Sources of Prejudice

Question 1

minimal groups paradigm

Answer 1

people are very quick to form groups, and can easily discriminate others on the basis of simply being apart of the group

Question 2

three components of attitude

Answer 2

affect, behaviour cognition

Question 3

affect

Answer 3

goes with prejudice

• how you feel towards someone

Question 4

behaviour

Answer 4

goes with discrimination
- how you behave towards someone

Question 5

cognition

Answer 5

goes with stereotypes
- how you think about someone who is a member of a group
- beliefs you have towards someone, can be automatic or deliberate

Question 6

stereotypes

Answer 6

beliefs that certain attributes are characteristics of members of that particular group
* can be positive or negative
* stereotypes are applied too broadly
* causes people to make claims of over simplification

schemas that we have for members of certain groups

apart of shared cultural knowledge, informally taught in families

• positive stereotypes can have negative effects

Question 7

where do stereotypes come from? (4)

Answer 7

culture
what we learn at home
media
social groups

Question 8

old fashioned racism

Answer 8

outright, explicit prejudice and discrimination

still a problem

Question 9

modern racism

Answer 9

belief system that has three main tenants

1. denial that there is continuing discrimination
2. resentment about the demands that disadvantaged groups make for equal treatment
3. resentment about concessions made to disadvantaged groups

• “I don’t see race”, “we’ve solved racism”
• think that everyone is equally advantaged

Question 10

Shoving study

Answer 10

white person shoved black person
– 13% say it was aggressive

black person shoves white person
– 73% say it was aggressive

• example of modern racism

Question 11

aversive racism

Answer 11

another subtle form of racism

individuals will state that they have egalitarian views and accordingly will not be overtly discriminatory
– but still feel discomfort with members of racial minority groups

behavioural consequences: avoidance of out group members, anxiety & overcorrection, subtle discrimination
* might avoid specific groups

Question 12

aversive racism and hiring decisions

Answer 12

participants (all white) rated resumes that included a picture of a black or white candidate

• when applications were strong, no difference in rate
• when resumes were moderate, see aversive racism because the exact same applications will be chosen more from white people

so, with ambiguous situations, race factors into decisions

Question 13

why trying not to be awkward makes you awkward

Answer 13

aversive racism causes people to be really awkward towards outgrips

ironic because trying to look normal and not racist, causes you to act anything but normal

alleviate this by acknowledging your anxiety to alleviate the awkwardness

Question 14

institutional/systemic racism

Answer 14

the differential access to the good, services, and opportunities of society by group status

hides as other factors (neighbourhood, income, education) but propagates and thus becomes very difficult to rectify

ex: laws that say its okay to separate migrant kids from their families
ex: laws that say that black women have a higher pain tolerance and don’t need as much pain medication at hospitals

when institutions set policies that give different access to resources, it can create systemic racism

aversive racism can bleed into racism and norms

Question 15

example of systemic racism

Answer 15

in Detroit very segregated because of systemic racism

– black people living in inner city because affordable
– creates institutional racism
– white people uncomfortable living close to black people so move to outskirts and causes segregation

schooling
– schools are funded locally, so schools in black neighbourhood are poorer so get less funding and worse education
– rich white children who live in rich neighbourhood have better funded schools = better education
– this is racism masking itself in neighbourhoods and property taxes

Question 16

example of systemic racism

Answer 16

soap dispenser is made to sense white hands, so soap isn’t dispensed on a black person’s hand

happens because of a lack of diversity in tech
* if everyone creating the product is white, won’t think about inclusion of black people

Question 17

another problem of not having diversity on teams

Answer 17

Male nasa engineers sent Sally to space with 100 tampons

they said they wanted to be safe

highlights problem of not having diversity on your team

Question 18

ambivalent sexism

Answer 18

hostile and benevolent sexism items

Question 19

hostile sexism items

Answer 19

• women fail to appreciate what men do for them
• women seek to gain power by getting control over men
• most women interpret innocent remarks or act as being sexist

hostile = old fashioned sexism

Question 20

benevolent sexism items

Answer 20

• women should be cherished and protected by men
• many women have a quality of purity that few men possess
• a good woman out to be set on a pedestal by her man

