Ch. 11 - Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Truman's Executive Order --trying to reduce Intergroup Conflict (between whites and blacks)

"There shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." --groups felt equal in status - groups had a shared goal (armed services) - community's broader social norms was supporting their intergroup contact/equality - interactions were on an one-on-one level, they would live together

Social Categorization

(1) Fast (2) Fills in gaps, speeds inference (need the picture before the words - we pay attention to info that is in line with our goals, and ignore all other information) (3) Allows us to ignore irrelevant information to our current goal

Robbers Cave Study (Economic Perspective & Overcoming Prejudice/Stereotypes)

- Each group rated own members more positively (in-group favoritism). - Outgroup rated negatively (thieves, sneaks, arrogant). - Attempts to decrease intergroup conflict through enjoyable group activities failed.(contact was not enough to reconcile the boys) **Intergroup conflict was only eliminated after the groups were forced to work together to overcome adversity

Tribalism in Middle Schools (i.e. cliques) -- Motivational Perspective

- groups are being defined based on very trivial (i.e., minimal) criteria.Yet, it's clear that group members strongly identify with their own groups while holding negative views of other groups. - loner: she wants someone around her to protect her. she is proud of her independent and mix. she is in a group of loners. even they have a group identity. they have lotalty and competition. - the need to belong is so strong that it changes our behavior in poewrful ways

IAT study - Does the IAT predict behavior?

- participants arrived for a "word perception" study, Hidden camera, hidden microphone, rolling chair. Told they will be doing a collection of brief tasks - did the IAT: 24 AA names, 24 White names, 24 desirable words, and 24 undesirable words and then Brief Interview (white or black interviewer) RESULTS: when white participants interacted with a black experimenter during interview.. --MORE seating distance, more speech errors and hesitations --LESS eye contact, amount of forward leaning, speaking time, and smiling

Purpose of Stereotyping

- simplifies the task of taking in and processing the incredible volume of stimuli surrounding us (gives us a simpler model) - use stereotypes more when we're overloaded, tired, or mentally taxed

Positive vs. Negative feedback while rating others study (Fein and Spencer, 1997) -- Denigrating outgroups to boost self-esteem

-- Participants who got positive feedback on their bogus IQ test ("you did well on the IQ test") rated both applicants (Jewish vs. Non-Jewish/Italian) equally -- Participants who got negative feedback ("you did poorly on the IQ test") rated the Jewish-seeming applicants more poorly ** In addition, denigrating an outgroup member following negative feedback predicted self esteem increases.

Denigrating outgroups to boost self-esteem

-- Self-esteem can be bolstered by negative evaluation of outgroups -- After receiving negative feedback about self, participants are more likely to endorse negative stereotypes; derogation of outgroup predicts boosts in self-esteem

Stereotypes as Mental Shortcuts

-- Stereotypes are schemas (Schemas influence attention, perception, and memory.) -- Stereotypes help us process social information efficiently.(Less effort is required when you know what to expect)

Consequences of Biases Assessments/Stereotypes

-- Stereotypes may be efficient, but may frequently be inaccurate -- Stereotypes accentuate in-group similarities and outgroup differences (We assume members of the in-group to be more similar to us and members of out-groups to be more dissimilar to us than they may actually be.)

Root of Stereotyping

-- The brain's propensity to "bin" things can lead to stereotyping and prejudice. (we also Bin people with people. this can lead to streyping and prejuce. this can be harmful and offensive. ) SOCIAL CATEGORIZATION: (1) Fast (2) Fills in gaps, speeds inference (need the picture before the words) (3) Allows us to ignore irrelevant information to our current goal

Stereotypes and Conservations of Cognitive Resources / conserving mental energy

-- Use of stereotypes can free up mental energy that can be applied to other things that can then be applied to other things -- A study found that participants who used a stereotype to remember information about a person then performed better on a cognitive task

Dot Estimation Task (Underestimator vs. Overestimator) - Minimal Groups Paradigm

-- individuals show preferences for the ingroup even when group distinctions are meaningless -- If given a chance to distribute rewards across two groups, they prefer to maximize the advantage of their ingroup -- the ingroup were more interested in getting a relative advantage over the outgroup than equity, maximizing overall gain, or maximizing absolute gain for the ingroup

