Social Psychology Exam 3
Greenwald, 2017,, NFS conference on implicit bias:
"Introspectively unidentified (or inaccurately identified) effects of past experience that mediate discriminatory behavior" (Greenwald 2017) Weird definition. Not prejudice. Tony Greenwald-invented the IAT Despite his eminence The IAT is a reaction time measure The outcome, or DV is the difference in speed in how people do this It does not assess discrimination
Jussim's beliefs about prejudice
- It's very easy to not realize how our prejudices distort our thinking -Debate over free speech--reason in high gear. In a class thinking it through. Not on one arbitrary side or team. --What emerged was some of the strongest support for speech than seen before in students
Institutional review board
-Anything that does human research needs to go through this. -Benefits of knowledge must outweigh costs.
implicit bias teacher looking time
-Broken down more by gender than race. -Gigantic gender difference. -Boys are much more active, more likely to have behavior problems -Teachers may just be responding to gender differences in behavior -Despite the issues with implicit bias a lot of the studies show how teachers are bias to students based on race -After a second infraction, teachers are more likely to recommend discipline to black students
simple experiments
-Experiments usually involve comparing means or average differences in different groups -If mean 1 is higher than mean 2, that provides some support for the hypothesis that practicing one's serve improves its accuracy -For it to be an experiment, you have to use random assignment
Jussim's ideas about implicit biases
-Idea of implicit bias is real but may be wildly out of control Implicit biases are everywhere??? -Court cases being retried for implicit bias-Translates to any time anything happens that I don't like I can get out of it by claiming implicit bias -Google scholar 1.5 million results (as important to academics as american presidency, heroin, and genocide combined) this is absurd Concept creep
defining implicit bias
-Implicit: something in the mind that is not easily consciously or explicitly articulated -It's there but you can't or you are not willing to express it -How to ride a bicycle, hit a tennis ball, even compose a grammatically correct sentence (few of us can articulate the rules of grammar) -Bias-prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair
preference for playing with white dolls
-It's very easy to not realize how our prejudices distort our thinking -Debate over free speech--reason in high gear. In a class thinking it through. Not on one arbitrary side or team. --What emerged was some of the strongest support for speech than seen before in students
problem with the definition of stereotypes
-Many people want to define stereotypes as "bad" -But if you do, then only "bad" things are stereotypes and anything that does not fit one's definition of "bad" is not a stereotype
institutional discrimination
-Marijuana laws -Redlining: through the 1970's, it was legal for banks to refuse to provide loans to anyone living in predominantly minority neighborhoods -Funding local public schools through property taxes: Richer areas have more money, and better schools --Builds an advantage to rich communities over poor communities.. More resources to spend on schools so schools do better
Hoffman, Trawaler, axt, and oliver 2016
-Medical students endorsed the belief that blacks feel less physical pain than whites -Implicit bias seems to be out there in some way. People present themselves as egalitarian but in a variety of ways, there is some evidence that implicit bias is alive and well
Anree Tajfel
-Most people at the time viewed the holocaust as some genetic taint on behalf of the germans --Tajfel- holocaust was just a heightened example of how we are --Subjects preferred to give money to their own group than others Bias comes about very early. -Babies prefer puppet who has same food preference. Prefer puppets who punish puppets with other food preference
main messages of Milgram study
-People tend to obey legitimate authorities to a greater extent than typically believed? -The situation---receiving orders from a legitimate authority--was a powerful influence on people's behavior? -The PP were not responsible for their action? -YOU are probably more likely to commit horrible deeds than you would ever suspect--if you were placed in the "right" (wrong) situation
