SP Chapter 13

True or false: it's been found that, once kids enter into adolescence, they start to become aware of prejudicial views against people who are overweight.

False! Actually (and sadly), it has been found that people start to develop anti-overweight prejudices as early as preschool. But by the time they reach adolescence, these prejudicial views become much stronger.

True or false: throughout history, people have been condemned for expressing prejudicial and stereotypical views of others.

False! Instead, our more current views of prejudice and stereotypes, and how they are considered morally wrong, is actually a pretty new occurrence. It wasn't until a few hundred years ago that Western cultures started to consider prejudices and stereotypes to be wrong, and that we should instead be judging people not just based on group membership, but instead by considering them as an individual.

True or false: most people have been found to hold an implicit bias towards liking white people.

False! It's not so much that people tend to like white people more, but instead it is that their implicit attitudes make it so that they tend to dislike black people more.

True or false: prejudicial attitudes are primarily a Western problem.

False! Prejudices and stereotypes are found worldwide, and this suggests that it is therefore at least partially rooted in our human nature to stereotype and even sometimes discriminate against other groups.

True or false: prejudice and discrimination are synonymous.

False! They are distinct terms, though they can be closely related to one another. Prejudice is when you feel negatively towards someone because of a group they're part of, whereas discrimination is more so about actions that you take, whereby you treat those people you have prejudices against unequally based on their group membership. So, prejudice can lead to discrimination because prejudice is the negative feelings, and then discrimination is the manifestation of those feelings into actions that promote inequality.

True or false: a person is either internally motivated or externally motivated to be nonprejudiced.

False! They are not always mutually exclusive, and sometimes people might be motivated for more than one reason. Plus, sometimes people might not be motivated at all! At which point they tend to just be moderately prejudiced (because most people are not extremely prejudiced).

True or false: many social psychologists have come to believe that the reason people have formed stereotypes throughout history was to serve as a deliberate attempt to be able to oppress those groups.

False! They don't believe that stereotypes were purposely invented just so they could oppress those groups. Instead, those who believe stereotypes and oppression are related believe that those who were already in power and oppressing certain groups then formed these stereotypes to try to rationalize to others why they deserved to be in power and why the other group deserved to be oppressed.

True or false: stereotypes are always negative.

False! They typically tend to be, but they could also be positive as well. However, it is important to understand that there are cases in which stereotypes could actually lead to severe danger and possibly even death for those being stereotyped against.

True or false: we are very close to eradicating prejudices in America.

False! We still have quite a long way to go, and it is likely that prejudices would never realistically be able to be fully trashed. However, we have shifted more towards having most people feeling that prejudices are immoral and unfair to hold, so more people do seem to be trying to consciously override them and not let them get in the way of their thinking and treatment of others.

True or false: according to the contact hypothesis, if we were to just have more interactions with people from different groups than our own, then we would be able to reduce our prejudices.

False! While it is true that the contact hypothesis says that the reason we hold prejudices is because we just don't know enough about the groups due to lack of interaction with them so we rely on stereotypes instead, and that having greater interactions with them could reduce hostility and prejudice, it is not as simple as just having more interactions overall. Instead, it believes that these interactions have to be mutually pleasant for both people involved, because otherwise it can actually lead to stronger hostility and prejudice.

True or false: self-fulfilling prophecies are inevitable.

False! While it's true that people can ultimately change their behaviors to be in a way that is consistent with others' expectations of them, people often are able to resist them and contradict the expectations set forth by others.

According to Gordon Allport, stereotyping is _____.

"the law of least effort"

How might stereotypes and oppression be related to each other?

-**because one theory of why we have prejudices and stereotypes against different groups is that they can be used to help justify our oppression of certain groups -this view believes that those who were oppressing other groups of people invented stereotypes of the groups they were oppressing so as to be able to rationalize why they continued to oppress them -and so, basically those that are in power over another group might construct these stereotypes and prejudices as a way to explain and rationalize why they are the ones in power and why the other ones are being oppressed

Why are heuristics important to the discussion of stereotyping?

