Social Cognition and Prejudice

Question 1

What is social cognition?

Answer 1

“Social cognition is the study of how people make sense
of other people and themselves. It focuses on how
ordinary people think and feel about people – and on
how they think they think and feel.“ (Fiske & Taylor, 2013)

Question 2

What is prejudice?

Answer 2

A “pre-judgement”
 Any attitude, emotion or behaviour towards members of a group, which directly or indirectly implies some negativity or antipathy towards this group (Brown, 2010)
 an attitude (whether positive or negative) towards groups and
their members that creates or maintains hierarchical status
relations between members (Dovidio, Hewstone, Glick, & Esses,
2010)
 Even shorter: an attitude towards a person, based solely on that
person’s group membership
 What’s an attitude? A subjective evaluation.

Question 3

What is a stereotype?

Answer 3

A set of beliefs surrounding members of a social group, fixed ideas/thoughts/propositions that are likely to be wrong

Stereotypes are akin to caricatures or satire: we
recognise something in there - even though it may be
absurd.
Something used in printing
 Set of beliefs surrounding members of a social group
 The content that gets evaluated and leads to
prejudice…
 …or simply a justification for prejudice that is already in
place.
 Try it out with nationalities!

Question 4

Factors that compliment prejudice?

Answer 4

The stuff that complements prejudice…
 Wojciszke (e.g., 2005): morality-related and competence-related traits
 Abele & Wojciszke (2007): agency (incl. individualism, masculinity, competence) and
communion (incl. collectivism, femininity, morality)
 Cuddy et al. (2008): warmth and competence

Question 5

Hopkins et al 1997

scottishness

Answer 5

Self-assessment by Scottish ptn!
 Factor 1: hardworking, industrious, productive…
 Factor 2: unruly, temperamental, haphazard…
 Factor 3: withdrawn, conservative, detached…
 Factor 4: warm, sociable, fun-loving..

Question 6

What is discrimination?

Answer 6

Self-assessment by Scottish ptn!
 Factor 1: hardworking, industrious, productive…
 Factor 2: unruly, temperamental, haphazard…
 Factor 3: withdrawn, conservative, detached…
 Factor 4: warm, sociable, fun-loving..

Question 7

Stereotype content model

Fiske 2018

Answer 7

Explains how people form opinions and make judgements about individuals or groups based on perceived warmth and competence.
The model states that social evaluation contains two core components
Warmth: how friendly, trustworthy, and well intentioned someone seems, willing to cooperate
Competence: Socioeconomic status, perceived intelligence, how skilled & capable someone appears.
States that our judgements of groups fall into 4 quadrants
1) High in warmth but not competence
2) High in warmth and competence
3) High in competence but not warmth
4) High in warmth and low in competence
EXAMPLE: Women are often seen as warm but not competent, while men are perceived as more competent but less warm
It is reflected in gender stereotypes that portray women as caring and nurturing but not highly skilled and intelligent

Question 8

Prejudice & Stereotypes are unfair because …

Answer 8

They involve judging people based on assumptions and not individual qualities (denial of individuality) & sharedness increases social impact

Question 9

What are the 4 causes of prejudice?

Answer 9

1. Developmental Explanations: Prejudice and stereotypes develop over time due to education, upbringing, and personality factors. They tend to stabilize by adolescence. (Crocetti et al., 2021)
2. Cognitive Explanations: Our mental processes simplify the world, leading to the formation of stereotypes for social groups.
3. Social Explanations: Prejudice serves to maintain societal inequalities, as suggested by Social Dominance Theory (Sidanius & Pratto., 1999)
4. Social cognitive explanations: e.g. social identity theory

Question 10

Consequences of prejudice (at level of perceiver)

Answer 10

Our preconceived beliefs about a group predicts how we are going to act towards that group
Can be explained by the bias model (warmth & competence) (Cuddy et al., 2008) -> Behaviour from

Question 11

What is Intergroup effect:

Answer 11

Emotions individuals from one group feel towards individuals from another group, which can be positive (like empathy) or negative (like fear).

