Psychology of Prejudice Final
individualism
(hard work, self-restraint, self- reliance, PWE)
dispersed disconfirmation
(several different people acting counter- stereotypical) is more likely to lead to changed than concentrated disconfirmation (one or two highly counter-stereotypical people)
Prejudice measures
- Attitude questionnaires - Might want to use bogus pipeline method (i.e. fake lie detection)
stereotype measures
- Checklist method for measuring stereotypes - Ratings of likelihood that a group member would have a certain characteristic - Free-response measures - Important to differentiate between exposure and endorsement
High groupiness
- Shared visible features Perceived unalterability (cannot change category membership) -High essentialism (share a common core/character) - High entitativity (interact often, share common views,cohesive,group members identify with the group, etc.)
Hate and intergroup emotions
- Sternberg (2003) conceptualized hate as being composed of three layers. - Disgust, which leads to distancing (physical & psychological). - Fear and anger, which leads to a push for action against the target group. - Contempt, which leads to dehumanizing outgroup members & seeing them as less moral. - transmitted via storytelling, in which the outgroup is portrayed as barbarians (inferior, degenerate beings) and/or evil victimizers (no moral compass; tendency to steal, rape, & murder)
Discrimination measures
- Survey of discriminatory behaviors - Social Distance Scale: desirability of different interactions that increase in terms of their level of intimacy - Reactions in a variety of scenarios
Stigma
A mark that involves some form of deviance and negative dispositional (internal character) inferences
ST categorization
Categorization is first step of the stereotyping process; creation of ingroup & outgroup; natural tendency, as evidenced by research on the minimal group paradigm • Categories that are perceived as groupier (such as tribal identities & some blemishes of character) involve more stereotyping. High groupiness
realistic conflict theory
Competition between groups over limited resources produces prejudice; Sherif's Robber Cave experiment: induced competition between two teams of boys which resulted in prejudice
Function of ST
Conservation of cognitive resources: trying to understand people takes up limited resources, so stereotypes help cut corners - System justification/rationalization: stereotyping the outgroup can serve as justification for disliking & discriminating against the outgroup (e.g., stereotypes of welfare recipients to justify funding cuts) - Self-esteem maintenance: when our ego is threatened, we use stereotypes to make ourselves feel better; may also be used to discredit the source - Social adjustment: stereotypes are one manner in which we go along with the flow of society
stress of stigmatized linked to
Form of coping aimed at improving how the stressor makes one feel (i.e. emotional consequences); usually involve some level of psychological manipulation; used by those high in group identity • Restriction of social comparisons to in-group (stigmatized) members; this ensures that one will not make upward comparisons (i.e. compare oneself to those who are more fortunate), which often lead to low self-esteem • Attributions to prejudice & discrimination (can be protective if negative feedback is attributed in this manner; but frequent use is linked with low self-esteem) • Denial that one is victim of prejudice & discrimination (can allow for people to feel in control & maintain high BJW; but can backfire if cues to discrimination are really present) • Reorganization of self-concept, including disengagement (can protect self-esteem but can also lead to poor outcomes because person does not invest themselves in important domains, such as education)
type of emotion focused coping
Form of coping aimed at improving how the stressor makes one feel (i.e. emotional consequences); usually involve some level of psychological manipulation; used by those high in group identity • Restriction of social comparisons to in-group (stigmatized) members; this ensures that one will not make upward comparisons (i.e. compare oneself to those who are more fortunate), which often lead to low self-esteem • Attributions to prejudice & discrimination (can be protective if negative feedback is attributed in this manner; but frequent use is linked with low self-esteem) • Denial that one is victim of prejudice & discrimination (can allow for people to feel in control & maintain high BJW; but can backfire if cues to discrimination are really present) • Reorganization of self-concept, including disengagement (can protect self-esteem but can also lead to poor outcomes because person does not invest themselves in important domains, such as education)
social identity theory
Prejudice does not require competition; it may just be a byproduct of creating an ingroup/outgroup (i.e., identifying with one group rather than another) • This theory best explains the development of ingroup favoritism; suggests that we want to have a positive group identity so we view and treat ingroup positively • Also explains why prejudice varies across situations- identity salience can vary from situation to situation leading to shifts in self-categorization • Sometimes, prejudice goes beyond ingroup favoritism; can explain certain (but very limited) instances of outgroup dislike, mainly vicarious retribution in response to an event • Outgroup dislike & likelihood of retribution depends on 1) appraisals of the event (intentionality, ties to intergroup conflict, collective responsibility, promotion by leadership) and 2) other key factors including strength of ingroup identification, depth of threat to identity (publicity worsens this), and power differential • Can explain why some people are less prejudiced: they have complex identities, which can increase chance of a common identity, reduces motivation to self-categorize, and protects against threats by allowing people to shift to a more positive identity
