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
define prejudice
- strong, highly accessible negative attitude
- dominated by cognitive bias and negative stereotypes
define behaviours related to discrimination
- behaviour based on unjust treatment of certain groups
includes:
- reluctance to help
- tokenism
- reverse discrimination
define intergroup bias
- showing favouritism to in-group members, people most similar to you
- this breeds prejudice and negativity to those that are different
- links to discrimination towards those that are different
explain ‘reluctance to help’ as behaviours related to discrimination
(Gaetner & Dovidio, 1977)
- found ppts were more reluctant to help minority member than their own group
- when faced in emergency
- only occurred when other were present
explain ‘tokenism’ as behaviours related to discrimination
(Monin & Miller, 2001)
- process of favouring member of minority group inconsistently
- researchers found ppts who were given opportunity to hire well-qualified minority candidates = MORE WILLING to discriminate against other minorities
- because they had already ‘proved’ they were not prejudiced
explain ‘reverse discrimination’ as behaviours related to discrimination
(Dutton & Lake, 1973)
- openly displaying pro-minority behaviour as a way to deflect accusations of prejudice
- researchers found that those accused of prejudice gave more money to a minority member when feeling threatened
what did Dovidio et al. (1996) suggest about racist attitudes over the year?
- proposed a decline in racist attitudes over 60 years
what did Quillian & Lee (2022) suggest about racist attitudes?
- found that hiring discrimination among 170,000 applications for minority groups NOT fallen over past decade
- specific stereotypes = changed
- negativity remains
- racism seen in new modern form
identify the three theories of subtle prejudice
1/ modern or symbolic racism
2/ ambivalent racism
3/ ambivalent sexism
outline the ‘modern or symbolic racism’ theory of subtle prejudice
- idea that you blame the victim
- support of policies that happen to disadvantage racial minorities
- more subtle
outline the ‘ambivalent racism’ theory of subtle prejudice
- the same people scoring high scores on pro-black attitudes also score high scores on anti-black attitudes
- score high on pro-Black attitudes = pity for disadvantage
- score high on anti-Black attitudes = hostility towards those groups of people
- people having both attitudes at same time
outline the ‘ambivalent sexism’ theory of subtle prejudice
- hostile sexism sees women in very negative light
(e.g.: women seen as too easily offended) - benevolent sexism sees women as apparently positive
(e.g.: women seen as ladylike, in the kitchen)
identify the 2 causes of prejudice
- historical/economical
- psychological
explain the historical/economical cause of prejudice
linked to the notion of frustration of aggression
explain the psychological cause of prejudice
- to do with individual differences in personality
- to do with group processes (difference between the in-group and the out-group)
explain the notion of frustration-aggression hypothesis
Dollard et al., 1939
- frustration causes aggression
- psychic energy builds up
- build up needs outlet
- find scapegoat to release frustration (e.g.: minority group)
- links to Freudian notion of ‘displacement’
- when angry, we misdirect anger
- historical context = what is happening in society in that moment
outline the stages of the frustration-aggression hypothesis
- identification of personal goals
- psychic energy activated
- frustration of goal achieved
- source of frustration too powerful
- scapegoat found -> catharsis achieved by displacing aggression
apply a real life example to the frustration-aggression hypothesis
1920’s/30’s Germany and Anti-Semitism
personal goals
- set by leaders to achieve greatness for Germany
psychic energy activated
- emotional arousal of German people from WWI
frustration of goal achievement
- defeat by Western Allies
- treatment in Treaty of Versailles
source of frustration too powerful
- economic and political crisis
scapegoat found -> catharsis achieved by displacing aggression
- antisemitism of 1920’s/30’s
outline Hovland & Sears (1940) study into evidence for the frustration-aggression hypothesis
- study looked into cotton workers
- found over 50 year periods, the price of cotton and lynchings toward black workers
- when price of cotton fell (frustration increased), number of lynchings increased (displaced aggression)
- suggested that because we felt frustrated, they found an outlet to express anger in minority group
explain the psychological cause of prejudice: Authoritarian personality
- theory that some people are predisposed to be prejudiced towards minority groups
identify some ‘Authoritarian’ personality traits
- extreme reactions to authority figures
- obsession with rank and status
- tendency to displace anger
how is Authoritarian personality developed?
- related to childhood/upbringing
- harsh parental discipline
outline evidence into ‘Authoritarian’ personality
Adorno et al., (1950)
- conducted retrospective interviews about childhood
- ppts then had to fill out questionnaire ‘F scale’
‘F’ scale measured:
- anti-semitism
- ethnocentrism
- political & economic conservatism
- potential for fascism (right-wing ideas)
FINDINGS:
- correlation between harshness of upbringing and measures of prejudice
identify issues of the ‘authoritarian personality’ explanation
correlational evidence
- correlation does not equal causation
poor methodology
- relies on memory of upbringing
- not all string upbringings = fascist
- self-report
ignores social context
- need to take into account history and culture
outline the social learning explanation for the cause of prejudice (Tajfel, 1981)
argued hatred and suspicion of certain groups = learnt early in life
outline evidence for social learning explanation of prejudice (Barrett & Short, 1992)
- studied English children (4-5 years old)
- these children ranked French and Spanish as most liked, followed by Italians and Germans were liked least
parental prejudices:
suggested this is due to modelling
- child witnessing expression of racial hatred towards particular group
suggested this is due to conditioning
- parent appears to approve/go along of child showing racist behaviour
outline the conformity explanation for psychological cause of prejudice
- conforming to group norms
- group norms = maybe more prejudiced than others
outline evidence for the conformity explanation for psychological cause of prejudice
(Minard, 1952)
- investigated attitudes of White miners
FOUND
- 60% readily switched between racism and non-racism
- depending on whether situational norms encouraged/discouraged prejudice
Explain the social identity theory
(psychological causes of prejudice: group relations theory)
- based on idea that we have social identity AND personal identity
- identity = made up of how we categorise ourselves in terms of social groups
- we can see our in-group = similar to us and out-group = different to us
- leads to in-group and out-group differences
- intergroup differentiation can lead to depersonalisation
- can lead to in-group bias
identify reasons social identity is important
- helps maintain self-esteem
- social bonding (findings those around you)
identify reasons why social identity is a problem
- there are implications for interaction with out-group members
- can lead to prejudice and stereotyping
outline study that looks into the role of group based differences and how it leads to prejudice
(Jane Elliot, 1968)
- aimed to highlight effects of prejudice to school children
- one day blue eyed children = inferior
- had to wear collar, lost privileges
- found that brown eyed children = very quick to derogate those with blue eyes
outline Akrami et al. (2011) findings into whether sexism comes from either personality, social-psychology perspective or both
- found sexism = best explained by considering both personality and social-psychology constructs
- it is necessary to integrate various approaches to explain prejudice
