ch. 9

Stereotypes Bias Our Interpretations

We evaluate people more extremely when their behavior violates our stereotypes

believing in the superiority of one's own ethnic and cultural group, and having a corresponding disdain for all other group -This has been observed in most cultural groups

ethnocentrism

attributing others' behaviors to inner dispositions and discounting important situational factors

fundamental attribution error

Subtle forms of prejudice remain - some have argued subtle prejudice has _____ as overt prejudice as ____ -Labor market discrimination - response rates to resumes sent by people of different ethnicities -Patronization in academia - overpraising accomplishments and avoiding criticisms toward minority groups to avoid appearing prejudiced (thus, lowering standards hindering achievement)

increased, decreased

our tendency to favor our own group -Because of our social identifications, we conform to our group norms -When our group succeeds, we feel better by identifying strongly with it -This starts in early childhood -We are more cooperative with people with whom we have something in common

ingroup bias

the tendency of people to believe that the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get (Lerner & colleagues, 1978 and 1980) -This stems from childhood teachings that "good" is rewarded and "evil" is punished -This often leads us to "blame the victim"

just-world phenomenon

Distinctiveness feeds on ______ --> we are more likely to think others are reacting to our distinctiveness even when they are not

self-consciousness

-Social beliefs can be self-confirming -Prejudice affects its targets

self-fulfilling prophecy

motivation to have one's group dominate other social groups -being in s dominant high-status position tends to promote this

social dominance orientation

the "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships -We categorize (it's efficient) -We identify with our ingroups -We compare (or contrast) with our outgroups (and favor our ingroup)

social identity

-Need for status, self-regard, and belonging -Prejudice is often greater when ---We are low or slipping on the status ladder ---Our positive self-image is being threatened -People whose status is secure may have less need to feel superior

social identity theory

All humans are "group-based" - we live with our group, cheer for our group, kill for our group, die for our group, and define ourselves by our group

social identity theory

when confronted with reminders of our own mortality, our self-protective emotional and cognitive responses intensify (such as clinging to our worldviews, ideals, and attitudes)

terror management theory

Thus, prejudice is an ____, and discrimination is a ___

attitude, behavior

personality that is disposed to favor obedience to authority and intolerance of outgroups and those lower in status

authoritarian personality

-Involves primitive regions of the brain (amygdala) that are associated with fear; whereas conscious prejudiced attitudes involve frontal lobe activity -Critics note that unconscious associations may only indicate cultural assumptions, perhaps without prejudice

automatic prejudice

Example: Greenwald & colleagues (1998; 2000) 90% of White participants took longer to identify pleasant words as "good" when associated with Black rather than White faces (despite no evidence of conscious prejudiced attitudes)

automatic prejudice

-Pain and frustration evoke hostility -When the cause is intimidating or unknown, we may displace aggression onto a target (e.g., outgroups) -This theory may best explain instances of hate crimes

the scapegoat theory

-Adorno & colleagues -> individuals with this personality are prone to engage in prejudice & stereotyping -One theory: these individuals were often exposed to harsh discipline in childhood -> repressed hostilities were later displaced onto outgroups -Research does suggest that different forms of prejudice tend to coexist in some individuals (those who are authoritarian)

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-In almost every country, leaders invoke religion to sanctify the present order -Use of religion to support injustice helps explain a pair of findings concerning North American Christianity -Church members express more racial prejudice than nonmembers -Those professing traditional or fundamentalist Christian beliefs express more prejudice than those professing more progressive beliefs -However - researchers found that church members who are more religious (or more "spiritually committed" are actually less prejudiced -Protestant ministers and Catholic priests gave more support to the civil rights movement

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Stereotype threat undermines performance by:

-Inducing stress -Disrupting attention (due to high self-monitoring) -Disrupts working memory (due to efforts at suppressing unwanted thoughts and feelings

realistic group conflict theory explains why:

-Prejudiced attitudes are stronger among those closer to the target group on the socioeconomic ladder (e.g., poor Caucasians express more anti-Black prejudices) -Ethnic peace is more evident during times of economic prosperity

We are more likely to rely on stereotypes when we are:

-Pressed for time -Preoccupied -Tired -Emotionally aroused -Too young to appreciate diversity

People who are high in social dominance tend:

-To favor policies that maintain social hierarchies -To prefer careers that increase their status and avoid jobs that undermine hierarchies -Status breeds prejudice, but prejudice leads individuals to seek/maintain status

-People are more likely to notice how two groups ____ than how they are ____ -____ stereotypes can cause us to perceive correlations that are not there

-differ, alike -preexisting

-Prejudiced attitudes are an example of a "_____" system, with both ____ (conscious) and _____ (automatic) components. -Hundreds of studies using the ______ revealed we can have very different explicit and implicit attitudes toward the same target/group. -People often have prejudiced attitudes of which they are not _____; ____ attitudes may linger even if _____ attitudes drastically change.