ST threat and poor performance
Steele (1997) argued that the situational salience of a negative stereotype against oneself can lead to self-fulfillment. • Specifically, stereotype salience leads to fear and anxiety over confirming the stereotype which produces decrements in working memory, which ultimately interfere with performance • Studies have shown that test instructions (e.g., whether test is described as diagnostic of ability or just a laboratory task) can induce these effects (i.e. lead to poorer performance in Black students); the presence of outgroup members (e.g., all male students) can also induce these effects (i.e., lead to poorer performance on a math task in females) • Occur regardless of whether the person endorses or internalizes the stereotype • Stronger effects when person is high in group identity and/or places high importance on the domain; also, when stereotype is very negative and/or task is very difficult • Weaker effects: when person is aware of this phenomenon, when there are role models who clearly disconfirm the stereotype, and/or when task instructions are neutral
Subtype
Typically involve combinations of two or more basic categories • Example: Black woman, businesswoman • More specific than categories; allow people to capture the full spectrum of a category & store details • Provide a framework for understanding and classifying stereotype- inconsistent members of a category (while still maintaining the overall stereotype) • Example: A strong-minded woman, although counter-stereotypical, could be subtyped as a businesswoman
intergroup anxiety
Very common intergroup emotion; involves feelings of discomfort when interacting (or simply imagining) interacting with another group • Stem from negative beliefs about the outgroup that developed due to lack of contact and/or negative past experiences • Can exacerbate prejudicial emotions (but does not seem to alter levels of stereotyping) • Associated with avoidance behavior, which further reinforces the anxiety
Hoffman's classifications
abominations of the body (e.g., obesity), blemishes of character (e.g., mental illness), & tribal identities (e.g., race)
Cardio threat
as discriminant validity (can differentiate between adaptive & maladaptive responses; involves measuring cardiac output (lower if threatened) & total peripheral resistance (higher if threatened); involves both SAM & HPA axes - Research has demonstrated that interactions with people with facial birthmarks, those of low SES, and those of another race can elicit threat responses, which are discordant with self-reports; exposure/contact does moderate these effects
conservatism/liberalism
different attributional patterns (conservatism involves blaming the victim), relationship to SDO & RWA, linked to different forms of prejudice (modern-symbolic vs. aversive), different views on social policies
observations of social roles
division of labor leads us to make inferences about gender traits
lay theories of personality
entity theorists believe personality does not change and so they focus on consistent information and rarely change their stereotypes; incremental theorists pay attention to both consistent & inconsistent information and are much more malleable
scientific racism
idea that some groups are superior to others and prejudice is justified when it is directed at the inferior groups
social learning theory
learned via observation- children imitate models who are rewarded for prejudice; can involve direct reinforcement but that is much rarer
TMT
our ideologies/belief systems, which includes stereotypes & prejudice, protect us from death-related anxiety; when we are reminded of death (mortality salience), we tend to vigorously defend our beliefs (e.g., apply stereotypes more strongly)
sociocultural theory
our sociocultural context creates norms and these determine prejudice; also, our observations as we navigate through society can influence stereotypes & prejudice
Origin of ST Theories
outgroup homo, attributional bias/social roles/illusory correlations
mechanisms behind intergroup contact
personalization, salient categories, common group identity, combined model.
Inner states theory
prejudice develops alongside personality changes; Adorno focused on development of authoritarian personality as result of parenting; Duckitt expanded the focus to include childhood experiences, rewards/punishments, warmth of relationships, worldviews; high RWA = punitive experiences, conforming personality, view of world as dangerous, & desire to attain security; high SDO = cold experiences, tough-minded personality, view of world as competitive, & desire to attain superiority
psychodynamic theory
prejudice stems from hidden motivations & conflicts; may represent a defense mechanism (a way to bend reality in a self-serving manner)
evolutionary psychology
prejudices that are universal most likely are adaptations, or mechanisms that helped us survive and/or reproduce; since reciprocity is the key to a high-functioning society, we are highly prejudicial against cheaters
cognitive theory
rejudice is just one of the many heuristics/schemas we have to organize the world around us with least amount of effort
stress of stigmatized linked to
resource depletion, high blood pressure, allostatic load, hypervigilince, oversensitivity, distrust of others, poorer performance.
memory bias
schemas cause us to remember more consistent things, which lead us to believe we have more evidence of the validity of a stereotype than we really do; also may distort a memory so that it fits a stereotype
Disadvatange of measures
social desirability, subjectivity, lack of awareness
How prejudice develops
social learning, inner states, realistic conflict, and social identity or relative deprivation.
self-fulfilling prophecy
stereotypes can lead a perceiver to act in a manner that ends up eliciting stereotypical behavior from the target.