Jigsaw Classroom - UC Santa Cruz (weaken racial cliques, reduce intergroup hostility)

-- instead of competing with each other they would become interdependent, they need others in order to do well. everyone learns their own thang enough for them to teach everyone else. STUDENTS LEARN... -- working together towards a common goal -- working together as individuals rather than as representatives of particular groups

3 burdens coming with others being prejudiced against your group

1. Attributional Ambiguity 2. Stereotype Threat 3. Psychological costs of concealing one's identity

3 Perspectives

1. Economic Perspective 2. Motivational Perspective 3. Cognitive Perspective

4 Ways to Reduce Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

1. Groups need to have equal status 2. need to have a goal that requires mutual cooperation thus promoting a common in-group identity 3. Community's broader social norms must support intergroup contact (i.e. parent giving support for contact with outgroup) 4. contact should encourage one-on-one interactions between members of the different groups

*Devine's 2-Step Model* 1. Automatic Stereotype Activation 2. Possible Control of Application

1st Step: (Automatic Stereotype Activation) --When we meet an outgroup member, stereotypes about that person's group are automatically activated 2nd Step: (Possible Control of Application) --A controlled process can kick in allowing us to actively ignore the stereotype. This requires motivation to control the stereotype and mental effort.

Tribalism in Elementary School (brown vs. blue eyed students) -- Motivational Perspective

3rd grade teacher who tried to teach children what the discrimination was! us vs. them is fostered by trivial distinction between students in her class. "blue eyed poeple are better than brown-eyed people" - you can create us vs. them differences. the kids even feel different. kids call another kid "brown eye" like a slur. we make distinction between us vs them upon trivial differences.

Cognitive Perspective

Argues that prejudice results from biases in social cognition due to schemas about differences between ingroup and outgroup members likely to think the outgroup is more homogenous and the ingroup is more specialized and individual

Motivational Perspective

Argues that prejudice results from motivations to view one's ingroup more favorably than outgroups (us vs. them)

Things you may do because of Social Identity Theory

Because our self-esteem is based in part on the status of the various groups to which we belong, we may be tempted to boost the status and fortunes of those groups and their members 1. Ingroup members evaluated more favorably 2. Desire to give advantages to the ingroup over the outgroup 3. People strongly identified with their ingroup may react to criticism of the group as personal criticism

What else do you need (besides Contact) to reduce intergroup conflict?? (think of the Robber Cave study)

Need: -- Groups need to feel equal in status -- Groups need to a have shared goal -- A community's broader social norms must support intergroup contact -- Interactions need to based at an individual level (One-to-one interactions)

STEREOTYPES AND THE CONSERVATION OF COGNITIVE RESOURCES study - Macrae et al., 1994

Question:Would the applicable stereotype facilitate processing and memory for the trait terms and free up mental energy that could be applied to processing the lecture? METHODS: -- Participants performed 2 tasks simultaneously: (1) Listen to a lecture about Indonesian geography and economics (2) Form an impression about a person based on trait terms presented on a computer screen --2 experimental conditions: (1) Trait terms (e.g.,"rebellious,""dangerous") were accompanied by an applicable stereotype (e.g., "skinhead") (2) Trait terms were presented alone RESULTS: participants with a stereotype that could be applied to a person they read about recalled more trait information about that person (i.e. stereotypes), as well as more information about Indonsia on another test

Stereotypes = ? Prejudice = ? Discrimination = ?

Stereotypes = belief Prejudice = attitudinal Discrimination = behavior

How can we NOT engage in discrimination?

