Stereotypes I

Question 1

What are stereotypes

Answer 1

Generalised beliefs about or expectations from members of a group -> Not necessarily ‘fixed’ or ‘inaccurate’ -> Stereotypes can be changeable and sometimes describe groups on average accurately ->Category-based beliefs applied to individual people. Stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination – not interchangeable -> stereotypes – the cognitive component of attitudes towards a social group, beliefs about what a particular group is like. -> In contrast, prejudice is affective (feeling) and discrimination is behavioural (action) component of an attitude.

Question 2

Why do we form and use stereotypes?

Answer 2

Schemas -> cognitive frameworks for organising, interpreting and recalling information -> Categorising for efficiency -> sometimes we act as cognitive misers where the least cognitive effort is preferable, a mental shortcut -> motivational purpose -> feel positive about group identity in comparison to other social groups. Comparing to feel better about oneself, boosting self-esteem. (i.e. social identity theory)

Question 3

Stereotyping and limited resources

Answer 3

Participants presented with information from a legal trial -> Designed so that it drew on stereotypes that would suggest defendant’s guilt -> Objectively, information was ambiguous.
Participants were either ‘morning’ people or ‘evening’ people (pretested) ->Tested either early morning or in the evening -> Morning – “evening” people have little resources -> Evening – “morning” people have little resources -> Are we more likely to draw on stereotypes when we have little resources? Findings -> stronger reliance on stereotypes when cognitive resources are scarce. When we are tired and less energetic – we more likely rely on stereotypes –low cognitive resources.

Question 4

How are stereotypes structured

Answer 4

stereotype content model -> Early approaches to stereotyping largely descriptive -> which groups are stereotyped and how? Reliance on ad hoc endless list of traits. More recently, researchers have attempted to identify a smaller set of stereotypic dimensions -> according to Fiske et al. (2002) stereotypes about most groups contained just two underlying dimensions. (competence and warmth)
- High warmth, high competence: These groups are seen positively and with admiration. Examples might include in-groups or admired out-groups.
- High warmth, low competence: These groups are often seen as well-intentioned but incompetent or lacking in ability. Examples might include elderly people or people with disabilities.
- Low warmth, high competence: These groups are often viewed with envy or resentment. Examples might include wealthy people or professionals.
- Low warmth, low competence: These groups are viewed negatively and with contempt. Examples might include homeless people or certain minority groups historically marginalized and stereotyped.

Question 5

Costs of positive stereotypes

Answer 5

What are the consequences of being stereotypes as ‘warm’? Are members of ‘warm’ groups (e.g., women) penalised for not living up to these stereotypes?
Deutsch, LeBaron & Fryer (1987) examined this possibility by asking participants to rate how warm, happy, carefree and relaxed a number of people were based on a verbal description accompanied by:
- No Photo - Smiling Photo - Non-Smiling Photo
When not smiling, women were perceived as less happy, carefree, and relaxed than men -> Nonsmiling women were rated less happy, warm, relaxed, and carefree than women with no photo– whereas this wasn’t the case for men -> Double standard applied to men and women – if women don’t express warm nonverbal behaviour as expected by benevolent stereotypes, they face harsher critique -> Positive stereotypes have costs – one gets penalized for no confirming them

Question 6

How do stereotypes influence our repsonses?

Answer 6

Influence on cognitive processing -> where we direct attention -> attend to stereotype-consistent information. How we interpret information -> interpret ambiguous information in line with stereotypes. What we remember -> recall more stereotype-consistent information, forget otherwise. How we gather information -> ask questions to confirm our beliefs.
Better memory when that minority confirms the schematic actions we expect we remember those actions better than when they don’t confirm to our expectations.

Question 7

Stereotypes influence how we gather information?

Answer 7

Participant interviewers were led to believe that an interviewee was either introverted or extroverted -> they selected questions from a prepared list -> chose questions likely to confirm expectations.
Asking questions while knowing the answer