Stereotyping and Prejudice Flashcards
(1) a belief about the personal attributes of a group of people; (2) a cognitive representation that associates a social group with specific attributes in an oversimplistic way
stereotype
a preconceived negative judgment of a group and its individual members
prejudice
unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its individual members
discrimination
tendency to classify people into groups
social categorization
tendency to classify people as ingroup or outgroup members
ingroup/outgroup categorization
the tendency to perceive outgroup members as being more similar to each other than are members of one’s ingroup
outgroup homogeneity bias
the tendency to have more negative attitudes towards outgroup members than towards ingroup members
ingroup-outgroup bias
(1) assign group membership based on trivial criteria
(2) asked to rate fellow group members
(3) results:
rated in-group members more favorably than outgroup members, showing ingroup-outgroup bias
minimal groups procedure - method for studying group bias
(1) we all have the basic need to maintain/enhance self-esteem
(2) self-esteem influenced by personal and social identities
(3) motivated to evaluate ingroups more positively than outgroups
social identity theory
how do stereotypes effect us?
effect on social judgment and behavior and effect on stereotyped individuals
social identity research
ingroup bias experience - increases self-esteem
self-esteem threat - increases ingroup bias
lower status group shows more ingroup bias
basking in reflected glory
self-confirming fear that one’s behavior will verify a negative stereotype
stereotype threat
how stereotype threats work:
(1) group members know about the stereotype
(2) in situations that may confirm the stereotype, they may become anxious
(3) anxiety interferes with optimal function, harming performance and confirming the stereotype
ways to reduce the stereotype threat effect
(1) reframe the task
(2) reduce salience of threatened social identity or activate opposite
(3) provide role model
(4) educate
reframe the task to reduce stereotype threat effect
approach: modify the task description so that stereotype isn’t activated
study: describing test as gender-fair reduced ST effect
reduce salience of threatened social identity or activate opposite to reduce stereotype threat effect
approach: eliminate procedures that activate stereotype-relevant identity or include procedures that activate counter-stereotypic identity
study: moving demographics questionnaire to end of test, reminding female undergrads that they are students are prestigious universities
provide role model to reduce stereotype threat effect
approach: provide role model that does well in stereotype-relevant domain
study: women reading essays about successful women show reduced ST effect
educate to reduce stereotype threat effect
approach: explain ST effect and explicitly state anxiety may be due to stereotypes, not ability issues
study: women given education intervention showed reduced ST effect
optimistic position about change in stereotypes
longitudinal study shows that stereotypes are diminishing by showing lower percentages of people checked “lazy” or “ignorant” as characteristic of African Americans
pessimistic position about change in stereotypes
it is less socially acceptable to say that wouldn’t vote for a black person
this reflects more of a change in culture
public vs. private racial attitudes
mixed position about change in stereotypes
stereotypes (association) and beliefs (accept as true) are different cognitive structures
an activated stereotype will influence behavior unless it is inhibited
self-perpetuating nature of stereotypes
subtyping, illusory correlations, ultimate attribution error, stereotype suppression effects
accommodating individuals who deviate from one’s stereotype by thinking of them as “exceptions to the rule”
this ultimately maintains the original stereotype because you avoid viewing them as an error
subtyping
overestimating the strength of a relation between two distinctive or unusual events
illusory correlation
tendency to attribute the negative behavior of a minority group member to dispositional characteristics and positive behavior to situational factors
ultimate attribution error
