PSYCH 2720: Chapter 12 (Prejudice)

What are the clusters of attitudes (3) that defines right-wing authoritarianism

1. authoritarian submission 2. authoritarian aggression 3. conventionalism

what are interventions for reducing prejudice and discrimination

1. contact hypothesis 2. jigsaw classroom 3. extended contact hypothesis

what are strategies that have been proven to be effective to reduce prejudice among right-wing authoritarians?

1. create awareness that attitudes generally have become more positive toward the LGBT community, so when right-wing authoritarians are shown that their attitudes are more negative than other people's they tend to change them because conforming to social norms is important to them 2. encourage interaction with members of outgroups

contact situation should ideally include which conditions (6) according to the contact hypothesis

1. mutual interdependence 2. common goal 3. equal status 4. informal, interpersonal contact 5. multiple contacts 6. social norms of equality

what are the reasons that people may be targets of prejudice?

1. race 2. ethnicity 3. gender 4. age 5. sexual preference 6. religion 7. weight

what are 6 aspects of social life that bring about prejudice (6)

1. way we think (social categorization) 2. what we believe (stereotypes) 3. way we feel 4. way we assign meaning or make attributions 5. way we allocate and compete for resources 6. way we conform to social norms

what is a more subtle measure to measure prejudice towards LGBT community?

Modern Homonegativity Scale "if gay men wants to be treated like everyone else, they then need to stop making such a fuss about their sexuality/culture

ultimate attribution error

our tendency to make dispositional attribution about an entire group of people

modern racism

outwardly unprejudiced while inwardly maintaining prejudiced attitudes

research suggests that if we can salvae our self-esteem we will activate/ suppress negative stereotypes about a group?

activate

authoritarian aggression (cluster of right wing authoritarianism)

aggression directed toward groups that are seen as legitimate targets by authority figures

stereotype threat

apprehension experience by members of minority group that they might behave in a manner that confirms an existing cultural stereotype

why are both sets of stereotypes (hostile and benevolent) demeaning to women?

assume women are the weaker sex

normative conformity

desire to be accepted and fit in

why is it difficult to reduce prejudice in people who score high in social dominance orientation?

because people with this trait do not see a need for prejudice to be reduced

social dominance orientation

belief that groups of people are unequal and that it is acceptable to step on other people in order to be "on top"

social dominance orientation

believes that groups of people are inherently unequal and that it is acceptable for some group is society to benefit more than others prefer to being the advantaged group, even if it means treating other groups badly do not consider it important to relate to subordinates but rather see subordinates as tools for getting work done

why do we show in group bias (2)?

belonging to a group gives us a social identity having social identity contributes to feelings of self-esteem

jigsaw classroom

classroom setting designed to reduce prejudice between children by placing them in small, desegregated groups and making each child dependent on the other children in the group to learn the course material and do well in the class

how to reduce prejudice among people high in social dominance orientation

create feelings of a sense of shared identity between people high in social dominance orientation and immigrant groups (successful in Canada but not in Germany)

what is the behavioural component?

discrimination

contact hypothesis

effective approach is to reduce prejudice through contact bringing in group and out group members together contact situation should ideally include 6 conditions 1. mutual interdependence 2. common goal 3. equal status 4. informal, interpersonal contact 5. multiple contacts 6. social norms of equality

religious quest

flexible, open and questioning orientation to religion negatively correlated with prejudice

stereotype

generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual variation among the members

social dominance oriented people show prejudice toward

groups they perceive as competing for resources (e.g. immigrants) believe any gains made by other groups come at their expense

conventionalism (cluster of right wing authoritarianism)

high degree of conformity to the rules and conventions that are established by authority figures

authoritarian submission (cluster of right wing authoritarianism)

high degree of submission to authority figures in society

prejudice

hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group, based solely on their membership in that group

what are the two forms of sexism (2)?

hostile sexism benevolent sexism

self-affirmation theory

if people were affirmed in some way, they would be less likely to need to boost their self-esteem by derogating out group members

stereotyping as been described by Allport as

law of least effort

between law and psychology students, who scores higher on social dominance orientation and prejudice

law students

cooperation and interdependence: jigsaw classroom

learning atmosphere in which children must depend on each other and work together to reach a common goal has been very successful at reducing prejudice among children of different ethnicities

between upper year and lower year psych students who scores higher on social dominance orientation and prejudice

lower year psych

what are some ways of reducing prejudice?

making salient the superordinate group to which members of both groups belong (e.g. humans vs. a particular nationality) provide people with an alternative route to self-esteem so they won't have to step on others

extended contact hypothesis

mere knowledge that a member of one's own group has a close relationship with a member of another group can reduce one's prejudice toward that group

intervention to reduce prejudice and discrimination: extended contact hypothesis

mere knowledge that a member of our in group is friends with an out-group member can reduce our prejudice toward that group

injunctification

motivated tendency to see the status quo as the most desirable state of affairs (way things should be)

what are factors that influences whether stereotypes are automatically activated?

motivation to control prejudice (whether we want to be non-prejudiced) ` need to feel good about ourselves (whether we will get a self-esteem boost by doing so)

neosexism is assocaited with

negative attitudes toward the feminist ovement and LGBT

hostile sexism

negative stereotypes of women women are inferior to men because they are inherently less intelligent, less competent, less brave, less capable of math and science

does persuading people high in social dominance orientation they do not necessarily lose out when others get ahead help reduce prejudice?

