Strategies to Reduce Bias Flashcards
1
Q
What are the issues with “increasing control” as a bias reduction strategy?
A
- Stereotype activation/application relatively automatic
- May not be aware of these effects on our behaviour
- Unable to inhibit relatively unconscious behaviours
- Requires effort and not everyone is motivated to expend this energy
2
Q
How does “increasing control” affect stereotype activation?
A
- Actively engaging control to suppress prejudice can lead to automatic inhibition of stereotypes
- Ex. Negating stereotypes -> becomes easier with practice -> reduces stereotype activation
3
Q
What are the motivations to control prejudice?
A
- Internal motivation -> Stems from a personal belief that prejudice is wrong
- External motivation -> Social pressure
- These are separate processes, wherein some people can only experience one while some experience both
4
Q
How do internal motivations typically influence prejudice?
A
- Associated with lower prejudice
- Even if prejudiced associations are activated, those with high internal motivation are more likely to recognise conflict between prejudices and actions
- Additionally, those with higher internal motivation likely approach interracial interactions with the goals of treating the other person fairly and having a friendly conversation
5
Q
How do external motivations typically influence prejudice?
A
- Associated with higher prejudice
- Those with high external motivation likely feel pressured to appear unprejudiced and thus they feel irritated and resentful
- Doesn’t necessarily prevent discrimination
6
Q
How do diversity initiatives play a role in reducing stereotypes?
A
They are often conducted to try to foster motivations to reduce stereotyping and prejudice
7
Q
What are the issues with diversity initiatives?
A
- Trainings that are made mandatory don’t always improve diversity, even though it does bring in more people
- Voluntary trainings are more effective because it fosters internal motivation BUT it can have low attendance
8
Q
Explain the relationship between motivation and control (and internal & external motivation)
A
- Motivations are essential for control
- Internal motivations lead to higher vigilance for behavioral errors, monitoring for potential misapplication of stereotypes
- External motivations do not decrease prejudice or stereotype application, does not lead to engagement of control
9
Q
What is the ERN?
A
- Error-related negativity
- To capture how much control we are allocating to a certain behaviour
- Occurs 50-80 ms after response
10
Q
What do negative deflections indicate in ERNs?
A
- Greater amplitudes after errors
- Index of engagement of monitoring for errors and engagement of self-control (Controlled processes)
11
Q
What are the consequences of suppression?
A
- Requires effort
- Is effective while person is focusing on avoiding the unwanted action
- Often dependent on motivations (internal vs external)
- HOWEVER, we cannot be sure of what would happen when suppression stops or when we are too fatigued to inhibit actions
12
Q
Why does “stereotype rebound” occur?
A
- Suppression takes cognitive effort
- When resources are depleted, people cannot continue suppression
- Stereotypes break through due to heightened salience in memory -> Acts like primes and influence behaviour
13
Q
What is “stereotype rebound”?
A
Unwanted thoughts return in greater strength after suppression
- Stereotypes are used to a greater extent after suppression stops
- Can exceed stereotype use compared to when not suppressing the stereotypic thoughts
14
Q
What is “perspective taking”?
A
- Imagining the world from another person’s points of view
- Participants make an active, conscious effort to take someone else’s perspective
15
Q
What are the effects of “perspective taking”?
A
- Can reduce prejudice toward outgroups
- Thought to promote empathy/understanding of outgroup
- Consistent with multiculturalism approach to diversity
16
Q
How can we facilitate the act of “perspective taking”?
A
- Writing “a day in the life” essay about a social group member
- Listening to interview based on someone’s experiences with discrimination
- Having a face-to-face meeting with an outgroup member
17
Q
What are the advantages of “perspective taking”?
A
- Leads to more positive attitudes about the outgroup overall
- Perspective takers exhibit less bias explicit and implicit evaluations
18
Q
What are the disadvantages of “perspective taking”?
A
- Can backfire for people who strongly identify with their ingroup
- Taking the perspective of someone from one social group doesn’t change attitudes towards members of other groups
- Participants may also lack the depth knowledge (/the full context) of outgroups’ daily experience
19
Q
Explain the importance of context in “perspective taking”
A
- If we do not know the extent of discrimination experienced by an outgroup, we may not be able to fully emulate their perspective
- Traditional manipulations (e.g. writing essay) are limited by our own imagination and do not recreate first-hand experiences
20
Q
Go over slides 12-14
A
21
Q
What is the Contact Hypothesis?