results of Milgram study
-People who know about the study recognize they would probably go much further than do people who are unfamiliar with the study -No reason to stop before 150 volts because learner is not complaining -If you didn't want to participate in a study involving shocking you wouldn't participate in the first place
common misconceptions about implicit bias
-Rarely ever actually defined Taken for granted that -"we all know what this is" -Equated with Implicit Association Test (IAT) -By implication, "implicit bias is whatever is measured by the IAT" -Circular logic problem
RU student's self serving bias
-Ru confirmed self-volts < RU volts -True whether people knew about the study or not -The idea that we perceive ourselves as better than the average is something seen in every aspect of life. We are all vulnerable to this bias -On average, our class massively overgeneralized the results of the milgram study. - It reflects a strong failure to understand the obedience study -Message we got--people are evil and aggressive -Actual message of milgram study--people are far more prone to obeying legitimate authority than we think
implicit bias and scientific reality
-The use of the term has become a rhetorical fad often unhinged from much scientific reality, meaning or evidence -Tulip mania stock market bubbles -Medieval witch hunts 1950s Red Scare -Subprime Mortgage Crisis ---Bank sold people mortgage loans and it crashed the economy -Bitcoin -Disturbing parallel between medieval superstitions and implicit bias -Part of the problem is the disaster area that constitutes the way it has been defined in the scientific literature Problem starts with defining what it is
implicit biases today
-Women in stem -Belief that the obese are unhealthy -Teachers paying more attention to minority students -Teachers paying less attention to minority students -Seems to be anything having to do with groups that someone considers bad
self-fulfilling prophecy
-a false belief that leads to its own fulfillment -feeling like you are in a worse group will make you do worse -the false belief that kids of one eye color were superior affected their performance on tasks -teacher expectations can be self-fulfilling
Brigham's definition of stereotypes
-a generalization about a group which is considered unjustified by an observer (this is logically incoherent because justified is defined by the individual) -Captures how people THINK about stereotypes but it fails as a scientific definition because..... -It is a stereotype about a stereotype -People think stereotypes are unjustified which captures the psychology about it -In reality, it captures how people use the term stereotype
combatting racism
-appeal to people's stories -Stories can turn anonymous people it people we look at -Study: people given facts about study vs an individual story--gave more to individual child/story -By extending our sympathies to an individual, we can then understand the group -Major catalyst for change in America might be a sitcom -Pinker: moral beliefs about how to behave towards neighbors is based on understanding
correlational surveys
-assesses the extent to which two variables are related to one another -run from -1.0 to +1.0
exquisite propoganda
-best propoganda is a focused truth -George Washington had blue eyes (blue eyed people are better)
implicit associations
-concepts in memory that are tightly linked (whether we acknowledge it or not) -Vegetables <->green; diners <-> home fries -Two concepts tightly linked in memory Blacks <-> crimes? Jews <-> banks? Women <-> cooking?
implicit bias measures
-developed because people's statements might not be what's actually going on -how much time teachers spent looking at children based down by race and sex
eye of the storm
-experiment teaching the anatomy of prejudice -teacher told students blue eyed people are smarter, cleaner, more civilized... than brown eyed people -blue yed people got 5 extra minutes of recess, can't play with brown eyed people, brown eyed people have to wear collars, blue eyed people sat at the front -saw discrimination in less than one day -each group performed better academically when they were a part of the superior group -
What do schemas do?