How ST is maintained
subtyping, memory, lay theories of personality, dispersed disconfirmation, self-fulfilling prophecy
Attributional bias/errors
tendency to attribute negative behavior of an ingroup member as situational and negative behavior of outgroup as dispositional; evidenced by linguistic group bias (i.e. biased language that describes outgroup's negative behavior in abstract, dispositional terms)
Outgroup homogenity
tendency to view members of the outgroup as highly similar to one another; results from a lack of experience/contact, lack of variety of roles/settings in which one sees members of the outgroup, group-based (rather than person-based) comparisons, desire for uniqueness
subtyping model
we can store stereotype-inconsistent members while still maintaining the overall stereotype (similar to creating exception rules)
illusory correlations
we remember highly distinctive events, which include negative behaviors committed by minorities; this leads us to believe we have witnessed more negative behaviors than we actually have; so we correlate negative traits with minority groups
Stigma most powerful (Jones)
when it is highly visible (concealability), gets progressively worse (course), disrupts normal functioning (disruptiveness), affects beauty (aesthetics), is perceived to be controllable (origin), & presents danger (peril)
Stereotypes
• A set of traits believed to be shared by all (or most) of those who belong to a specific category • Type of cognitive schema (guiding framework) and, more specifically, a heuristic (shortcut) • Schemas affect memory (tend to remember consistent info and/or misremember info as being more consistent than it was) and behavioral interpretations (tend to see behaviors as consistent)
stereotype regulation model
• Argues that people (who view themselves as nonprejudiced) develop "cues" for controlling their prejudicial responses. • Those who want to be nonprejudiced learn what situations are likely to elicit prejudice from them and use cues from those situations as signals to control their responses • Sequence of events: stereotype activation due to outgroup visual features prejudice responsecontradiction between behavior and self-concept guilt and other negative affectstore contextual cues for subsequent use • Eventually (when presented with a cue enough times), the person responds to these cues automatically in a nonprejudiced manner • Unfortunately, self-regulation can cause anxiety (even if used successfully); they can also backfire (e.g., subtle leaks of prejudice, inappropriate questions, color-blindness)
implicit measures
• Assess degree to which two or more concepts are associated with one another in the mind • Implicit Association Test (IAT): involves comparing the relative strengths of Black-good, White-good, Black-bad, White-bad associations. • Priming: measures the reaction times to identifying positive and negative words after being subliminally shown Black and White faces or other stereotypic stimuli • Implicit prejudices typically affect how we interpret ambiguous scenarios
physiological methods
• Assess the body's response to a stimulus • The body's response does not always match self-report • People cannot disguise their bodily responses • Common measures: heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance, facial muscle movements (via facial EMG), brain imaging techniques, cardiovascular challenge & threat
modern-symbolic racism
• Based on belief that Blacks are morally inferior and violate the traditional value system (e.g., hard work) • Also captures a sense of anger that developed in response to the civil rights movement; linked with other negative emotions • Involves opposition to policies such as affirmative action • Specific beliefs: discrimination no longer exists, Blacks do not work hard enough, Blacks have gotten more than they deserve • Psychological Roots: little or no intergroup contact, strong belief in PWE & BJW (i.e. Protestant Work Ethic and Belief in a Just World), socially- acquired negative emotions, can be seen in some conservatives
jim crow racism
• Belief that Whites are a genetically superior race (despite the fact that race is NOT a valid, meaningful biological construct) • Belief that it is morally acceptable to keep minorities at a distance. • Use of laws to ensure minority groups remained disadvantaged. • About 10-15% of White Americans still show this form of "old" or "traditional" racism
stigma as a stressor
• Chronic & pervasive because there is always the possibility that one will be discriminated against • Acts as both a mental & physical stressor (equally strong on both dimensions) • Simply being aware of one's devalued identity is stressful; those who are high in stigma consciousness (tendency to be vigilant of one's stigma and to expect prejudice & discrimination) are more stressed • Attributional ambiguity surrounding other people's intentions and actions also causes stress as well as distrust of others • Level of stress may depend on choice of coping strategy...