A
Under the proper conditions, interaction between ingroup and outgroup members leads to positive change
22
Q
What are the conditions for success in intergroup contact?
A
- Equal status between groups
- Cooperation in achieving common goals
- Acquaintance potential
- Institutional support
23
Q
Explain the importance of equal status in intergroup contact
A
- If status is unequal, members of ingroup may devalue or stigmatise the lower-status outgroup
- This is context-dependent (e.g. some societies or orgs are more committed to eqalitarianism and correcting social inequalities than others
24
Q
Explain the importance of cooperation in intergroup contact
A
- Having members of ingroup and outgroup cooperate on tasks to achieve same goal improves intergroup attitudes
- ex. Cooperative contact in team sports improve attitudes (For individual sports, attitudes are unrelated to amount of contact)
25
Explain the importance of acquaintance potential in intergroup contact
- Ideally, acquaintance leads to friendship
- Intergroup friendships are related to lower prejudice
- Quality of friendship more important than quantity
26
What is acquaintance potential?
Opportunity for members of interacting groups to get to know each other as individuals
27
Explain the importance of institutional support in intergroup contact
- Authorities or organisations must establish expectation for lower prejudice and less discrimination
- Can create structures that facilitate positive intergroup relations
- Creates cognitive dissonance
- Attitudes can change to match behaviours
28
How effective is intergroup contact in reducing bias?
- When necessary conditions are met, intergroup contact has moderate effect on reducing prejudice
- Effect applies to many outgroups
- Greater effect on attitudes toward more stigmatised outgroups
- More effective in situations that promote intergroup cooperation
29
What are the advantages of intergroup contact? (What does it increase?)
Increases
- Knowledge about outgroups
- Empathy for outgroups
- Interest in other cultures
- Motivation to control prejudice
30
What are the limitations of intergroup contact?
- Positive contact is clearly more effective (and more common)
- When negative contact occurs, it can be especially harmful (reinforces stereotypes and increases stereotype application)
- Positive-negative contact asymmetry
- Asymmetry may be stronger when negative emotions are aroused (e.g. anger) and when contact is brief or one-off
31
For whom might intergroup contact not be effective?
- People high in prejudice
- People who may avoid contact with members of groups they dislike
- People with high intergroup anxiety
- People who lack confidence that they can have a positive relationship with outgroup members
32
What are the three forms of indirect contact?
- Extended contact
- Media contact
- Imagined contact
33
Explain indirect contact: extended contact
- Having an ingroup friend who has outgroup friend(s) is associated with lower prejudice and reduced
- Demonstrates intergroup relationships are permissible and possible
- Shows outgroup members are open to such relationships
34
Explain indirect contact: media contact
- Seeing outgroups in media is a form of extended contact
- Positive portrayals in the media can improve intergroup attitudes
- Works for "real life" and fictional characters
- Watching characters in media is a form of perspective taking
35
Explain indirect contact: imagined contact
- Mentally practicing a "positive, relaxed and comfortable" first meeting with an outgroup member
- Rehearsal of these interactions plays a key role in self-regulation of emotions and planning of behaviour during potential contact
- Allows people to develop a script for the interaction
36
What are the advantages and disadvantage of imagined contact?
Advantages:
- Reduces negative intergroup emotions
- Physiological arousal in response to intergroup contact
- Increases perspective-taking
Disadvantage:
- May be less effective than face-to-face contact
37
Explain the personalisation aspect of how contact works
- Intergroup contact reduces prejudice if people see members of the outgroup as individuals (i.e. individuation)
- Leads to more liking and less prejudice toward the outgroup
- Awareness that members of both ingroup and outgroup have complex social identities lessens the importance of group boundaries
38
Explain the salient categorisation aspect of contact
- Positive attitudes generated by contact will generalise to the group only if the outgroup members are seen typical of their group
- Categories must remain salient if positive attitudes are to apply beyond the immediate contact situation
- Outgroup members must be seen as typical of their group and still disconfirm aspects of the group stereotype
39
Explain the common ingroup identity aspect of contact
- Ingroup and outgroup members re-categorise themselves into a single group that shares a common identity
HOWEVER,
- Majority group members might define the common ingroup in terms of themselves (assimilation perspective)
- Assume other group will take on their group's norms and values