-greatly reduce the amount of cognitive work we need to do and allow up to go beyond the information given
power of descriptive norms in different areas
-homeowners reduced the amount of energy they used when they learned that they were using less energy than their neighbors -undergraduates selected the healthy food option when led to believe that other students made this choice -hotel guests were more likely to reuse their towels when a hanger in the bathroom told them that this is what most guests did -more people began using the stairs instead of the elevator when informed that the vast majority of people took the stairs to go up one or two floors
descriptive norms and binge drinking
-how much students drink is highly correlated with how much they believe the average student drinks -people are not good at estimating this because they only account for people drinking at parties instead of all students (partying and not partying) -most students believe they consume significantly less alcohol than the average student which leads to more alcohol consumption
HARK
-hypothesizing after results are known (making shit up) -make up story after the fact, pretend you predicted it, publish it
concept creep
-idea that becomes bigger and bigger over time to encompass things over time -Might explain why 50 years ago almost no one was diagnosed with autism but now tens of thousands of people are diagnosed -However real implicit bias may be it is now deluded beyond recognition
publication bias
-in general to get a study published (until very recently) you needed to have a statistically significant result. -With a large sample size, a small effect can be statistically significant. -With a small sample, it can only be significant with a very large effect. -There are probably a lot of small sample studies that were not significant -Small sample studies will have high effect sizes
different types of scemas
-individual people (person schemas) -ourselves (self-schemas) -recurring events (event schemas or scripts)
motivated skepticism
-individuals trust medical tests less if the results suggest they have a deficiency compared to when the results suggest they are healthy -as a result, people continue to believe what they want to believe, even in the face of nearly incontrovertible evidence to the contrary
prejudice
-liking or disliking of particular groups -attitude/affect
stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination
-may be reasonable, justified, rational, and legal; they may be unreasonable, unjustified, irrational, and illegal -They can even be irrational and legal -see notes on SAKAI
Pinker
-moral beliefs about how to behave towards neighbors is based on understanding -Adam smith-imagine death of thousands of people in a country you are not familiar with (people go about thier lives) -You learn that tomorrow you would have your pinky chopped off -Would you save thousands of life or your pinky -Reason, principle, conscious -Principle of impartiality
Implicit association test
-most common measure of "implicit bias" -It is a reaction time measure -Done on a computer. -Middle words placed into categories by keystrokes black/pleasant white/unpleasant -Categorize target words into categories (rainbows, Jamal, Vomit, Luke) -Then you switch it to be black/unpleasant white/pleasant -Main outcome is difference in speed. If something is strongly associated in memory it is easier to do the categorization task Implicit association black/pleasant is harder (takes longer) for most non-African Americans -The takes longer part is the outcome and is commonly interpreted as "implicit bias" -Lots of reasons you might take slower, but if you know history, it might be in your mind -The results and conclusions of IAT are unclear -Many research papers talk about implicit bias but rarely define it
individual discrimination
-one person's stereotypes or prejudice causes them to discriminate against people about whom they hold those stereotypes or prejudices -an employer who hires whites over equally or more qualified minorities -see SAKAI for more examples
individual discrimination
-one person's stereotypes or prejudice causes them to discriminate against people about whom they hold those stereotypes or prejudices: -Classic examples: -An employer who hires whites over equally or more qualified minorities -A male engineer who makes hostile jokes about women
Jussim's definition of stereotype
-people's BELIEFS about the attributes and behaviors of groups and their individual members -may be accurate or inaccurate; justified or unjustified -may be culturally shared, unique and idiosyncratic -includes beliefs about groups that are obviously inaccurate or irrational -includes beliefs about groups that are in touch with reality -any belief that starts with ALL is most likely inaccurate
discrimination
-positive or negative behavior toward a particular group -behavior
Paul Bloom
-prejudice and bias are natural, rational, and even moral -understanding this puts us in a better place -our judgements tend to be accurate because we have experience with things and people in the world
takeaways from eye of the storm
-prejudice is taught. -stereotypes affect people who think they are superior and inferior -kids did not naturally divide, they had to have it imposed on them (not sure if it maps perfectly on to society) -how quickly children were to internalize inferiority/superiority -exquisite propoganda
Principle of Impartiality
