racism and prejudice Flashcards
Prejudice
It is a hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group, based solely on their membership in that group
Social stereotype
Mental association between a social group or category and a particular trait or characteristic (Greenwald & Krieger, 2006)
Sterotyping
stereotype is a generalization about a group of people in which identical
characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual variation among the members
> Automatic - concepts that you associate with a group are more accessible (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995)./ thus remembered more easily than exceptions to the stereotype
The outgroup homogenity effect
the tendency to assume thatthere is more similarity among members of outgroups than there is among members of ingroups
Causes of prejudice
Society norm of racism/ society with few minorities/ conformity to group expectations/ limited resources/ uneducated
Realistic conflict theory
Realistic conflict theory holds that limited resources lead to conflict between groups and result in prejudice and discrimination (J. W. Jackson, 1993; Sherif, 1966; White, 1977)
Types of racism
1) Modern Racism: A form of racism that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable, and easy to
rationalize.
2) Implicit Racism: Racism that operates with less intention, control and awareness
Stereotype threat
Threat: Negative stereotypes can cause anxiety which may elicit stereotype confirming behaviour/ behaviour will become a self-fulfilling prophecy - that
they will confirm negative stereotypes about their social group
Stereotype threat ( 1995)
Steele and Aronson as “being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic,
a negative stereotype about one’s group”
Hueristics
simple rules for making complex decisions or drawing inferences in a rapid and seemingly effortless manner/
Heuristics are a type of automatic thinking
What was Proposed by psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in the early 1970?
The representativeness heuristic refers to making a judgment about another person based on the following rule: “The more alike a person is to a typical member of a certain group (Prototype), the more likely he or she belongs to that group.
Availability heuristic
The availability heuristic refers to making judgments based on how easily we can
bring information to mind (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973)
Status Quo Heuristic
Refers to the phenomenon of preferring that one’s environment and situation
remain as they already are.
6 major emotional expressions
Anger/ happiness/ surprise/ fear/ disgust/ sadness
Primacy effects
Information presented first has a disproportionate influence on social cognition
Recency effect
Later information has a disproportionate influence on social cognition- if un motivated
Attitudes
Attitudes are evaluations of people, objects, or ideas (Eagly & Chaiken, 2007)/
Attitudes are beliefs and feelings that can influence our reactions
Componentes of attitudes
1) Affective component: People’s emotional reactions toward the attitude object, based more on people’s feelings and values
2) Behavioural component: How people act toward the attitude object
3) Cognitive component: thoughts and beliefs formed about object
Cognitive based attitudes
An attitude based more on people’s feelings and values than on beliefs about the nature of an object
Behaviour based attitudes
An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object
Functions of attitudes
Knowledge/ adaptive/ help us fit in
Attitude formation
Attitudes develop through direct experiences or vicariously through interactions with others, or they are a product of cognitive processes and thought
The mere exposure effect
States that mere exposure to an object on several occasions is likely to affect how we evaluate it
Classical Conditioning
Repeated association may cause a formerly neutral stimulus to
elicit a reaction that was previously elicited only by another stimulus
Evaluative conditioning
the degree of liking for an object will change when the object is consistently paired with other stimuli that are either positive or negative
Sources of learning
Parents/ peer groups/ social norms
Explicit attitudes
Explicit attitudes are ones we consciously endorse and can easily self-report
Implicit attitudes
Implicit attitudes are evaluations that involve less awareness, control and intention
Theory of planned behaviour( Ajzen & Fishbien 1980)
the best predictor of behaviour is their intention, which is determined by three things: their specific attitude toward the specific behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control
Specific attitudes
The more specific the attitude toward the behaviour in question, the better that attitude can be expected to predict the behaviour
Subjective norms
People’s beliefs about how others they care about will view the behaviour in question can be just as important as knowing the person’s attitudes
Perceived Behavioural Control
People’s intentions are influenced by the ease with which they believe they can perform the behaviour
Cognitive Dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957)
Proposes that we feel tension, when two of our thoughts or beliefs are inconsistent or when our behavior conflicts with our attitudes; to reduce this unpleasant arousal, we often adjust our thinking or behaviour
