social categorisation Flashcards
what is personal identity?
our personality characteristics
what is social identity?
groups we are a member of, can lead to stereotypes
what is a category?
collection with a family resemblance, organised around a prototype
what are prototypes?
cognitive representation of typical defining features of a category
standards against which family resemblance is assessed and category membership decided
who suggested that categories are not rigid?
Rosch
what are the three reasons we categorise?
saves cognitive energy
clarifies and refines perception of the world
maintaining a positive self esteem
how does categorisation save cognitive energy?
saves time and cognitive processing
simplifies how individuals think about the world
how does categorisation refine our perception of the world?
when a category is activated, tend to see members as all posessing traits of the stereotype
reduces uncertainty
allows us to predict the social world
how does categorisation allow us to maintain a positive self esteem?
motivational function for self concept and social identity
what is the illusionary correlation for stereotypes?
negative stereotypes can occur when people inaccurately pair minority groups with negative events/behaviours
how did Hamilton and Sherman’s evidence support the idea of illusionary correlation?
asked White American participants to estimate the arrest rates of various types of American
African Americans were estimated to have a higher arrest rate than they did
as they were the relative minority, being arrested is negative so unusual, gives the illusion they are correlated
what are the three effects of stereotypes?
behavioural assimilation
stereotype threat
prejudice and discrimination
what is behavioural assimilation?
stereotypes don’t just influence our perceptions of others, they can also influence our own behaviour
what is stereotype threat?
the threat of negative evaluations can lead to poor performance
how did Bargh’s evidence support behavioural assimilation?
scrambled sentence task- had to make sentences out of randomly ordered words
IV= word types- either elderly or neutral words
DV= participants directed to exit, hidden confederate timed how long it took them to reach it
participants primed with elderly words behaved in ways related to an ‘elderly’ stereotype
how did Papies evidence go against behavioural assimilation?
people who want to become thinner are more likely to make healthy food choices when primed with words on a menu like ‘diet’ and ‘thin’
but this only works for people wanting a healthy diet- doesn’t make everyone avoid fatty foods
suggests people may need to already care about what is being primed
how did Steele and Aronson support the idea of stereotype threat?
when negative stereotypes define our groups, we are more likely to behave in line with them
eg) women and maths
however, the negative impact is not inevitable, reframing low expectations as a challenge instead of a threat can eliminate the effect
what is prejudice and discrimination?
strong, highly accessible negative attitude
dominated by cognitive bias and negative stereotypes
how did research into the reluctance to help relate to discrimination?
Gaetner and Dovido
participants were more reluctant to help a minority member than their own group when faced with an emergency
but only when others were present
how did research into tokenism relate to the idea of discrimination?
process of favouring a member of a minority group in isolated episodes
Monin and Miller- participants given the opportunity to a hire a well qualified minority candidate were more willing to discriminate against other minorities in subsequent hiring
had already ‘proved’ they were not prejudiced
how did research into reverse discrimination relate to the idea of discrimination?
openingly displaying pro minority behaviour- as a way to deflect accusations of prejudice
eg) giving more money to a minority member when feeling threatened
who found a decline in racist attitudes over 60 years?
Dovido et al
what did Quillian and Lee find about modern day racism?
hiring discrimination in 170,000 applications from minority groyps has not fallen over the past decade
although specific stereotypes have changed, the negativity remains
what does ambivalent mean?
contradicting
what are the three theories of subtle prejudice?
modern/symbolic racism
ambivalent racism
ambivalent sexism
who proposed modern/symbolic racism?
Kinder and Sears
who proposed ambivalent racism?
Katz and Hass
who proposed ambivalent sexism?
Glick and Fiske
what is modern/symbolic racism?
blaming the victim
supporting policies that happen to disadvantage racial minorities
what is ambivalent racism?
high scores on pro black attitudes (pity for the disadvantaged)
high scores on anti black attitudes (hostility towards the deviant)
what is ambivalent sexism?
hostile sexism portays women in a negative light
benevolent sexism could be seen as apparently positive
what are the causes of prejudice?
historical/economical
psychological
how can historical/economical factors cause aggression?
linked to the psychological idea of frustration of aggression
how can psychological factors cause prejudice?
individual differences in personality
group processes
who proposed the frustration aggression hypothesis?
Dollard et al
what is the frustration aggression hypothesis?
frustration causes aggression
energy built up by frustration needs an outlet
need to find a scapegoat (in this case a minority group)
links to the Freudian idea of displacement
what are the stages of the Frustration Aggression Hypothesis?
1) identify personal goals
2) activate psychic energy
3) frustration of goal achievement
4) source of frustration too powerful
5) scapegoat found= catharsis achieved by displacing aggression
how do Hovland and Sears support the idea of the Frustration Aggression Hypothesis?
archival study of cotton workers
over a 50 year period, measured the price of cotton, and the number of lynchings of Black workers
as frustration increased (price of cotton fell), lynchings increased (displaced aggression)
how does the Authoritarian personality relate to aggression?
extreme reactions to authority figures
obsession with rank and status
tendency to displace anger
related to upbringing (harsh parental discipline)
how did Adorno conduct the F scale? (issues with this way of measuring!)
retrospective interviews about childhood
questionnaires monitoring antisemitism/ethnocentrism/political and economic conservatism/potential for facism
correlation between harshness of upbringing and measures of prejudice
how does social learning relate to prejudice?
Tafjel argued hatred of certain groups is learnt early in life
children formed opinions on other countries at young age
due to parental prejudice
what are the two forms of parental prejudice?
modelling= child witnesses expression of racial hatred
conditioning= parents approval of racist behaviour
how does conformity lead to prejudice?
some groups may be more prejudiced than others (possibly due to an authority figure?)
Minard investigated the attitudes of White miners- 60% switched between racist or not depending on whether situational norms encouraged or discouraged prejudice
what does the Social Identity Theory suggest about discrimination?
we have a social identity as well as a personal one-categorise ourselves in terms of social groups
have an ingroup bias
can lead to depersonalisation
why is social identity important?
helps to maintain self esteem
encourages social bonding
what are the issues with social identity?
implications for interaction with out group members
hypothesised as a cause of prejudice and stereotyping
what happened in Elliot’s blue/brown eyes demonstration?
school teacher conducted the experiment
one day labelled blue eyed children as inferior- had to wear a collar and lost their privileges
brown eyed children were quick to derogate those with blue eyes
who combined the personal and social psychological approaches to investigating sexism?
Akrami et al
what did Akrami et al find out about sexism?
sexism was best explained by considering the combined influence of both personality and social psychology constructs
necessary to integrate approaches to explain prejudice
