Social Categorisation, Stereotyping and Prejudice Flashcards
of the two identities, which elicits stereotyping?
social identity
define stereotype
Hogg & Vaughan (2014, p.47)
a widely shared and simplified evaluative image of a social group and its members
how are stereotypes brought about?
born out of the group memberships individuals have
define category
collection of instances that have a family resemblance organised around a prototype
define prototypes
theory that suggests there are typical defining features of a particular object
cognitive representation of typical defining features of a category
explain what is meant by ‘categories are ‘fuzzy’, not ‘rigid’?
- some things can be more or less typical of a category
- all depends of the prototype
- categorisation of less typical items becomes more difficult
- categories can move about
what do stereotypes effect?
- behaviour
- responses
identify reasons as to why we categorise
- save cognitive energy
- clarifies and refines perception of the world
- maintain positive self-esteem
explain ‘save cognitive energy’ as reason why we categorise
- categorising simplifies how we think of world
- simple = save time and cognitive processing
explain ‘clarifies and refines perception of the world’ as reason why we categorise
- when category activated -> all members of that category seen as possessing those traits
- helps us predict social world
- helps reduce uncertainty
explain ‘maintain positive self-esteem’ as reason why we categorise
- categorisation used as motivational function for social identity & self-concept
- because feeling more certain about world
- feel more secure in yourself, increasing self-concept
what is the stereotype illusory correlation?
- explains where negative stereotypes may occur
- they occur when people wrongly pair minority groups with negative events/behaviours
- happens because they are both distinct
outline Hamilton & Sherman (1996) study into illusory correlation
- asked White American ppts to estimate arrest rate of various types of American
- African Americans estimated to have a higher arrest rate than they actually did
- people inaccurately think two things are correlated
identify some effects of stereotyping
- behavioural assimilation
- stereotype threat
- prejudice and discrimination
explain behavioural assimilation
- occurs as effects of stereotyping
- stereotype influences our perception as well as behaviour
explain stereotype threat
- effects of stereotyping
- threat of negative evaluations leads to adhering to that stereotype
outline Behavioural Assimilation (Bargh et al., 1996)
- ppts asked to make sentence out of randomly ordered words
IV = two types of word types
- words associated with elderly stereotypes (e.g.: grey, old, lonely, wise)
- neutral words (unrelated to age)
DV = time taken for ppts to reach exit
ppts directed to the exit
confederate timed ppts
FINDINGS
- ppts primed with elderly words showed behaviour consistent with elderly stereotype (moved slower etc.)
identify an issue with studies that prime stereotypes
don’t always replicate
explain the issue with studies that prime stereotypes
don’t always replicate
- may be due to effects = not universal
- people might need to CARE about the subject being primed
explain Papies (2015) findings into priming stereotypes
- found people who want to become thinner = more likely to make healthier food choices
- when primed with words on menu like ‘diet’, ‘thin’ etc.
- only works in people who’s central goal = healthy diet
- priming does not make everyone avoid fattening foods
outline Steel & Aronson (1995) explanation of stereotype threat
- negative stereotypes define groups
- we behave in line with negative stereotypes of group to fit in
how can the stereotype threat be eliminated according to Alter & al, 2010)
- altering perspective
- reframing low expectations as a challenge rather than threat