Stereotype & Prejudice

Question 1

Stereotype Content Model (SCM)

Answer 1

The Two Dimensions
- Warmth: trustworthiness, friendliness, morality
- Competence: capability, intelligence, assertiveness

Groups are evaluated based on perceived warmth and competence

Question 2

Quadrants of Stereotype Content

Answer 2

High W, High C (middle class, citizen)
- Admiration and Pride

High W, Low C (elderly, disabled)
- Pity and Sympathy

Low W High C (rich, professionals)
- Envy and Jealousy

Low W, Low C (homeless, undocumented migrants)
- Disgust and Contempt

Question 3

Implications for Prejudice and Behavior

Answer 3

Stereotypes predict specific emotional prejudices
- Pride for cooperative, high-status groups.
- Contempt for competitive, low-status groups.

Discrimination
- Emotional responses drive active or passive help/harm toward groups.
- Low-warmth, low-competence groups often face dehumanization.

Question 4

Global Comparisons (SCM)

Answer 4

• SCM findings are consistent across cultures but vary with societal factors like income equality.
• Societies with greater inequality show more ambivalent stereotypes.

Question 5

Neuroscience Evidence

Answer 5

• Distinct neural responses are linked to different stereotype quadrants.
• For instance, contempt for low-warmth, low-competence groups correlates with reduced medial prefrontal cortex activity, indicative of dehumanization

Physiological Reaction
- schadenfreude (pleasure at others’ misfortune) when envied groups experience setbacks

Question 6

Stereotype Threat

Answer 6

Stereotype threat occurs when individuals’ fear confirm negative stereotypes about their group, impairing their performance in related domains.

Question 7

Cognitive and Emotional Mechanisms (ST)

Answer 7

Working Memory Impairment
- Stereotype threat consumes cognitive resources, reducing working memory capacity

Self-Doubt and Monitoring
- Individuals under stereotype threat become uncertain about their abilities, particularly in domains they care about.
- They excessively monitor for signs of failure, such as mistakes or anxiety, which further divides their attention.

Emotional Distraction
- Threat-induced anxiety can become a distraction, especially when paired with self-doubt, exacerbating performance declines.

Efforts to Suppress Anxiety
- Attempts to regulate or suppress anxiety are cognitively draining, leading to further decreases in performance.

Question 8

Experimental Evidence (ST)

Answer 8

Increased vigilance
- Brain activity under stereotype threat shows heightened sensitivity to errors, reflecting increased vigilance.

Anxiety and Priming
- Stereotype threat primes double-related (self-relevant and group-relevant) thoughts, which amplify the effects of anxiety on performance.

Question 9

Intervention Strategies (ST)

Answer 9

Reappraising situations
- View anxiety as non-harmful or irrelevant to their performance

Informing about stereotype threat
- Educating individuals about ST reduces its impact

Promoting positive contexts

Question 10

Benevolent sexism

Answer 10

Attitudes about women that seem positive in tone (e.g., women should be cherished) but nonetheless connote inferiority

Question 11

Prejudice

Answer 11

A negative evaluation of a social group/individual that is significantly based on the individual’s group membership

Question 12

Perceived threats

Answer 12

When one perceive a specific type of threat -> triggers emotional reaction, stereotypes, and prejudicial beliefs

• These threat driven-emotions and beliefs translate into actions targeted at the perceived source of the threat
• High perceived vulnerability amplifies the pathway
• Low perceived vulnerability reduces the pathway

Question 13

Outnumbered

Answer 13

• Perception that ingroup is outnumbered -> belief that outgroup is aggressive and competent -> reduced interest in a peaceful resolution
• Perception that ingroup outnumbers -> belief that outgroup is less aggressive and less competent -> increased interest in a peaceful resolution

Question 14

Issue with Stereotypes and Prejudices

Answer 14

S & P -> discriminatory actions & policies -> negative consequences

Experiment:
- Latina women in cali → anticipate interaction with another person → information indicating that person either is or isn’t prejudiced against ethnic minority groups

• Results: anticipating interactions with a prejudiced person led to increased emotional stress, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure

Question 15

S & P Intervention

Answer 15

Social safety provides an important buffer against the stressful and health-imperiling effects of prejudice and stigmatization

Question 16

Social Identity (“Fitting in”)

Answer 16

S&P -> concerns about being one of ‘them’ -> changes in attitude and actions to ‘fit in’

Experiment
- Asian americans & white americans in cali, survey on food preferences
- Experimental manipulation: do you speak english?

• Result: substantial increase of asian participants saying american food is their favorite food

Question 17

Stereotype threat less likely to happen when

Answer 17

• Academic task is presented as non-diagnostic of ability
• Membership in stereotyped group is less salient
• The stereotype itself is less salient
• Awareness of the “stereotype threat” phenomenon