Stereotype Control and Change

Question 1

What are stereotypes for the target and perceiver?

Answer 1

Using them is costly for the target but avoiding them is costly for the perceiver - effort and efficiency

Question 2

When might people be willing to avoid stereotypes?

Answer 2

When accuracy matters - when accuracy matters, it is a high motivation to work hard

Question 3

What are cognitive misers?

Answer 3

Cognitive misers - always taking the easiest option

Question 4

What are motivated tacticians?

Answer 4

A fully engaged thinker who has multiple cognitive strategies available and chooses among them based on goals, motives and needs

Sometimes the motivated tactician chooses widely, in the interests of accuracy and sometimes defensively, in the interests of speed

Question 5

How can we overcome our stereotypes?

Answer 5

If we have lots of personal information about the person we have the cognitive ability/attentional capacity to do it
we have the motivation – we want to form new impression

Question 6

What is the distinction between?

Answer 6

Cognitive misers - just using stereotypes because they are easy

Motivated tacticians - making an effort

Question 7

How can we create motivated tacticians?

Answer 7

Fiske and Neuberg - we can create attribute-based (individual) processing through:
outcome dependency - success depends on working well with others
accuracy - important to be accurate
accountability - have to explain the outcome

these are externally induced motivations

Question 8

What was Devine interested in?

Answer 8

Can we self-motivate ourselves to inhibit stereotypes

Question 9

What did Devine believe?

Answer 9

There is a difference between: knowing what a stereotype is and enforcing it to be accurate. We all grow up in societies which hold stereotypes, can’t escape it. When it encounters groups there is automatic activation for every one but conscious inhibition for people who are motivated

Question 10

Devine - study 1

Answer 10

Ps asked to list the cultural stereotype of Blacks
Completed Modern Racism Scale
Results:
no difference in stereotype knowledge for high and low prejudice Ps.
(i.e. they were all equally aware of the stereotype)

Question 11

Divine - study 2

Answer 11

Subliminal priming of words
80% were stereotypical vs. 20% stereotypic of African Americans
Donald paragraph - engaging in aggressive/assertive behaviours
Results:
80% prime made more aggressive/hostile interpretations
Activation of Black stereotype = activation of concept of hostility
Equally true of high & low prejudice people - ideas about aggression more accessible in memory

NB: control conditions - flashed up random words to see if they what words they would give - no idea

Question 12

Devine - study 3

Answer 12

Asked hi and lo prej people to list all their thoughts in response to the social group Black Americans
Results:
low prej P’s thoughts were significantly more positive, and included beliefs about equality
high Prej included more negative and pejorative terms

Question 13

What were Devine’s conclusions?

Answer 13

Stereotypes are automatically activated by the stimulus person
BUT people who are low in prejudice can inhibit the negative parts of their stereotype
But need intention, attention and time!
Prejudice with compunction. We should recognise and feel guilty about the conflicts between lingering stereotypic thoughts and feelings and non-prejudiced values
Stereotypes as bad habits we should break

Question 14

How did Devine believe we could get rid of stereotypes?

Answer 14

With intention, attention and time - recognise them, feel bad and realise we need to change them - bad habits which need to be broken

Question 15

How do we have prejudice with compunction (guilt)?

Answer 15

This means we have guilt to stop us doing something
We can do this by:
being aware of our implicit biases
be concerned about them
learn to replace prejudice responses with non prejudice responses

Question 16

How can you intervene with prejudices?

Answer 16

Encourage concern and guilt - internal motivations
Provide training in prejudice reduction techniques - thinking of other stereotype examples, encouraging intergroup contact

Question 17

What was the just say no study? Kawakami et al

Answer 17

Did a training program to see if it was possible to break down stereotypes
participants in a lab: showed the pic of social group and stereotypical word, everytime you see a word associated with that person say no, if inconsistent word say yes - breaking down automatic associations
Judgement task - shown word and then black or white faces, does this apply to them - quick if stereotypes are active
Before training: classify white following white prime and black following black prime
After: slower to identify the stereotype, shows it has broken down
Still worked 1 week after

Question 18

What are the costs of stereotype suppression?

Answer 18

Wegner - rebound effects

Question 19

What are rebound effects?

