social categorisation, stereotypes and prejudice Flashcards
what is categorisation?
collection of instances that have a family resemblance organised around a prototype
what is a prototype?
cognitive representation of typical defining features of a category
what did Rosch (1978) say about fuzzy categories?
The fuzziness depends on more or less typical of the category, the prototype and categorisation of less typical members more difficult
why do we categorise? (crisp and turner 2014)
save cognitive energy
clarifies and refines perception of the world
maintain a positive self esteem
what are some common group distinctions?
sexual orientation
age
employment status
profession
class
nationality
race
what is a negative stereotype?
may occur when people inaccurately pair minority groups with negative events/behaviours because they are both distinct
what did Hamilton and Sherman (1996) say about illusory contours?
- Asked white American ppts to estimate the arrest rate of various types of american
- African Americans were estimated to have a higher arrest rate
what are the effects of stereotyping?
behavioural assimilation
stereotype threat
prejudice and discrimination
what was bargh study (1996) on behavioural assimilation?
Scrambled sentence task where you make sentences out of randomly ordered words
what is the IV in barghs behavioural assimilation study?
Elderly : task used words associated with elderly stereotypes eg grey
Neutral : words unrelated to age eg thirsty
what is the DV in barghs behavioural assimilation study?
ppts directed to the exit and hidden confederate timed how long it took them to leave room
what was the results from Barghs study?
ppts primed with elderly words behaved in a way related to an elderly stereotype
what did Papies 2015 find?
People who want to become thinner are likelier to make healthy food choices if they are primed with words such as diet
what is the stereotype threat (Steele and Aronson 1995)
this is where negative stereotypes define our own groups and we behave in line with them
what did Tan and Barber examine about whether stereotype threat replicate across groups?
Whether age based stereotypes impact older Chinese adults by testing older Chinese ppts memory recall under a stereotype threat condition
what did tan and barbers results show?
demonstrated poorer memory recall in the stereotype threat condition vs control
what was the issue with tan and barbers study?
ppts were immigrants residing in the US so the threat could be different in asian ppts who reside in asian countries
what is prejudice ?
strong, highly accessible negative attitude dominated by cognitive bias and negative stereotypes
What is discrimination?
Behaviour based on unjust treatment of certain groups where there is a reluctance to help, tokenism, and reverse discrimination
what is gaetner and dovidio 1977 experiment on reluctance to help in discrimination?
ppts were more reluctant to help a minority member than their own group when faced with an emergency but only when others were present
what is monin and miller experiment on tokenism?
found ppts who were given the opportunity to hire a well qualified minority candidate were willing to discriminate against other minorities in future hiring as they had already proved they were not prejudiced
what is reverse discrimination?
opening displays pro minority behaviour but as a way to deflect accusations of prejudice eg giving more money to a minority member when feeling threatened
what did quilian and lee find out about racism and sexism?
hiring discrimination among 170k apps for minority groups has not fallen over the past decades
how was racism changed?
conflict between evaluation towards out groups and values of equality and egalitarian attitudes
it is also more aversive
what are the three theories of subtle prejudice?
modern or symbolic
ambivalent racism
ambivalent sexism
what is modern racism? kinder and sears 1981
blaming the victim
support of policies that disadvantage racial minorities
what is ambivalent racism (Katz and Hass 1988)
high scores on pro black attitudes ( pity for disadvantaged)
high scores on anti black attitudes (hostility towards deviant)
what is ambivalent sexism (glick and fiske 1996)
hostile sexism paints women in a negative light
benevolent sexism could be seen as apparently positive
what are the two causes of prejudice?
historical/econimcal
psychological
how does historical/economical cause prejudice ?
linked to psychological notion of frustration of aggression
how does psychological cause prejudice?
individual differences in personality
group processes
what is the frustration aggression hypothesis?
frustration causes aggression due to the psychic energy built up by frustration which needs an outlet so we find a scapegoat eg a minority group
what defence mechanism does the frustration- aggression hypothesis link too?
displacement
what is the stages of frustration aggression?
- identify personal goals
- psychic energy activated
- frustration of goal achievement
- source of frustration too powerful
- scapegoat found
how did the steps of frustration aggression link to Germany and anti semitism?
personal goals : achieve greatness for Germany
psychic energy : emotional arousal of German people from ww1
frustration of goal achievement ; economic and political crisis (1918-1920)
scapegoat found : anti semitism of 1920s and 30s
what is the evidence by Hovland and sears to support racism by using cotton workers?
50 year period
price of cotton
number of lynchings of black workers
as frustration increased the price of cotton fell so lynchings increased displacing aggression
what is the authoritarian personality?
extreme reaction to authority figures
obsession with rank and status
tendency to displace anger
harsh parental discipline
what is adorno et al F scale?
Questionnaries monitoring
Anti semitism
Ethnocentrism
Political and economic conservatism
Potential for fascism
what is criticisms of F scale?
correlational evidence - can’t determine cause and effect
poor methodology - self report + relies on memory
ignores social context - need to take into account history and culture
what is the evidence by barret and short 1992 for social learning?
4-5 year old English children liked Spanish and French the most and germans and Italians the least
what was Minards investigation for conformity ?
investigated attitudes of white miners
60% would switch between racism and non racism depending on whether situational norms encouraged or discouraged prejudice
what is social identity theory?
how we categorise ourselves in terms of social groups
why is social identity important?
helps to maintain self esteem
social bonding
but
implications for interaction with out group members
hypothesised cause of prejudice and stereotyping
blue eyes/brown eye demonstration
one day blue eyed children were inferior and had to wear a collar and lost privileges
brown eyed children were quick to derogate those with blue eyes
what did Akrami (bring it together)
explored whether personality or social psych or a combo of both predicted sexism and found that sexism was best explained by considering the combined influence of both personality and social psych constructs