-dual attitude, explicit, implicit -implicit association test -aware, implicit, explicit

-Stereotypes assume a correlation between group _____ and individuals' presumed ______ -Attentiveness to unusual occurrences can create _____... when two unusual traits/occurrences occur together, we tend to link them (e.g., John Hinckley, Jr. - mental illness and assassination attempt belief that mental illness is commonly linked to violence)

-membership, characteristics -illusory correlations

-In the context of the world, every race is a _____ (e.g., Non-Hispanic Whites comprise only 1/5 of the world's population and this is declining) -From a biological standpoint, skin color is a ______ trait, controlled by a minuscule _______.

-minority -trivial human, genetic difference

-Most people see prejudice in _____ -Explicit racial prejudice has drastically _____ in a relatively short period of time (e.g., 1942: 1/3 of Whites supported school integration; by 1980, it was 90%).

-other people -declined

-Strong gender stereotypes exist - some based on truth, some false, and some based on ______ of a ______ -Members of the stereotyped group often _____ the stereotypes -Most believe that men and women are ____ yet _____

-overgeneralization, small truth -accept -different, equal

ingroup bias: -Supports a ___ self-concept -Feeds ____ -Fosters ____ of outgroups

-positive -favoritism -dislike

-Distinctive people seem more ___ and _____ and have exaggerated good and bad qualities -People define you by your most distinctive ___ and ____ -People are more likely to notice people who ______

-prominent, influential -traits, behaviors -violate expectations

-If prejudice is socially accepted, many people will follow the path of least ____ and conform to the ____ -> many people appear prejudiced even when their attitudes are not -If prejudice is not deeply ingrained in personality, then as fashions change and new norms evolve, prejudice can ____

-resistance, fashion -diminish

-When our ingroup is ____, we are more vigilant in searching for signs of anger among _____ -Affirming people leads them to evaluate outgroups more _____, whereas threatening people's self-esteem leads them to denigrate an ______

-threatened, outgroups -positively, outgroup

-____ cases -- given limited experience with a particular social group, we recall examples of it and generalize (textbook example: Japanese baseball players) -We tend to overestimate rates of distinctive ____ in the population

-vivid -traits/people

-gender discrimination is disappearing in democratic ______ countries -In non-Western countries gender bias is still ____ (e.g., raped women prosecuted for adultery; refusal to educate female children)

-western -strong

-Attitudes toward _____ have changed rapidly -Most see women as understanding, kind, and helpful stereotypes CAN be _____ -Men are also viewed both favorably (____) and unfavorably (____)

-women -favorable -powerful, immoral

Do Stereotypes Bias Judgment of Individuals?

Yes, but people often evaluate individuals more positively than the groups they compose

As with racism, "____" views of subordinate females by powerful males ("they are weak/vulnerable and need our protection and support") may undermine females' success by planting self-doubt and lowering their self-esteem

benevolent

unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its members

discrimination

explaining away outgroup members' positive behaviors ("he's an exception to the rule") and attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions ("that's typical of them")

group-serving bias

Even social psychology researchers studying prejudice are ____ - more commonly citing researchers of similar (rather than dissimilar) backgrounds

guilty

the perception of outgroup members as more similar to one another than our ingroup members ("they are alike; we are diverse")

outgrip homogeneity effect

stereotypes are sometimes:

overgeneralized, inaccurate, resistant to new information

the tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race -This has been shown in various groups (Whites, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Turkish, etc.) -Infants as young as 9 months exhibit this -"THEY all look alike" -Own-age bias has also been observed (children vs. adults)

own-race bias

It is _____, not ____, who categorize humans into racial/ethnic categories EX: Tiger Woods is 25% African-American, 25% Thai, 25% Chinese, 12.5% Dutch, and 12.5% Native American). EX: President Obama's mother is Non-Hispanic White

people, nature

a preconceived negative judgment of a group and its members

prejudice

prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race

racism

prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources

realistic group conflict theory

-Whenever a member of a group behaves as expected, we duly note the fact; our prior belief is confirmed -When a member of a group behaves inconsistently with our expectation, we may interpret or explain away the behavior as due to special circumstances

self-perpetuating

prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given sex

sexism

-Children's prejudices often mirror their parents' prejudices -Family & culture pass down all kinds of information

socialization

-Social identity theory implies that those who feel their social identity keenly will concern themselves with correctly categorizing people as us or them -Ethnicity and sex are powerful ways of categorizing people

spontaneous categorization

would you vote for a well-qualified black candidate whom your party nominated?

starting in the 60s the number of people that said yes steadily increased

-government, schools, and the media (magazines, newspapers, movies, & TV) exhibit both overt and subtle prejudices and reinforce the ____ NOTE: This is often unintended and unnoticed

status quo

disruptive concern, when facing a negative stereotype, that you will be evaluated based on the negative stereotype... this affects actual performance

stereotype threat

beliefs about personal attributes of a group of people

stereotypes

prejudice is supported by ____

stereotypes

a person's expectation of being victimized by prejudice or discrimination

stigma consciousness

accommodating individuals who deviate from one's stereotype by forming a new stereotype about this subset of the group

subgrouping

accommodating individuals who deviate from one's stereotype by thinking of them as "exceptions to the rule"

subtyping