Week 5 - Intergroup Behaviour/Prejudice

Question 1

What are the three classic theories of intergroup conflict?

Answer 1

1) Frustration-aggression theory
2) Relative Deprivation theory
3) Realistic Group Conflict theory

Question 2

What is the frustration-aggression theory?

Answer 2

Frustrations of real life cause people to displace their frustration in the form of aggression on to socially inferior items/people, thus causing prejudice.
e.g: economic depression in Germany in the 1920s and the 1930s corresponded with anti-semitism

Question 3

What did Holland and Sears find about economic conditions and black lynchings in the Southern States?

Answer 3

the worse the economic conditions were, the more black lynchings there were

Question 4

What are the draw backs of the frustration-aggression theory?

Answer 4

• correlation does not necessarily mean causation
• cannot explain certain targets
  doesn’t explain the individualisation of prejudice and conflict

Question 5

What is relative deprivation theory?

Answer 5

the negative feeling created when we perceive a gap between what we have and what we expect . deprivation can be egotistic or collective. can be experienced by high status groups if their ‘deserved’ superiority is under threat. thought to lead to discontent and anger. leads to protests.

Question 6

What is realistic group conflict theory?

Answer 6

the theory that the determinants of intergroup attitudes and behaviours lie in the objective intergroup situation not intrapsychic processes. intergroup behaviour is rational and goal directed

conflict of interests -> competition and hostility
harmony of interests -> co-operation and friendliness

Question 7

what are the ‘summer camp’ studies?

Answer 7

24 white boys

screened for personality traits and levels of economic deprivation

Question 8

what are the four phases of the ‘summer camp’ studies?

Answer 8

1) initial interaction - interaction as a whole group
2) group formation - best friends placed in the outgroup; separate group activities
3) intergroup competition - series of contests: overall winning group takes the prize
4) subordinate goals - co-operation over common goals

Question 9

what were the measures and methods of the ‘summer camp’ studies?

Answer 9

• observations of group behaviour
• friendship choices
• intergorup evaluations in mini-experiments disguised as games

Question 10

what are some explanations for minimal group discrimination?

Answer 10

1) competition norms in western cultures
- bias found in other cultures
- can even be more extreme in collectivist cultures
2) social categorisation processes
- accentuates the differences between cultures
- minimises the differences within cultures

Question 11

what are the explanations for minimal group discrimination?

Answer 11

social identity process

• categorisation process explains the difference but not in the group bias
• discrimination could act to enhance ‘positive distinctiveness’ of in-group and hence raise group members self esteem

Question 12

what is social identity theory?

Answer 12

• social categories do not only simplify and bring order to our world but they also provide a basis for our identity and our sense of who we are
• people strive to achieve and maintain a positive identity
• positive social identity is largely based on favourable intergroup comparisons, we seek to make our group positively distinct from other groups
• threats to identity can cause people to seek to leave their group or to make it more distinctive

Question 13

what was brown’s experiment into conflicting interests in a European context: the importance of group identification?

Answer 13

• 352 passengers on a cross-channel ferry between England and France
• experience a real life conflict: French fishermen strike (a natural experiment)
• measured levels of aggressive attitudes towards French people and national identification
• social identity theory predicts that stronger identification with the in-group with predict greater prejudice