Social Psychology: Chapter 13

What did the Josh Aronson video teach us?

...

What was Sherif's study with the Eagles and Rattlers? What did he find?

Created in-group/out-group situations and resulted in prejudice. Supported his realistic conflict theory

What are the causes of prejudice?

4 causes: pressure to conform (normative rules), social categorization (us versus them), how we assign meaning (attributional biases), and economic condition (realistic conflict theory).

What is stereotyping and what is stereotyping threat?

A STEREOTYPE is a generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to all members (positive or negative). Threat: The anxiety that some groups feel when a stereotype about their group is activated - eg. woman are not good at math, ect.

What is the Jigsaw approach?

A form of cooperative learning in which children from different ethnic groups must cooperate in order to learn a lesson. Effective in improving minority student's self-esteem and performance, increases empathy, and promotes intergroup friendships.

Rebecca is covering her college's football game against its archrival for the school newspaper. At the game, she interviews several students from her college but decides she only needs to interview one or two students from the rival school to understand the general opinion of that school. She is demonstrating:

A perception of out-group honogeneity

What is scapegoating?

A process whereby frustrated and angry people tend to displace their aggression from its real source to a convenient target (an out-group that is disliked, visible, and powerless).

What are the affective, cognitive, and behavioral components of prejudice?

Affective: The deep EMOTIONAL aspect of predjudice that makes a prejudiced person so hard to argue with; logical arguments are not an effective way to counter emotions Behavioral: DISCRIMINATION denotes actual behavior. It is an unjustified negative or harmful action towards members of a group because of their membership to said group Cognitive: A STEREOTYPE is a generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to all members (positive or negative). Done through illusory correlation

What is least true about race and stereotyping from a social psychological perspective?

Evolutionary theory holds that different human races have different genetic makeups that cause them to adopt different social behaviors

What are superordinate goals?

Goals that get people from opposing sides to come together and work toward a common end result. For example, if you have two groups of people that seriously dislike each other you might set up a situation in which they simply have to work together in order to be successful. This breaks down barriers, encourages people to see eachother as just people and not as part of "that other group that we dislike", and can help overcome differences between the groups.

Because the law has made most forms of direct prejudice and discrimination in the US illegal, the expression of prejudice:

Has not changed

According to social psychological research, what is least likely to prevent Sam from making similar comments in the future?

He finds out that a member of a rival fraternity is gay

Increasing contact between groups will reduce prejudice if all six conditions are met. Which is not one of the conditions?

Higher status of the minority group

Suppose you're a bartender and observe occasional fights at your establishment. Although you don't know very many people with visible tattoos, it seems to you that people with tattoos are more likely to get into fights than people without tattoos. But you're wrong. Based on the research discussed in this chapter, your faulty memory is most likely due to:

Illusory Correlation

What is the in-group/outgroup effect? How is it related to the need for self-esteem?

In-group bias: the tendency to treat members of our own group more positively than members of the out-group. Self-esteem: individuals seek to enhance their self-esteem by identifying with certain groups. This only works if they see their group as superior to other groups

What is the contact hypothesis? Does it work?

It is the idea that the most important way to reduce prejudice between racial and ethnic groups is through contact of in-group and out-group members. Works with 6 conditions: mutual interdependence, a common goal, equal status, informal & interpersonal contact, multiple contacts, and social norms of equality

How does the "belief in a just world" influence prejudice?

May blame the victim because of their desire to see the world as a just and fair place, where people get what they deserve. (blame the poor and homeless for their condition, blame overweight for being lazy). When outcomes are unfair - they find a way to blame the victim.

What is the homogeneity effect?

Out-group homogeneity - the mistaken perception that they are all alike

At a party, Sam makes negative comments about gays and lesbians. According to research in social psychology, what is least likely to explain his behavior?

Sam had high self-esteem and felt very secure about his own sexuality

Melissa, a high school senior, doesn't get into the college she wishes to attend. She blames this on affirmative action and starts to act aggressively toward the minority students at her school. Her aggression can be explained by:

Scapegoating

What is the realistic conflict hypothesis?

The idea that limited resources lead to conflict between groups and result in increased prejudice and discrimination

According to realistic conflict theory, prejudice and discrimination are likely to increase when:

There is competition for jobs in the country

What is the categorization effect?

This leads to in-group/out-group effect

According to social psychological research, racism in America today:

has decreased more at the controlled level than at the automatic level.