Truly unprejudiced person
• Complex social identities • Focus on similarities between people • Fascinated by differences • Support equality of opportunity and outcome
intergroup emotions
• Feelings aroused when people think about or interact with members of other social groups. • Stereotype content model (explains how certain stereotypes produce certain emotions): - Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, and Xu (2002) argue that emotions stem from our classification of groups on two dimensions- warmth and competence; linked with admiration, pity, envy & anger, and contempt. - Cottrell & Neuberg (2005) argue that our specific beliefs about different groups predict which emotion(s) we feel; economic threat is linked with anger, value threat with disgust, safety threat with fear, and perceived lack of success with pity.
problem-focused coping
• Form of coping that involves directly identifying and attacking the problem; used by those who are high in perceived control • Intropunitive (self-directed) - Removal of stigma (however, Goffman felt that no one can ever fully remove a stigma) - Concealment (however, concealed stigmas present their own problems; they can lead to cognitive preoccupation/obsession, sensitivity, mistrust of others, etc.) - Alter behavior to "pass" as non-stigmatized (requires a lot of resources/effort; must be hypervigilant of all one says and does) - Compensation/Disconfirmation (when one tries to disconfirm the stereotype; it can backfire if done in excess) • Extropunitive (directed at situations & others) - Avoidance of certain social situations (however, this perpetuates the anxiety and stress) and/or of the non-stigmatized (however, if the nonstigmatized control all of the resources, then this will lead to diminished access) - Involvement in campaigns & civil rights
Research Patterns
• Habituation paradigm demonstrates that infants can categorize people based on age, attractiveness, and gender • Ingroup favoritism emerges first, then outgroup dislike in White children • Prejudice peaks around ages 4-5 (measured using the PRAM, or Preschool Racial Attitudes Measure) and then declines after • Black children vary in their preferences due to variability in personal experiences with prejudice & talks with parents • Biracial children show no differences to Black children and also no differences to White children • Racial segregation in friendships occurs in middle school and some avoidance behavior in high school • Vague sense of gender by age 2-3 and preferences for own gender in frienships shortly after that; focus on biological gender, not social roles; by age 8 or so, value male characteristics
aversive prejudice
• Involves a desire to avoid and ignore the existence of minority members • Linked to intergroup anxiety (worsened when interacting with high-status minority members) • Support for pro-minority policies such as affirmative action, but also hold negative attitudes • Ingroup favoritism & discrimination in ambiguous situations • Psychological roots: may be natural result of categorization; may be rooted in ingroup favoritism (rather than outgroup dislike), fear of stigma- by-association; can be seen in some liberals
stereotype suppression
• Involves pushing unwanted thoughts out of one's mind • Can lead to rebound effects because - the process of thought suppression may unconsciously prime the thought. - suppression requires resources and these can become depleted. - suppression may lead to an increased need/motivation to use the forbidden stereotype • The rebound effect extends to behaviors (e.g., distance) and memory for personal/individuating information
Benevolent prejudice
• Linked with positive beliefs about the other group (e.g., Blacks are musical, athletic) and negative ones (e.g., Blacks are hostile) • Common targets are high warmth/low competence • Gives illusion to self and others that one is "nonprejudiced" and typically involves little motivation to change
Unobtrusive measures
• Measures in which the true nature or intention is concealed • Can measure willingness to help a person in need • Symbolic & physical distance (e.g., level of agreement with another person, how far one sits away from another person) • Judgments about suitability as potential employee (the "hiring" paradigm is pretty common)
implicit prejudice
• Most prejudice nowadays takes this form • Bias in thoughts and behaviors, of which the person is unaware • Can lead to misconception that prejudice does not exist within oneself and others • Leads to discrimination in situations of "attributional ambiguity," when other factors can be blamed for one's behavior
intergroup contact
• Necessary conditions for contact to reduce prejudice - equal status (best when extends outside of situation and includes same number of members from each group) - superordinategoals(bestwhencooperateonataskonwhicheach person has similar abilities; also, best when shared values and attitudes) - close contact (best if contact extends beyond the situation, is voluntary and long-term) - supportfromsociety
mechanisms behind intergroup contact
• Personalization model: argues that contact leads to a focus on the individual as well as decategorization of self and others; however, subtyping can occur & this can prevent the positive results from generalizing to entire outgroup • Salient categorization model: argues that contact reduces prejudice when categories remain kept salient during interactions (this prevents subtyping) • Common group identity model: argues that contact leads to recategorization of self and others, which then leads to lowered prejudice • Combined model: argues that contact is successful when it proceeds as follows- 1) outgroup members are seen as individuals during initial contact (personalization), then 2) categories are salient during further interactions so that the positivity generalizes to entire outgroup (salient categorization), and then 3) recategorization occurs using a common identity