Question 21

ambivalent sexism

Answer 21

hostile and benevolent sexism tend to be positively correlated
* as one goes up, the other goes up
* when they agree with hostile, they agree with benevolent
* so people that agree with positive ideas also agree with negative ideas

people who score high on benevolent sexism don’t really recognize that they hold stereotypes towards women

positive stereotypes can have negative effects and are a big oversimplification
* idea that women need to be protected - they need a man who is the powerful one

Question 22

how does hostile and benevolent sexism predict discrimination

Answer 22

hostile sexism - sexual harassment and inter partner violence

benevolent sexism - decreases women’s confidence and performance in the workplace, encourages subordination

Question 23

causes of stereotypes and prejudice

Answer 23

– economic perspectives
– motivational perspectives
– cognitive perspectives

Question 24

economic perspectives

Answer 24

realistic conflict theory
* hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources

• resources can be real or not
• perception of competition can be enough to have conflict

says that competition for resources is the causal agent behind intergroup discrimination, stereotypes and prejudice

correlational problems: how do we know if limited resources causes prejudice or other way around

theory claims that conflict creates prejudice

Question 25

the robbers cave experiment

Answer 25

designed to test if creating conflict between groups also creates prejudice

two groups bonded and created their own cultures

competition stage where they compete against each other and loser doesn’t get a prize (limited resources - realistic conflict theory)

kids had prejudices against the other group

showed that conflict for resources resulted in prejudice for attitudes and discriminatory behaviour

how to eliminate these behaviours: simple co-existence doesn’t work – doing tasks where they have to work together to solve issues did

how to reduce conflict: through superordinate goals

Question 26

motivational perspective

Answer 26

motivations for self esteem and to enhance our self worth can create stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination

Question 27

motivational perspectives - social identity theory

Answer 27

A person’s sense of who they are based their group membership(s)

people favour in-groups over out-groups to enhance their own self esteem
– self esteem is strengthened by belonging to favourable groups

SIT says that discrimination and prejudice can result from our motivation to feel smart and capable and to make good decisions on the social groups that we are apart of which makes us favour them more and views other groups more negatively

all you need to discriminate is self esteem and a motive to feel good about your own choices

Question 28

diminishing out-groups boosts self esteem

Answer 28

has to do with cognitive dissonance

all driven by the need to justify your choices

motivated to feel confident in our choice of groups

Question 29

what does group membership do

Answer 29

makes you view your group more favourably

makes you view out-groups more negatively

both boosts self esteem and confidence

Question 30

in-group bias

Answer 30

tendency to favour one’s group (the in-group)

Question 31

in-group/out-group distinctions can affect our self esteem

Answer 31

self esteem is a mechanism that causes people to derogate out-groups bc that will boost their self esteem

Participants with negative feedback on their intelligence will rate out-groups more negatively to boost their self esteem

those with positive feedback rate in-group and out-group members similarily

Question 32

causes of stereotypes - cognitive perspectives

Answer 32

cognitive misers

illusory correlations

Question 33

cognitive misers

Answer 33

says that we have stereotypes because we are human misers

Miser: tendency for humans to think and solve problems in the most simple and least effortful way

S1 (quick intuitions) may be responsible for the stereotypes that we have
* we all have schemas for groups and stereotypes
– so stereotypes should help us to remember things more easily

Question 34

cognitive misers and schemas

Answer 34

stereotypes either are schemas or operate similarly to schemas

sets of information stored in our memory that help us remember info about the schema

also frees up attentional processing so we can pay attention to other things

– stereotypes are a product of normal human thinking because brains are wired to organize info into schemas and stereotypes are schemas of people

Question 35

illusory correlation

Answer 35

distinctive events capture attention bc more likely to be remembered and may be over-represented in memory

causes stereotypes because members of minority groups are distinctive because they are infrequent
* negative events are also distinctive
* so people are very likely to note negative behaviours by minority members
* reinforces stereotype that minority groups are more likely to do negative things

Question 36

what makes an event distinctive? (2)

Answer 36

• when it is infrequent
• when it is something that is counter-normative