Social (Prejudice) Flashcards
What is prejudice? Give examples.
Prejudice is an unjustified attitude, usually negative, towards someone based on their membership of a social group. Prejudice occurs when we ‘pre-judge’ a person
E.g.
- Racism
- Sexism
- Homophobia
What is a stereotype?
A stereotype is an over-simplified, distorted or inaccurate attitude of a particular group e.g. All Jamaicans wear rasta hats and smoke weed
What is discrimination?
Discrimination is when an individual acts unfairly towards others based on their membership to a social group e.g. Racism
Describe the ways in which prejudice can manifest into behaviour
Prejudice:
Cognitive
- The individual has thoughts about out-group members e.g. stereotypes
Affective
- The individual attaches feelings towards the out-group e.g. prejudice
Behavioural
- The individual treats out-group members differently from the in-group members e.g. discrimination
Where do stereotypes come from?
Stereotyping:
- Thought to be learned from society
- Can be formed from as young as age 2yrs old e.g. gender stereotypes which are introduced from a young age through gendered toys, clothes etc.
- From a cognitive perspective stereotypes are thought to be a kind of mental shortcut, which limits thinking and thus preserves brain power and resources (cognitive miser theory)
Whats the difference between stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination?
Stereotyping and Prejudice:
A stereotype is a belief (cognitive) about a certain group of people, whereas prejudice is a feeling (affective) about a person based on their membership to a group. Discrimination is behaviour (behavioural) towards people based on their membership to a particular social group.
Name two theories of prejudice
Theories of prejudice:
- Cognitive miser theory
- Social identity theory ~ Tajfel
Describe cognitive miser theory
Cognitive miser theory:
- States that people hold stereotypes because it serves as a mental shortcut
- People either cannot or choose not to make the effort to process unique individual traits
- Implies that stereotyping is an automatic process
- This theory has been supported by a lot of evidence e.g. it has been found that in-group favouritism is strongly apparent from age 5, even though the child doesn’t understand the reasons why until around age 10
- However, some people argue that stereotypes are not always unconscious and they are used deliberately in attempt to make sense of the world
Describe social identity theory
Social identity theory ~ Tajfel:
- States that behaviour is largely affected by group membership
- People decide which groups they are and are not a part of
- It is then easy to show prejudice towards/against other groups in order to boost ones own self-esteem
- Tajfel demonstrated this in his minimal groups experiment (1970)
Name and date two studies of prejudice/discrimination/stereotyping
Studies of prejudice
- Tajfel (70) Minimal groups experiment
- Sherif et al (54) Robbers Cave
Date and describe Tajfel’s minimal groups experiment (1970)
Tajfel (70) Minimal Groups:
Method:
- Studied schoolboys age 14-15 to find out if people would discriminate even if they have no good reason to
- The boys were shown 12 images of paintings by Klee and Kandinsky
- The boys were then grouped randomly but told they were grouped based on choice of art
- The groups were completely meaningless. Paintings were not labelled so the boys had no idea which artist they had truly favoured.
- They were then offered small sums of money based on their choices in filling out a reward booklet
- Tajfel then asked all the boys to fill out a reward booklet in which they had three key options from a table:
~ Give both groups the highest value of money, but the in-group receives slightly less
~ Give both groups the same amount
~ Give both groups the lowest amount of money but the in-group receive slightly more
Results:
- Found that the boys mostly favoured the in-group, even though the overall reward would have been much higher if they had chosen to give the out-group slightly more money than their own group
- Tajfel concluded that the minimal requirement for discrimination to occur is categorisation, even if there is no previous history of conflict or other motive to favour the in-group
What are three methods which can be used to reduce prejudice?
Reducing prejudice:
Education
- Raising awareness of prejudice allows people to understand why it is irrational and harmful. Jane Elliot did this in an American elementary school by categorising her pupils into brown eyes and blue eyes. On the first day she told the blue eyes that they were superior and on the second day the roles were reversed and the brown eyes were superior, allowing all the children to see what it felt like to be a victim of discrimination
Contact hypothesis
- Studies have shown that contact with individuals from out-groups can help to reduce stereotyping. However this can also lead to more conflict unless done under certain circumstances e.g. both parties must cooperate on an equal status, this is why a common goal can also help
Superordinate goals
- Having a common goal which cannot be achieved without both parties working together can force groups to interact with one another. Getting to know individual out-group members can then reduce the effect stereotyped ideas
Date and describe Sherif’s Robber’s Cave study
Robbers Cave (54)
Method: - 22 middle-class boys from similar background and schooling
- Divided into two groups of 11
- Taken to Robber’s Cave for a camp
- The boys were kept separate in week one, allowing the in-group to form a strong identity
- In week two the boys began competing against each other in a tournament. This was planned however Sherif tried to make it seem like the boys own idea. Considerable conflict broke out between the groups, even out-with the games e.g. one group burnt the flag of the other and by the end of the tournament the losing group raided the winning groups hut and stole the prizes
- Establishing cooperation was the aim of week three. Sherif arranged contact between the groups but this was unsuccessful. Subordinate goals were later introduced e.g. a vandalised water tank which could only be fixed through intergroup cooperation. The boys worked together to solve the issues and group hostility fell away
- This study has high ecological validity as it was conducted in a natural setting and behaviour was mostly naturally occurring, with minimal prompting from researchers
- The sample cannot be generalised to wider society as the sample was only young boys, thus may not reflect female behaviour or behaviour of varying ages
- There are ethical criticisms of this study as participants were deceived and put into situations which resulted in fights and significant stress
