Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination Flashcards
Define key terms:
Stereotype
Describe some advantages and disadvantages of stereotyping?
This links to the study of RUBIN et al
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And evaluation?
Key terms:
Stereotype: an oversimplified, generalised set of ideas that we have about others.
Advantages and disadvantages of stereotyping:
Advantages:
▪Helpful when we need to make snap judgements when we don’t have time to make a full impression.
▪Enable us to remember information about others.
▪Enable us to respond appropiately when meeting someone for the first time.
Disadvantages:
▪Stop us seeing the real person when meeting someone for the first time.
▪Make mistakes about people when meeting them for the first time.
▪Most stereotypes do promote harmful images.
RUBIN et al
Aim: To find out if new parents sterotype their babies.
Method: Parents were asked to describe their babies within 24 hours of them being born.
Results: They found that parents of boys described their babies as being alert and strong. Parents of girls described their babies as soft and delicate.
Conclusion: Parents stereotype their babies from a very early age. For a lot of parents that know the sex before birth, stereotyping starts before by painting a room pink for a girl and blue for a boy.
Evaluation:
▪Parents may give socially desirable answers.
▪Not cross cultural - beliefs about boys and girls could change across the globe.
▪It’s a subjective question being asked to describe their baby.
Define key terms:
Prejudice
F-scale
Authoritarian personality
Describe some characteristics of authoritarian personality?
This links to the study of ADORNO MUST KNOW BY NAME!
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And evaluation?
Key terms:
Prejudice: a rigid set of attitudes or beliefs towards paticular groups of people. These attitudes are usually negative, but not always.
F-scale: the questionnaire used by Adorno to measure personality characteristics.
Authoritarian personality: a personality type that is prone to being prejudiced.
Characteristics of authoritarian personality:
▪disliking Jews
▪holding traditional values and beliefs
▪sticking rigidly to beliefs
▪being obedient to those in a higher authority
▪looking down on those who are felt to be of a lesser status
ADORNO
Aim: To find out if there is a relationship between a person’s personality type and prejudiced beliefs.
Method: Hundreds of people were interviewed and tested using the F-scale.
Results: They found a relationship between personality traits and prejudiced views.
Conclusion: There is an authoritarian personality and people with these characterisitcs are highly likely to be prejudiced towards others.
Evaluation:
▪The date of the study was near the end of the second World War so people may still have views against the Jews. However, this study has been conducted a number of times since and come up with similar results.
▪The theory doesn’t explain why people are prejudiced towards some groups but not others.
▪Research done in America so isn’t cross-cultural.
Define key terms:
Discrimination
This links to the study of TAJFEL MUST KNOW BY NAME!
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And evaluation?
Key terms:
Discrimination: the way an individual behaves towards another person or group as a result of their prejudiced views.
TAJFEL
Aim: To show how easily people discriminate against their out-groups.
Method: 14-15 year old boys were randomly assigned to two groups. Each boy was given a game to play where he had to award pairs of points and told the points could be swapped for prizes.
Results: The boys awarded points by choosing the pairings that created the biggest difference between the two groups, not the pairings that gave them the most points.
Conclusion: People will discriminate against others just because they are member of an out-group.
Evaluation:
▪Not representative of everybody as only applied to 14-15 year old boys.
▪Low ecological validity as they were artificially created groups.
▪Older people may not be as competitive.
This links to the study of LEVINE
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And evaluation?
LEVINE
Aim: To see if people would be more likely to help a stranger if they believed they had something in common with them.
Method: A situation was set up where a stuntman fell over in front of a group of Manchester United fans. Half the time he was wearing a Manchester United shirt and the other half a Liveerpool shirt.
Results: When he was wearing the Manchester United shirt, he was helped to his feet everytime, but when he was wearing the Liverpool shirt he wasn’t.
Conclusion: When we feel like we have something in common with someone, we are more likely to help them in an emergency. We are less likely to help out-group members.
Evaluation:
▪Not representative of everybody.
▪Not cross-cultural.
▪Slightly unethical as the fans didn’t know about the experiment.