-present in all religion and philosophy -The problems of three people don't mean anything in terms of the larger world -Orchestras interviews behind screens to only judge important thing (how they play) -Reason helps us create a better world
interpreting noise
-psychological meaningless variations in data that are due to uncontrolled random factors -social psychologists are very good at telling stories from data, but if the data is uncontrolled for random factors, the story is meaningless
common ways research goes wrong
-researchers will overstate the finding or leap to a conclusion -small samples -selective reporting of dependent variables -HARKing
Likert scale
-respondents are asked to indicate their agreement level with various evaluative statements (I believe psych is the most interesting major) -these explicit measures attitude can be used to predict people's actual behavior, but there are limitations -individuals aren't alwayss aware of their attitudes -even when individuals are aware of their attitudes, they might not want to admit them
Solomon Asch conformity study
-say which lines were the same length (it was obvious which was correct) but the other 6 people were confederates and gave a different answer. -76 % of the participants went along with the norm at least once and gave the wrong answer -they conformed with the group on one-third of the 12 test trials
race
-social psychologists looked at the extent to which presidential candidates were considered "American" -British prime minister was considered more american than obama (based on color of his skin) -Baseball cards held by black hands got less bids
pre-registration
-solution to HARKing -a document stating the methods, materials, hypotheses, and analyses planned prepared before the study was conducted
results of replications of Asch's study
-teenagers are more prone to conforming than adults people conform significantly less when they believe the confederates will not hear their responses -participants change their answers because they are concerned about what others think of them -more conformity found in collectivist countries such as Japan and China than in individualistic countries like the US -people who live in collectivist cultures place a higher value on the goals of the group than on individual preferences. more motivated to maintain harmony
self serving bias
-the tendency to see one's self as better than one really is -people would say they individually would go less far than the average person -most people see themselves as better than average in competence, intelligence, morality, generosity, heath, ect -this is impossible because the average person cannot be better than average
HARKing
-was taught to grad students in the 1980s -is misleading -with small samples, this is probably just interpreting noise -probably won't be replicated (part of replication crisis) -it was very common which makes it very difficult to interpret past studies
If A and B are correlated
-we DO NOT know whether A causes B, B causes A, or C causes A and B -correlation does not mean causality
planning fallacy
-we tend to underestimate how much time it will take to complete a task (can be writing a paper, finishing a project, or building a bridge) -helps explain why so many college students pull all nighters
Milgram study without instruction results
-when not instructed by an experimenter, teachers almost never went past 45 volts and 0% used full force up to 450 -our class did not predict these results which means that we did not understand that the message of the study was not that people are evil and aggressive but that people are far more prone to obeying legitimate authority than we think
institutional racism
-your neighbor or classmate can earnestly say "i'm not racist/prejudice" not a function of individual level prejudice it is a function of the laws -Marijuana laws -Redlining: through the 1970s it was legal for banks to refuse to provide loans to anyone living in predominantly minority neighborhoods -Funding local public schools through property taxes: richer areas have more money, and better schools -May be less true now because the state has stepped in to rebalance funding
learner's reactions to milgram experiment
75-105-grunts 150-shouts he refuses to go on and to be let out 270-screaming 330-screams and falls silent
Greenwald 2017 updated definition on what IAT measures:
Automatic cultural filtering (WTF does this mean?) Exactly what he meant by that was not explained, so I can neither endorse nor critique it nor use it Implicit bias:Tendency for stereotype-confirming thoughts to pass spontaneously through our minds . it sets people up to overgeneralize, sometimes leading to discrimination even when people feel they are being fair (also unjustified, terrible definition) Because stereotypes can be either accurate or inaccurate
Rachel's disagreement with Jussim
Disagrees with Jussim. Thinks that the first part of Greenwal's sentence is his definition and the second part is an empirical question that can be answer Not saying IAT assesses mediation or discrimination Because it is well known that discrimination is behavior not reaction time "That mediate discriminatory behavior"-empirical aspect. Might be summarizing multiple components of the paper
tragedy of the commons