We cannot help but learn stereotypes, but we do not have to apply them. Devine 2-Step Model

Stereotype

belief that certain attributes are characteristics of members of a particular group

1. Attributional Ambiguity

can't tell whether your experience have the same causes as those of everyone else, or whether they're the result of prejudice (i.e. are their accomplishments the result of affirmative action?) stigmatized poeple don't know whether to attribute positive feedback to their own skills or to other's condescension and not knowing to attribute negative feedback to their own error or to other's prejudice

Motivational Perspective

emphasizes the psychological needs that lead to intergroup conflict 1. people readily draw on the "us vs. them" distinction 2. people's identities are intimately connected to the groups to which they belong (they will favor their own group) **prejudice can result from motivations to feel good about oneself

Minimal Group Paradigm

experimental paradigm in which researchers create groups based on arbitrary and seemingly meaningless criteria and then examine how the members of these "minimal groups" are inclined to behave toward one another creating an "us vs. them" mentality

Subtyping

explaining away exceptions to a given stereotype by creating a subcategory of the stereotyped group that can be expected to differ from the group as a whole

2. Stereotype Threat

fear of confirming the stereotypes others have about one's group ex. women performed worse than men when they thought there was a gender difference

Ethnocentrism

glorifying ones own group while vilifying other groups anyone in the outgroup are often thought of in the sterotypical way while loyalty to the ingroup intensifies

Superordinate Goal

goal that transcends the interests of any one group and can be achieved more readily by 2 or more groups working together

Social Identity Theory (WHY DOES IN-GROUP FAVORITISM EMERGE AS SOON AS AN US VS. THEM DISTINCTION IS POSSIBLE?)

idea that a person's self-concept and self-esteem derive not only from personal identity and accomplishments, but also from the status and accomplishments of the various groups to which the person belongs - we are motivated to boost the self-esteem/image of our in-group members bc this makes us look good as well. this helps explain the ubiquity of in-group favoritism (ex. being an American)

Economic Perspective

identifies the roots of much intergroup hostility in competing interests that can set groups apart from one another people will reward their own and penalize outsiders

Prejudice

negative attitude or affective response toward a group and its individual members

Paired Distinctivenss

pairing of 2 distinctive events that stand out even more because they occur together

Modern Racism

prejudice directed at racial groups that exists alongside the rejection of explicitly racist beliefs you dont think blacks are morally inferior anymore but you still feel animosity towards AA such as being highly suspicious of them

CONTACT HYPOTHESIS How do we Combat Stereotyping/Prejudice??? (but contact isn't enough....)

prejudice may be reduced by EQUAL status contact btwn majority and minority in the pursuit of common goals. the effect is enhanced if the contact is sanctioned by institutional supports (i.e. law, custom, or local atmosphere) and if it leads to the perception of common interests and common humanity between the 2 groups **When we interact frequently with members of different groups, it becomes easier to see them as individuals rather than as representatives of their groups

Priming

presentation of information designed to activate a concept (such as stereotype) and hence make it accessible. a prime is the stimulus presented to activate the concept in question

Artifact

spurious research result arising from a faulty method of investigation

Basking in Reflected Glory

taking pride in the accomplishments of other people in one's group, such as when sports fan identify with a winning team

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

technique for revealing non conscious attitudes toward different stimuli, particularly groups of people (Because people want to appear non-prejudiced, it can be difficult to measure true attitudes toward different social groups, what people are able to consciously access and report verbally is only a part of their stance toward members of other groups) **An important question is whether a person's responses on the IAT are predictive of behavior

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

tendency for people to assume that within-group similarity is much stronger for out-groups than for in-groups THEY all think, act, and look alike while WE are remarkably different. Impaired ability to view outgroup members as distinct individuals **Because of the outgroup homogeneity effect, people are more likely to assume that a single action is typical of an outgroup. (Stereotypes also influence how the details of events are interpreted)

Realistic Group Conflict Theory

theory that group conflict, prejudice, and discrimination are likely to arise over competition between groups for limited resources

Discrimination

unfair treatment of individuals based on their membership in a particular group

Perception is Categorical (color spectrum example)

when we see a rainbow, we see different waveletnghs but we see categories of color (i..e red, and purple). **consequence of seeing like this, differences are exaggerated across boundaries. if you see the 2 swaps in the blue category then look the same but if you get swaps from green an d yellow light they look different. **Differences are compressed within categories and exaggerated between them. (the brain is evolved to "bin" things)