no, it made it worse

pressure to conform: normative rules

normative conformity (desire to be accepted and fit in) leads many people to go along with stereotyped beliefs and not challenge them people are especially likely to embrace the status quo when they are feeling threatened

in the "shooting study" what were the results?

participants were especially likely to pull the trigger when the people in the pictures were black (regardless of holding a gun)--> shooter bias made relatively few errors when a black person was in fact holding a gun but also that they made the most errors, shooting an unarmed person (when a black person was not holding a gun) when the men in the picture were white, participants made the same number of errors whether the men were armed or unarmed

modern prejudice

people have learned to hide their explicit prejudice in situations that would lead them to be labelled "racist" or "sexist"

people who are high in religious fundamentalism are especially prejudiced toward

people whose behaviour they believe is immoral e.g. gays, single mothers

meta-stereotype

person's beliefs regarding the stereotype that out group members hold about their own group

benevolent sexism

positive stereotypes of women e.g. women are kinder than men, more empathic, more nurturing tend to idealize women romantically, may admire them as wonderful cooks and mothers and want to protect them when they do not need protection affectionate but patronizing attitude that women are so wonderful, good, kind and moral that they should stay at home, away from the aggressiveness and corruption of public life

what is the affective component?

prejudice

way we think (social categorization)

prejudice is enabled by human tendency to organize people into in and out groups leads to in group bias

realistic conflict theory (prejudice and economic competition)

prejudice is the inevitable by product of real conflict between groups for limited resources, such as economics, power or status

people who are high in right wing authoritarianism are prejudiced toward

racial groups, women and especially homosexuals

right wing authoritarianism have strong positive correlations with

racial prejudice negative attitudes toward French Canadians, Frist nations peoples and pakistanis prejudice toward immigrants to Canada traditional nonegalitarian attitudes toward women negative attitudes towards feminists prejudice toward gays and lesbians

social dominance orientation is associated with

racial prejudice sexism negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians opposition to interracial dating, transracial adoptions prefer jokes direct at low-status out groups compared to jokes directed at high status out groups or high status in groups negative attitudes toward immigrants (believe that any gains made by immigrants occur at their expense) - perceive immigrants as a threat lack of empathy for immigrants and dehumanization of immigrants refugees are seen as immoral and trying to unjustly sneak into Canada

religious fundamentalism is correlated with

racial prejudice negative attitudes toward single mothers and LGTB (immoral)

prejudice and economic competition: realistic conflict theory

realistic conflict theory: prejudice is the inevitable by product of real conflict between groups for limited resources, such as economics, power or status competition for resources leads to derogation of and discrimination against the competing out group

people who are high in religious fundamentalism are convinced

religion is the right one and that forces of evil are constantly threatening to undermine its truth

religious fundamentalism

religious beliefs that are the only correct beliefs

mutual interdepedence

situation in which tow or more groups need each other and must depend on each other to accomplish a goal that is important to both groups

what is the cognitive component?

stereotypes

meta stereotypes

stereotypes that we believe out group members have of us we expect more negative interactions with and who more prejudice toward, members of groups who we believe hold negative stereotypes of us

what is described as the law of least effort?

stereotyping

way we feel: affect and mood

strongly determined by our emotions or moods good moods: tend to evaluate out group members more positively than when we are in bad moods

how do social psychologists assess modern racism/prejudice

subtle measures to assess prejudice at implicit (unconscious) and using more indirect, subtle wording on prejudice scales

if a negative stereotype interferes with self-esteem boost (when praised by a member of a stereotyped group) we active/suppress the stereotype?

suppress

way we assign meaning: attributional biases

tend to overestimate the role of dispositional force when making sense out of other' behaviour stereotypes can be described as ultimate attribution error- making negative internal attributions about an entire out- group when out group members act nonstereotypically we tend to make situational attributions about them, thereby maintaining our stereotypes

in group bias

tendency to evaluate in group members more positively than out group members

minimal groups

tendency to favour the in-group while denigrating the out-group even in most minimal conditions such as being randomly assigned to arbitrary groups

realistic conflict theory

theory that limited resources lead to conflict among groups and result in increased prejudice and discrimination

individual differences in prejudice

those who are high in right-wing authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism and social dominance are more likely to be prejudiced against out groups than those who are low in these traits

right wing authoritarianism

trait that is defined in terms of authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression and conventionalism

discrimination

unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because of his or her membership in that group

between upper year and lower year law students, who scores higher on social dominance orientation and prejudice

upper year law students

self-fulfilling prophecies

we may unknowingly create stereotypical behaviour in out group members through our treatment of them

What we believe (stereotypes)

widely known, even if you do not believe them, they can affect how you process info about an out-group member can be selectively activated or inhibited, depending on motivational factors (e.g. self-enhancement)

law of least effort

world is just too complicated for us to have a highly differentiated attitude about everything, instead we maximize our cognitive time and energy y developing elegant, accurate attitudes about some topics, while relying on simple, sketchy beliefs for others (cf. to schemas)