & Fazio (1992)
Why is it hard to detect implicit racism?
People conceal their true attitudes
Devine (1989) had White pps do a ‘vigilance’ task (focused on a dot) & were subliminally primed with words associated with African American stereotypes (lazy, slavery, athletic) & neutral words
80% or 20% of words were stereotypes
Pps then interpreted an ambiguous act by Donald (dispute with landlord, refusing to pay rent until the flat was repainted)
How did pps respond?
Pps evaluated Donald more negatively when presented with 80% African American primes
Automatic activation of the Black stereotype was associated with a negative perception of ambiguous behaviours
Who found that prejudice at an automatic level isn’t always inevitable?
Lepore & Brown (1997)
- only high prejudice people activate a negative stereotype
- low prejudice people activate positive aspects
- when we perceive a member of the stereotyped group, we respond automatically to the representation we have in mind
Why are people prejudiced, according to Relative Deprivation theory?
When we feel a sense of having less than we are entitled to, we feel frustration, which leads to aggression
Why are people prejudiced, according to Realistic Conflict theory?
We have a mutually exclusive goal –> leads to competition –> conflict/prejudice against the opposing out-group
Why are people prejudiced, according to Social Identity theory?
We have a desire for positive distinctiveness –> display in-group favouritism/prejudice
According to SIT, intergroup bias doesn’t always involve out-group derogation but does involve…
…in-group favouritism
According to SIT, to achieve positive distinctiveness what might we do to out-groups?
Express negative attitudes & behaviours towards the out-group (incl. prejudice)
According to SIT, what might we use prejudice to do?
Maintain our positive social identity
Who proposed Terror Management theory?
Greenberg, Pyszczynski & Solomon (1986)
What is the basis of Terror Management theory?
Psychological conflict results from having a desire to live (the need for self-preservation) but realising that death is inevitable
This produces terror
What is the solution to the feeling of terror (Terror Management theory)?
We use culture (symbolic systems that provide life with meaning & value) to manage our terror of death
- symbolic immortality (being remembered after death)
- literal immortality (afterlife)
Why do we use prejudice, according to Terror Management theory?
Out-groups challenge our world views (e.g. have alternative religions), so we use prejudice to delegitimise their opposing views
What researcher/s supports the claim that when we are aware of our mortality, we display more prejudice?
Florian & Mikulincer (1998)
What is a limitation of Terror Management theory?
It is hard to distinguish between threat to mortality & a threat in general
What is the basis of Subjective Uncertainty Reduction theory?
We like to be certain & try to avoid ambiguity
Why do we use prejudice, according to Subjective Uncertainty Reduction theory?
We use prejudice to escape uncertainty & reduce ambiguity
When we identify with a group that gives clear prescriptions for how to behave (learn the group’s norms & beliefs), what do we feel as a result?
It makes us feel good as an in-group member
We feel a sense of certainty
What happens when other groups have different behavioural norms?
They may challenge the in-group norms/behaviours –> use prejudice towards the out-group to avoid uncertainty that arises from challenging the in-group’s norms
What did Grieve & Hogg (1999) do to test the influence of certainty on prejudice levels?
They gave SOME pps the opportunity to practice a task before they did the final task
Those given the opportunity to practice (felt subjective certainty as a result) showed less prejudice & intergroup bias against the rival group
What is a limitation of Subjective Uncertainty Reduction theory?
It may involve manipulating other concepts (e.g. self-esteem), not just uncertainty
Which is the most popular theory for explaining prejudice?
Social Identity theory
What evidence did Aberson, Healy & Romero (2000) find that supports Social Identity theory?
Aberson, Healy & Romero (2000) did a meta-analysis & found a link between prejudice & self-esteem
What are self-fulfilling prophecies?
A belief about the future that happens, in part, because of that belief
What are the 3 stages of self-fulfilling prophecies?
- Believe that a certain event will happen
- This expectation (prophecy) ^ leads to new behaviour that you wouldn’t have otherwise done
- The expected event takes place partly because of this new behaviour – the prophecy is fulfilled by the self (your own behaviour)
Children were given IQ tests & their teachers were told that 20% of the children were ‘intellectual bloomers’ & would show remarkable gains in IQ during the year (false info)
Who did this study & what did they find?
Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)
By the end of the year, the ‘intellectual bloomers’ IQ had increased 12 (vs. 8) points
The teachers’ expectations had influenced their behaviour towards the children (i.e. helped them bloom)
Why might stereotypical behaviours be adopted, in relation to self-fulfilling prophecies?
Because people often live up/down to what is expected of them
To whom are self-fulfilling prophecies particularly likely to affect?
SFPs are particularly likely in stigmatised groups
Which researcher/s found that SFPs occur in classrooms but the effect is usually small?
Jussim & Harber (2005)
Powerful SFPs may occur amongst students from stigmatised groups
Who proposed the theory of Stereotype Threat?
Steele & Aronson (1995)
What is a stereotype threat?
A fear of confirming a stereotype through one’s own behaviour
We don’t like being stereotyped - we strive to show that we don’t fit into the negative stereotype of our group
This fear interferes with our performance
Intellectual performance is often measured as an outcome of…
…stereotype threat
Benbow et al. (2000) have found that men are stereotypically better at maths than women are. Is this because of ability or stereotype threat?
Spencer, Steele & Quinn (1999) had men & women (whom were good at maths) do an easy/difficult maths test
–> performance on the easy test was the same but men did better on the hard test
All pps did the same questions but were told the test would produce gender differences or wouldn’t produce gender differences
- -> women only did worse when gender differences were highlighted
- they feared they would do poorly & this fear interfered with their performance
Which researcher/s claims that the media has the power to shape public perceptions of what is important & true?
Iyendar & Kinder (1987)
Which researcher/s claims that minority groups are misrepresented in the media?
Cottle (2006)
What did Gerbner et al. (1986) find about the influence of TV?
Increased exposure to TV was linked to the endorsement of prejudicial attitudes
How might the media influence prejudice against Muslims?
Media representations are perceived as reality –> media produces negative representations/associations regarding Muslims –> the public develop a negative perception of Muslims in general
Which researcher/s found that there is a tendency for Muslims living in the UK to be depicted as ‘un-British’ in the media?
Saeed (2004)
Which researcher/s found that Muslims are often viewed as refusing to comply with Western traditions?
Sardar (1999)
To what does the British media commonly relate Muslims with?
The British media often misrepresents Muslims in relation to their assumed connection with terrorism
Das et al. (2009) found that presentation of articles about terrorism…
…increased pps prejudice towards Muslims