England in Middle ages "Commons" pasture in center of town; anyone can bring cows Ex. Commons supports 100 cows, so if there are 100 farmers, each farmer can bring one cow, and all cows will be fed by the field BUT Farmer Joe "If I put in 2 cows, I will double my production and only drain off an extra 1% of the commons' capacity This is rational self-interest. The whole statement is true. It is in Farmer Joe's self-interest to double his production for free What makes this a social dilemma? Farmer Joe's (and Bob's and Muhammed's and Ariana's) rational pursuit of goals in their self-interest ultimately damages all of their well-being by depleting the commons, so that eventually, NO ONE can feed their cows here
take home point 4 implicit bias
IAT scores may reflect social realities more than they cause they Causing means they lead to discrimination but one possibility is that people are in touch with reality Ift would be goood not to foret the great lesson from the earlier wave of work on implicit cognition Implicit knowledge is acquired in the absence of conscious, reflective strategies to learn and produces a tactit knowledge based that is...representative of the structure of the environment...and it can be used implicitly to make accurate decisions about novel stimulus circumstances Stereotypes reflect understanding of inequalities
class results of IAT
Implicit association, higher score =.26 Stronger association of Jamal with low intelligence Picture=.07 Verbal info=.04 Saying there is no association. Whether its biased or not, what pics and verbal conditions show is that the minute you learn something about another person, the bias goes away Surprised the pictures worked the same way. That says it was about associations. Just pairing a picture of Jamal with the brain knocked out implicit associations Results can just be us being more in touch with reality It is factually incorrect to consider the IAT biased
take home points
Implicit bias is thrown around with reckless abandom The IAT is a measure of implicit associations, not "implicit bias" Implicit prejudice's role in causing gaps is probably weak Implicit associations may reflect social realities more than they cause them Most direct changes are institutional
The least worst definition of Implicit Bias we need to know for the test
Implicit bias-the idea that people harbor mental associations based on race, gender, and other social categories that may lead to discrimination without intent, or possibly even awareness.
Milgram Obedience Study
Inspired by Nazi Holocaust "I was just following orders" How far would people go in carrying out orders of an evil authority? Was one of the motivators to create social psychology as a field
marijuana
Not true that it is a gateway drug Under 25-can lead to memory problems Know risks used in moderation 440 bce-- -For most of America's history weed was legal until 1930's --racism drove people to 1937-congress banned marijuana. Mandatory minimum started Nixon-War on drugs-got public to associate hippies with marijuana and then Of course we knew what we were doing Mandatory minimums still in effet Black people 4x as likely to be put in jail even though t is smoked at same rate
social dilemmas as not
Rational pursuit of goals in one's self-interest That harms other people, but not the person pursuing the goals Robbery Exploitation Conquest Embezzlement Bad things but they are not social dilemmas because only one side is hurt
so what does the IAT measure?
Reaction times, which are a good measure of strength of association between two concepts in memory Everything else about IAT scores is an empirical question Relation to discrimination or past experience
prisoners' dilemma
Special type of social dilemma Background--hypothetical example Two guys are suspected of holding up a liquor store and are arrested The (district attorney) DA does not have enough evidence to convict either one, so he needs a confession The DA separates the suspects into two different rooms The DA explains to each suspect (separately): If you confess and he does not, you get immunity If you both confess, I will put you both away for 8 years If he confesses and you don't I will put you away for 10 years Both prisoner know that without a confession he can only convict them of a weapons charge and put them away for 1 year 2x2 possibility table If A confesses and B confesses they moth get 8 years If A confesses and B does not a gets probation B gets 10 years If A does not confess and B does a gets 10 years, B gets probation If none confess they each get a year Prisoner A thinks "which way am I better off when B confesses? If i confess, I get 8 years. If i don't confess, I get 10 years. Obviously, I am better off confessing, if B confesses! Ok, let's see what happens if B does not confess..." If B confesses, A should also confess If B does not confess, A is off confessing No matter what B does, A is better off confessing. To get lighter sentence, A should confess because no matter what B does, A will get a lighter sentence But this is NOT a dilemma, bc if they both act in this rational matter, they will be put in jail for the LEAST of all possible combined totals. So acting in their self interest works here So this is a social dilemma bc if they both act this way they get worst outcome
real life examples of tragedy of the commons
Whaling Over-fishing Driving Industrial pollution Stripping the rainforest Going thru red lights, especially in a crowded urban street Standing at a concert-now everyone stands and if someone stands in front row, everyone else has to stand too
prisoner's dilemma
a classic paradox in which two individuals must independently choose between defection (maximizing reward to the self) and cooperation (maximizing reward to the group)