-**it is one theory proposed to try to explain why prejudice and stereotyping occur -and it says that we use stereotypes as a type of heuristic to help us make mental shortcuts in our thinking -that's because it would just take way too long and way too much effort for us to try to consciously think about all of the traits the individual has and the good and bad things about them to form all of our evaluations about each individual we come across -so instead, we implement stereotypes as a quicker and easier way for us to be able to make an assumption about what the person is like

Discuss the relationship between self-esteem and prejudice.

-**it is one theory proposed to try to explain why prejudice and stereotyping occur -this argument says that the reason we form stereotypes, and also why the majority of them are negative, is to basically boost our self-esteem -because if we view other people from different groups as being less than our own group in some way, then that makes us feel like we are therefore above them

Discuss what the premise behind the contact hypothesis is. Why is it significant?

-**it is one theory proposed to try to explain why prejudice occurs, and it essentially says that prejudice is the result of ignorance -it believes that we experience prejudice against different groups because we really haven't interacted enough with them, and so we really don't have a lot of info about them, which makes us try to understand them by only considering the information we know from stereotypes about them -so, if we were to have regular, positive, interactions with people from different groups than our own, then we can reduce our prejudices against them -**also significant because it does seem to have some support, because it's been shown that people who have pleasant interactions with others then hostility can decrease; BUT if the interactions are negative, it can actually increase hostility and prejudices further

What is the scapegoat theory? Why is it significant?

-**this is a theory that helps to explain how inner processes can help lead to the formation of stereotypes and prejudices against other groups, particularly when there is a motivation involved in forming the prejudice -with this theory, it says that sometimes prejudices form because people choose to blame the bad things that happen to them in their lives on outgroups, and this can increase their negative attitudes towards that group and thereby reinforce prejudices against them

Describe the concept of the jigsaw classroom. Why is it significant?

-**this is one method that has been found to be helpful in reducing intergroup prejudices -how it works is that it involves having the group have to finish an assignment and each student has to contribute in order to be able to effectively finish it, which requires all of the students to try to cooperate together -and it's been found to be a quite effective way of reducing prejudices among students, simultaneously decreasing racial prejudices and increasing academic performance among the kids

What does the realistic conflict theory believe? Why is it significant?

-**this is one theory that seeks to provide an explanation of why prejudice occurs -it proposes that prejudice and intergroup hostilities arise when there are limited resources available, so that the groups have to compete with one another in order to try to attain those scarce resources -and it says that we are going to be most negative towards those in oppositional groups to our own, and we are going to have the strongest negative attitudes towards them in times when the resources are scarce, forcing people to have to compete with each other to get them

_____ are most often the targets of prejudicial weight views.

-Females

How do people's implicit and explicit attitudes about race tend to compare? Why does this matter?

-a lot of the times, we tend to hold implicit biases towards certain racial groups that differ from our explicit attitudes we express about them, so that we sort of unconsciously show prejudice towards some groups even though we honestly do not consciously feel prejudiced towards them -in particular, a lot of people have been found to have an implicit disliking towards blacks -**this matters because our unconscious attitudes tend to be a much better predictor of our behaviors towards those groups

Is the advancement of modern culture to blame for the formation of prejudices? Discuss why or why not.

-actually, modern culture is less compatible with having prejudices -prejudices are thought to have evolved long ago in human history as a means to help each group essentially be able to obtain limited resources, and there had to be a great deal of cooperation *within* your own group to do this while beating out the other groups -but with modern society, in order to really thrive, we not only need to have cooperation within our own groups, but we also ultimately need to have cooperation among different groups as well -so, modern culture and society is kind of going against our evolutionary roots of prejudice, rather than being the reason for prejudice

What is the difference between someone who is considered an outgroup member and someone who is considered an ingroup member?

-an outgroup member=someone who doesn't belong to the same group/category that you are a part of -an ingroup member=someone who does fit into the same category or group that you belong to

Why might it be useful to talk about Muslims, in regards to discussions of intergroup relationships?

