Stereotypes Flashcards
study for formation of stereotypes
Hamilton & Gifford
Hamilton & Gifford aim
to investigate the effect of illusionary correlations on perceptions on people
Hamilton & Gifford procedure
- read a series of sentences describing desirable & undesirable behaviours performed by members of groups A & B
- group A had 26 p
- group B had 13 p → group B was the minority group
- Each sentence was about 1 individual in 1 of the 2 groups; the sentence was either pos or neg. Each group had the same proportion of positive and negative comments. P were then asked to rank members of each group on a series of 20 traits - for example, popular, social, intelligent.
- After, they were given a booklet which had a statement and then asked whether the person who did this was from Group A or Group B. Finally, they were asked how many of the statements for each group had been “undesirable.”
- Half of the group changed the order of measuring the dependent variables in order to avoid interference effects. So, the booklet was completed before the trait rankings.
Stereotype
is defined as a social perception of an individual in terms of group membership or physical attributes.
Explain stereotype
- stereotypes are cognitive beliefs, unlike prejudice(attitudes) & discrimination(behaviour)
- It is a generalisation that is made about entire groups and then attributed to members of that group. Such a generalisation may be positive or negative.
- Stereotyping is a form of social categorisation that affects the behaviour of those who hold the stereotype & those who are labelled by a stereotype. Researchers explain stereotyping as a result of schema processing
Effects of stereotypes
There is a range of effects of stereotypes on behaviour.
2 ways in which stereotyping may affect behaviour are stereotype threat & memory distortion
- self fufilling prophecy
- increased anxiety & apprehension
Self-fulfilling prophecy
In some instances, people can unconsciously change their behaviour causing that schema to become true. - self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ppl have a perception about how others will behave and as such treat them differently.
how they treat individuals causes them to change their behaviour in such a way that the original expectation becomes true.
increased anxiety & apprehension
members of the stereotyped group itself may invertently reinforce the stereotype by changing their behaviour as a result of increased anxiety or apprehension.
H & G results
- On trait ratings, g A was ranked higher than g B for pos traits & lower for neg traits.
- In booklet, p correctly recalled more pos traits for g A than for g B & more neg traits for g B than for g A
- P overestimated number of negative traits in the minority group, but this finding was not significantly significant
H & G conclusion
Bc the minority group was smaller in number, their neg behaviours appeared more distinct & more representative of the whole group.
- y negative stereotypes may be more common for minorities
- many countries now do not report race or ethnicity in criminal documents
stereotype definition
social perception of an individual in terms of group membership or physical attributes.
Formation of stereotypes
- gain of truth hypothesis
- illusionary correlations
Gain of truth hypothesis
- maintains that there are 2 key sources of stereotypes: personal experience w individuals & groups, & gatekeepers - the media, parents, and other members of our culture.
- this hypothesis argues that an experience w an individual from a group will then be generalised to the group.
Illusionary correlations
- when ppl see a relationship between 2 variables even when there is none
- e.g → when people form false associations between membership of a social group and specific behaviours such as women’s inferior ability in mathematics
- Once illusory correlations are made, people tend to seek out or remember information that supports this relationship
- this is an example of confirmation bias