common-pool resource
a collective product or service that is freely available to all individuals of a society, but is vulnerable to overuse and degradation
altruism
a desire to improve the welfare of another person, at a potential cost to the self and expectation of reward
commons dilemma game
a game in which members of a group must balance their desire for personal against the deterioration and possible collapse of a resource
social identity
a person's sense of who they are, based on their group membership(s)
free rider problem
a situation in which one or more individuals benefit from a common-pool resource without paying their share of the cost
outgroup
a social category or group with which an individual does not identify
decomposed games
a task in which an individual chooses from multiple allocations to resources to distribute between him or herself and another person
social value orientation (SVQ)
an assessment of how an individual prefers to allocate resources between him or herself and another person
ultimatum game
an economic game in which a proposer (player A) can offer a subset of resources to a responder (player B), who can then either accept or reject the given proposal
stereotypes + Prejudice
basketball players are tall and rich
conformity
changing one's attitude or behavior to match a perceived social norm
normative influence
conformity that results from a concern for what other people think of us
informational influence
conformity that results from a concern to act in a socially approved manner as determined by how others act
implicit bias and gaps in inequality
implicit bias does not explain gaps in inequality (much) Where do gaps come from 1. Legacy of past discrimination 250 years of slavery 100 years of Jim Crow 2. Discrimination in the present 3. Group differences that are independent of present discrimination Instituational discribimantion Funding schools by property taxes Marijuana laws Gerrymandering Part that is present discrimination needs to be broken into institutional discrimination and individual level study Black and white applicants callbacks for white applicants is much higher Meta-analysis-put together lots of studies over long period of time. Audit studies going back to the 1970s show that hiring bias has not declined Audit studies are subject to other interpretations Econ nobel laurete, James Heckman People do not go where they are not wanted and go to places they are welcomed This confusion between individual firm and market discrimination arises in particular in audit studies Purpose of sorting within markets eliminates the worst forms of discrimination Only a zealot can see evidence in these data of pervasive discrimination in the US labor market 2015 studies-9,000 studies People were asked to say how often they have had experiences with discrimination Nearly ⅔ of blacks are saying they never or rarely experience discrimination black/white differences here are small Some** IAT evidence also suggest low levels of individual discrimination Many of the studies regardless of finding find n evidence of discrimination People with low scores favor blacks over whites People with high scores predict white over blacks??? Not sure if I got this right Not about denying existence of individual level discrimination but individual level discrimination might be smaller than we thought before Source of gap: individual discrimination based on implicit prejudice as even smaller subset Because some people have explicit prejudice which is something different from implicit prejudice Correlation between IAT scores and measures of discrimination does not predict much discrimination but does predict some Clear evidence that: Gaps exist Past and or present discrimination in various forms has caused much of them Take home point 2: the IAT is not a measure of implicit bias IAT is a good measure of implicit associations, not implicit bias, but implicit bias might be part of implicit bias
institutional discrimination
laws or policies that systematically (dis)advantage some groups over other -marijuana laws
prejudice + discrimination
maybe deep in heart
Mediation
occurs when A → B → C A causes C through B Exercise (A) reduces depression (C) because it raises serotonin levels (B) Past puts something into mind which produces discrimination BUT IAT does not assess this
obedience
responding to an order or command from a person in a position of authority
social dilemmas
situations in which The rational pursuit of goals in one's self interest Damages the well-being of the entire community
empathy
the ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another person
cooperation
the coordination of multiple partners toward a common goal that will benefit everyone involved
descriptive norm
the perception of what most people do in a given situation
rational self-interest
the principle that people will make logical decisions based on maximizing their own gains and benefits
interindividual-intergroup discontinuity
the tendency for relations between groups to be less cooperative than relations between individuals
fundamental attribution error
the tendency to underestimate situational factors and overestimate dispositional factors in causing people's behavior -an example of this is the results of the follow up class error
state of vulnerability
when a person places him or herself in a position in which he or she might be exploited or harmed. this is often done out of trust that others will not exploit the vulnerability
