Week 4 - Perceiving Groups

Question 1

Definitions of Social characterisation

Answer 1

Social characterisation
the process of identifying individuals of a social group (or category)
‘she’s a scientist’

Question 2

Definition of Stereotyping

Answer 2

Stereotyping
a cognitive representation of the features though to characterise a social group and it’s members
Cognitive, what you know about the group NOT emotional
Benevolent sexism: ‘kind and nurturing’, positive but still holds group back
‘she’s a scientist so she’s rational’

Question 3

Definition of Prejudice

Answer 3

Prejudice (attitude)
a positive or negative evaluation of a social group and its members
Often measured as an emotional reaction to something
‘she’s not as good as a male scientist’

Question 4

Definition of Discrimination

Answer 4

Discrimination
a positive or negative behaviour directed towards a social group and its members
‘a man will get the job over her’

Question 5

Stereotype function (4 reasons) 
(economy of India study)

Answer 5

Mastery
Summarising personal experience
Seek to understand and predict (doesn’t necessarily mean accuracy)

Connectedness
Shared beliefs, connected to our group
We stick to social norms

Self-enhancement
often feel better about ourselves when we apply stereotypes

Efficiency
side effect of mastery?

Study by Macrae, 1994 - Form impressions of targets
Participants listened to passage about the economy of India whilst looking as a screen presenting names and traits
for half the participants, targets’ occupation was also provided ie stereotype label (eg hairdresser)
Test: recall traits of each target and respond to MCQs about the passage
Results: participants remembered stereotype consistent info more easily AND remembered more from the passage as efficiency from stereotyping provided structure to remember

Question 6

Impressions: Categorisation

Basketball Study

Answer 6

social categorisation
stereotype activation (accessibility) 

Study by Kurzban et al, 2001
formed basketball teams, half were mixed gender, alf were mixed race
When on the same team it was easier to reduce race bias than gender bias
Deep rooted bias, Historically we didn’t know people of different races but all social groups have different genders

Question 7

Impressions: Characterisation

stereotype-inconsistent behaviour

Answer 7

Characterisation
Stereotype application
Attention and Memory - Confirmation bias and salience of stereotype-inconsistent behaviour
Interpretation - explaining stereotype-inconsistent behaviour eg Jack is a mechanic vs Jill is a mechanic because she has 4 brothers

Question 8

Impressions: Correction

neo-nazi study

Answer 8

Correction
Judgement correction
stereotype suppression is ineffective, can cause stereotype rebound

Study by Daniel Wagner:
participants told to write about a day in the life of a neo-Nazi
half could write whatever, half had to suppress stereotypes
In another room there were 7 chairs, one wit hneo-Nazi stuff on
Participants who had suppressed stereotypes in the essay sat further away

Accessing counter stereotypical information is a much better way of removing stereotypes than suppressing them

Question 9

Stereotype Change, Barriers to change

old people

Answer 9

Accessing counter stereotypical information is a much better way of removing stereotypes than suppressing them

Barriers to stereotype change : Principles of conservationism
eg 80 year old woman runs a marathon
Explain away inconsistent behaviour (she’s an anomaly)
Compartmentalising inconsistent behaviour (athletic old people subgroup, keep your old people stereotype)
Differentiating atypical group members (they’re not actually part of the group eg Obama isn’t black)

Question 10

Stereotype Change, (three steps)

Answer 10

Repeated inconsistency (some individuals)

Widespread inconsistency (multiple individuals)

Typical and Inconsistency (typical individuals