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