This links to the study of SHERIF MUST KNOW BY NAME!
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And evaluation?
SHERIF
Aim: To find out if prejudice develops when groups are in competition for scarce resources.
Method: An American summer camp was organised for 22 boys. The boys were split into two teams and kept away from each other. They did not know the other team existed. The boys were given time to settle into their camps and form a group identity. After a while, the two groups discovered each other and the group staff introduced a series of competitions to win a silver cup.
Results: Very quickly, the teams began unpleasant name-calling towards each other and began to attack each other.
Conclusion: Competition is a cause of prejudice.
Evaluation:
▪Not representative of everybody as only applied to boys.
▪The groups and competitions were artificially created so has low ecological validity.
▪Shows how quickly people can form alliances with others when they feel like they have something in common with them.
This links to the study of SHERIF MUST KNOW BY NAME!
What is this method of reducing prejudice?
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And evaluation for the study and the theory?
SHERIF
This method of reducing prejudice is cooperation between groups.
Aim: To see the effect of cooperation between groups on reducing prejudice.
Method: Once Sherif had created prejudice between the two groups, he tried to make them become friends. He organised trips out but they still continued with the name-calling and attacking each other. So, he set up a situation where a truck was stuck in the mud and they all had to help each other to retrieve it.
Results: The boys all helped each other to retrieve the truck.
Conclusion: Sherif concluded that cooperation is a way of reducing prejudice.
Evaluation of study:
▪Not represenatitve of everybody as only applied to boys.
▪Not cross-cultural.
Evaluation of theory:
▪May have only been successful because his groups and the prejudice between them were artificially created.
▪Does show that if two groups work together to achieve a common goal, prejudice can be reduced.
This links to the study of ELLIOTT MUST KNOW BY NAME!
What is this method of reducing prejudice?
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And the evaluation of the study and the theory?
ELLIOTT
This method of reducing prejudice is creating empathy.
Aim: To teach her class what it felt like to be victims of discrimination.
Method: Elliott told her class that blue eyed children were superior to brown eyed children by telling them they were smarter and better.
Results: The children’s reaction was immediate. The blue eyed children were delighted, arrogant and became vicious. The brown eyed children were angry, saddened, confused and withdrawn.
Conclusion: Getting children to experience what it feels like to be victims of prejudice and discrimination helps them to grow up and be more tolerant towards others.
Evaluation of study:
▪Only children so not representative of everybody.
▪No researcher bias as she wasn’t trying to prove anything.
▪Done in a natural setting.
Evaluation of theory:
▪Not immediately effective as children felt superior and victimised before prejudice was reduced.
▪Needs to be done whilst they’re young.
This links to the method of ARONSON MUST KNOW BY NAME!
What is this method of reducing prejudice?
Describe the theory?
And evaluation?
ARONSON
This method of reducing prejudice is the jigsaw method.
Aronson came up with the jigsaw method to try and eliminate prejudice between black and white people in a school.
The students were in mixed race groups and each had to take responsibility for part of the lesson and become experts on it.
They had to pass on their knowledge to another group. Each student was responsibile for their own and others learning so proved the technique successful.
Evaluation:
▪Only students in Texas so not representative of everybody.
▪There may be researcher bias when the groups were picked.
▪Did lead to a reduce in prejudice but the positive perceptions were not generalised outside of the classroom.
This links to the study of HARWOOD MUST KNOW BY NAME!
What is this method of reducing prejudice?
Describe the aim, method, results and conclusion of this study?
And evaluation?
HARWOOD
This method of reducing prejudice is regular contact.
Aim: To investigate children’s views of the elderly.
Method: Harwood asked children and their grandparents about their relationships. The children were also questioned about their viws of elderly people in general.
Results: Children who had regular contact with their grandparents had more positive views towards the elderly.
Conclusion: Contact with grandparents is a good predictor of a child’s attitude towards the elderly.
Evaluation:
▪May give socially desirable answers.
▪Uneconomical as it takes a long time.
▪May be anomalous results.