color-blindness vs multiculturalism
• Posits that people should ignore racial and ethnic group membership • Does not work since it leads to inability to settle actual issues (cannot discuss anything related to groups), dismissal of discrimination (refusal to believe in its existence), lack of sensitivity (disregard for the plight of others) • This perspective may be used to justify assimilation, or the idea that all groups, regardless of cultural background, should conform to the majority's views and practices (e.g., everyone should speak fluent English) • Multiculturalism proposes that group membership is important and should be recognized; leads to salient categorization as well as the creation and reinforcement of dual identities
Other factors of prejudice
• Prejudice often results from symbolic (value) threats • Two relevant sets of values: individualism (hard work, self-restraint, self- reliance, PWE) and egalitarianism (equal treatment, empathy) • We are very defensive of our values because, according to TMT, they buffer us against death-related anxiety by providing a sense of immortality • Religion & prejudice: relationship depends on type of orientation (intrinsice, extrinsic) and whether prejudice is permitted or proscribed by religious doctrines; quest (finding meaning) leads to less prejudice and fundamentalism (belief in one, true religion) leads to more prejudice • Conservatism vs. Liberalism: different attributional patterns (conservatism involves blaming the victim), relationship to SDO & RWA, linked to different forms of prejudice (modern-symbolic vs. aversive), different views on social policies
forms of discrimination
• Prejudice only has weak-modest correlation with discrimination; this is typical of most attitude-behavior relationships • Three main classifications: - Blatant: unequal, harmful treatment that is intentional, visible, and easily documented - Subtle: less obvious, hard to document - Covert: hidden, intentional, and malicious; involves hiring only 1 or 2 minority members (tokenism) or delegating too many responsibilities to a minority employee (sabotage); study on landlords' responses to applicants of varying ethnicities showed evidence of this kind of discrimination
relative deprivation theory
• Prejudice results from the perception that one's group does not have what it deserves and that another group is to blame (usually this group = scapegoat) • May involve perceived distributive injustice (rewards are not distributed correctly) and procedural injustice (process of allocating rewards is biased) • Personal deprivation does not relate to prejudice
Prejudice-prone personalities
• Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) • RWA is tied to conventionalism (traditional values), submission (idolize and respect authority), & aggression (punish wrongdoers) • Other traits tied to RWA: inflexible, need for closure, values safety and security • Those high in RWA are likely to imitate authority figures in terms of their expression of prejudice • SDO is about competition (life is a "competitive jungle") and striving for power & superiority • People are also more prone to prejudice when self-esteem has been threatened (i.e. prejudice serves a "self-protective function")
ambivalent prejudice
• Support for equality combined with mixed emotions toward minority groups • Involves two, clashing views: individualism (i.e. self-reliance, personal responsibility) & egalilitarianism • Behavior depends on which set of values is most salient • Can lead to response amplification (an exaggerated response that often occurs when one value system is primed; involves stronger behaviors than one would normally perform)
prejudice more strongly predictive of discrimination
• the outgroup member(s) is stereotypical. • when the type of prejudice matches the type of behavior, such as when examining the correlation between controllable attitudes and controllable behavior (e.g., friendliness of conversation) or between implicit attitudes and automatic behaviors (e.g., friendliness of nonverbal) • prejudice is permitted (i.e. perceived as socially supported) • anticipated rewards are high & punishment is low • the perpetrator is anonymous because there is no direct punishment/cost • other plausible causal factors are present (i.e. other factors to blame for one's behavior); in other words, when attributional ambiguity is high • the perpetrator has established his/her "moral credentials" (i.e. when a person leads others to believe he/she is not prejudiced by referring to a Black friend or hiring a Black employee); this can lead to more prejudice in the future since the person thinks they can get away with it without tarnishing their overall image
rebounds less likely
• the person suppressing the stereotype is low in prejudice; this is because the stereotype may be activated to a much smaller degree (if at all), they devote more resources to suppressing it (more motivation), and they can substitute stereotypical thoughts with ones of equality • social norms dictate prejudice is unacceptable (although cognitive rebound may still occur for those high in prejudice) • cognitive load is low; this means we do not have the necessary resources to actively suppress the stereotype for a prolonged period of time.