Answer 19

When you suppress a thought
1. an intentional process drives the thought from consciousness
2. an automatic process monitors thoughts to check for the appearance of the unwanted thought
Monitoring has the effect of activating the thought (at a very low level)
Once the intentional process of suppression is stopped the thought rebounds strongly - even more stereotypical

Question 20

What is the white bear study? Wegner et al

Answer 20

Session 1:
Students left in a room for 5 mins with tape recorder
Half told to think about white bears, half told to try NOT to
Asked to say everything that came into mind (into tape recorder) BUT also to ring a bell every time they thought about a white bear, even if they had not mentioned it aloud
Although suppressing students didn’t talk about bears, they rang the bell almost as many times - rang a little less than ones who had to think about them, shows that they had little suppression
Session 2:
Switch over so thinkers then suppressed and suppressers then thought.
If firstly suppressing then thinking, ringing it so much more, because they are allowed to do it so get this rebound effect
If thought about bears previously, couldn’t suppress well, rang bell

Question 21

What is the skinhead study? Macrea, Bodenhausen et al

Answer 21

Write a passage about a skinhead
Half told to avoid using stereotypes, half given no instructions
Then write a passage about 2nd skinhead - no instructions regarding stereotypes
Study 2:
choose which seat near alleged - went in room, skin head jacket was on chair. DV - how far they would sit
skinhead
Results:
After first passage, suppression used them significantly less - suppressing it
After second study with no instructions, suppressed group used so many more than the control group that never suppressed
Study 2: the ones who suppressed the stereotype would sit further away - influencing behaviour

Question 22

Is rebound inevitable?

Answer 22

Monteith - no
it depends on the type of group used - e.g., if it is a social group ppl don’t mind having stereotypes about, people will use their stereotypes
it also depends on personal attitudes - if you are happy to use them

Question 23

When is rebound less likely according to Monteith?

Answer 23

When people are motivated to reject the stereotype (e.g. coz low in prejudice) - don’t want to use them, want to be fair
Social norms indicate that stereotypes aren’t acceptable - so people still suppress them

Question 24

Monteith et al: experiment 2

Answer 24

Ps pretested high or low in prejudice toward gays
Write paragraph about a day in life of gay couple
Told to avoid using stereotypes vs. given no instructions
Supposedly unrelated memory test – lists of words including some associated with gay stereotype
Results:
Hi prej Ps in suppression condition remembered more stereotypic words than high prej in control condition = rebound because high these prejudices, helps memory
No evidence of rebound effects for low prej Ps, don’t suffer from rebound effects

Question 25

Is the fact that rebound effects aren’t inevitable optimistic?

Answer 25

There is a difference between self-motivated vs instructed suppression - if instructed, the stereotypes come back

Question 26

What can help reduce rebound effects?

Answer 26

Practise - if we regularly suppress a certain stereotype, it might diminish and might mean they don’t get activated in the first place

People who are motivated to do so can avoid stereotypes, without suffering rebound effects

Question 27

How can you make stereotypes more accurate?

Answer 27

By changing the content of them - stereotype disconfirming, getting past these biases

Question 28

What are the 3 models of stereotype change?

Answer 28

Weber and Crocker
Bookkeeping:
modification of stereotype in response to disconfirming information - gradually change stereotype when people give disconfirming info
Conversion:
radical change in response to dramatic disconfirmation - abandon and start again (least supported)
Subtyping:
create subgroups in response to disconfirming
information - creation of groups within groups

Question 29

Which stereotype change model applies?

Answer 29

Weber and Crocker - it depends on whether the disconfirming examples are concentrated or dispersed
Concentrated (a few drastically disconfirming) = subtyping
Dispersed (loads disconfirming the stereotype in different ways) = book keeping

Question 30

Are subtypes good?

Answer 30

Lots of subtypes = the overall stereotype will eventually disintegrate? (Pettigrew)
Or at least you perceive outgroup as more variable? (Brewer & Miller) - helpful
More thoughtful processing of inconsistent info? (Fiske & Neuberg) - makes you think more

Question 31

Are subtypes bad?

Answer 31

Almost any disconfirming behaviour can be explained away – subtyping allows more exceptions  (Taylor) - don't integrate it into stereotype, just use the subtypes 
Insulation or even strengthening of stereotype? - allows exceptions without change
Limits generalisation	 (Hewstone) - won't be generalised as everyone has different ones