Question 12

How can the beliefs on the consequences of prejudice affect behaviour?

Answer 12

Confirmation bias: People notice and remember information that confirms their stereotypes, leading to biased interpretations of others’ behaviour.
Implicit bias: Stereotypes can operate unconsciously, causing unintentional discriminatory behaviours.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Stereotypes can become true if people act based on them. For example, if teachers believe certain students are less intelligent, they may provide less support, leading to poor academic performance.

Question 13

What is the Social Dominance Theory

Sidanius and Pratto 1999

Answer 13

= Seeks to explain how societal hierarchies and intergroup relations are maintained and perpetuated. This hierarchy is not just a result of individual actions but is deeply ingrained in the structure and functioning of society.

Question 14

Group based inequalities are maintained through 3 types of intergroup behaviours
what are the 3 behaviours?

Answer 14

1. Aggregated Individual Discrimination: Small discriminatory acts by individuals accumulate over time, reinforcing social inequality.
2. Behaviour Asymmetry: Dominant groups maintain their position by exhibiting behaviours that reinforce their privilege, while subordinate groups face barriers limiting their access to resources.
3. Institutional Discrimination: Discriminatory practices within institutions perpetuate social inequality through laws, policies, and organizational practices.

Question 15

Behaviours are influenced by and reinforce legitimizing myths, either reinforcing stereotypes or challenging them:
Tell me about Hierarchy-enhancing -

Answer 15

Hierarchy-enhancing: (e.g., racist ideologies) Support and strengthen social hierarchies.

Question 16

Tell me what i mean by Hierarchy-attenuating?

Answer 16

Hierarchy-attenuating: (e.g., socialism, multiculturalism) Aim to reduce or challenge social hierarchies.

Question 17

What is social dominance orientation?

Answer 17

= Individuals will endorse legitimising myths depending on their social dominance orientation
These legitimising myths can include beliefs that justify discrimination & inequality
Higher SDO = more likely to accept and promote ideas that legitimise inequalities and the dominance of certain groups over others in society
SDO is measured by self-report scales

Question 18

What are the implicit measures of prejudice?

Answer 18

Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., 1998)
Implicit association refers to the automatic and unconscious mental connections or associations between concepts that individuals may hold.
= These associations can influence attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour without conscious awareness or deliberate control. Implicit associations are often measured using tasks like the Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Assesses the strength of associations between pairs of concepts, such as social groups and positive or negative attributes, by examining participants’ response times.
Measures implicit associations in memory.
Ptn respond to 2 different social categories and to positive/negative attributes in a reaction time task
If an implicit association exists, then ptn should respond faster when category and attribute share the same response key
However, the response is not entirely free from influence by other factors. Research shows:
White experimenters induce stronger biases than Black ones, suggesting external factors can impact responses (Lowery et al., 2001).
Thinking about counter-stereotypic group members before the test can reduce bias, indicating that interventions can affect IAT outcomes (Blair et al., 2001).

Question 19

Behaviour is influenced by emotional reactions towards different groups (intergroup affect) and cognitive biases (stereotypes), leading to positive or negative interactions. Understanding and addressing these dynamics is crucial for promoting positive intergroup

Question 20

Consequences of prejudice (At level of victim)

Answer 20

Stereotypes can overshadow social interactions and become self-fulfilling prophecies

Question 21

Victims of stereotypes can experience what 2 things?

Answer 21

**Behavioural confirmation: ** People act in ways that match stereotypes they’re labelled with. For instance, if someone is always seen as aggressive, they might start acting more aggressively because of how others treat them
Stereotype threat: Acting in anticipation of being stereotyped, this anxiety affects performance.

Question 22

Give me an example of stereotype threat ?

Hint : 2011 study

Answer 22

Taylor & WALTON., 2011: EXAMPLE of Stereotype threat:
Used black and white participants
Condition 1: No info on the test, no difference in results
Condition 2: Given information on diagnostic ability because of stereotypes – Black ptc performance dropped, suggesting they part responded to the idea that the test says something about prejudice (consequences of prejudice).