-because Muslims, while the second-largest religious group in the world after Christianity, are often the target of a lot of prejudice and discrimination -and while overt forms of discrimination might not be as strongly tolerated now, there are still way too many instances of more covert discrimination

How is religion applicable to the discussion of intergroup relations? Explain.

-because one source of prejudice that occurs worldwide is that against people who identify as atheists -people tend to be prejudiced against atheists because there is a tendency to associate believing in God as meaning that you are a moral individual, whereas if you don't believe in God, then it implies you are immoral and cannot be trusted

Why might people hold prejudicial views against someone because of their weight?

-because people tend to often believe that obesity is the person's own fault and that it is their own behaviors that got them to that point

How is the duplex mind related to prejudice?

-because the automatic system seems to be responsible for automatically categorizing people into groups, and also for being very automatically and readily able to adopt certain stereotypes against different groups -and the automatic system tries to make us sustain our prejudices because we use them and stereotypes as heuristics to make cognitive processing easier and less effortful for us -and then the deliberate mind has to come along and if we wish to change or discard our stereotypes, then we need to actually consciously override these thoughts -and when we do try to consciously override our more automatic prejudices, this takes a lot of mental effort, which can deplete us and make us less effective at self-regulation afterwards

How are ingroup favoritism and the minimal group effect related to one another?

-because with ingroup favoritism, that is our tendency to give preferential and better treatment to those who are within the same group as us, over those who are in a different group than us -and with the minimal group effect, that is when we express ingroup favoritism even when the group that we are a part of is just completely random and not actually based on anything meaningful whatsoever -**and because we exhibit these automatic tendencies, they both support the idea that we have this natural and predisposed tendency to separate the people we come across into different groups -**and how we also seem to have an automatic reaction to consider those in groups other than our own as being more negative, which provides support for the possibility that prejudice is at least partially innate within us

Discuss how the phrase of nature says go and culture says stop is relevant to the topic of prejudice.

-because with nature, we have this natural tendency to separate people into ingroups and outgroups, and we also tend to naturally feel more negatively towards those who are part of the outgroup -but then with culture, we are sometimes taught to overcome these prejudices and be more equal in our thinking -however, there are also instances in which sometimes culture does not tell us to stop, and instead actually prompts us to continue forth with those prejudices

How might it be different when a person categorizes objects, versus categorizing people?

-because with objects, typically you don't attach any sort of emotional responses or feelings to the categories you are putting the objects in -but when you categorize people and place them into certain groups, you typically do feel some sort of emotional response to each category, whether positive or negative

What is the most effective way to control one's prejudice?

-by being internally motivated to decrease their prejudice, because they will actually internalize those feelings of wanting to be as equal as possible, rather than just trying to publicly conform

What is the difference between cooperation and competition?

-cooperation means that people are working together in order to for everyone to be able to achieve their particular goals or an overarching, shared goal -but with competition, that involves having people working to try to achieve their own goals, but it has to come at the expense of someone else not being able to meet their goals

What gender differences have been found, with regards to anti-gay prejudices? Are there any gender similarities?

-difference=men tend to have stronger anti-gay prejudices, despite the fact that men are also more likely to engage in homosexual behaviors than women -similarity=both genders feel more prejudice to gay people who are their same gender

To what extent do we usually rely on stereotypes, when first meeting a new individual?

-for the most part, we tend to rely relatively little on stereotypes -what usually happens is that we actually gain as much information as we can about that person, and then we might incorporate stereotypes to help fill in the gaps where we might still be unsure about them

Realistic conflict theory is similar to ____.

-frustration-aggression theory, but in the context of group conflicts -that's because the frustration-aggression theory says that the reason people act aggressively towards others is because of feelings of frustration provoking them to do so -so, with regards to the RCT, it could be that groups' "aggression" (in this case actually prejudices and hostility) towards other groups is the result of how the other group that you are competing against is frustrating your group's abilities to be able to get what they want and obtain resources

What are the two components involved in prejudice?

-having a negative view and treatment towards groups different than your own -having favorable attitudes and treatment to your own group

How credible is the contact hypothesis?

-it actually does have some support! -it's been found that, when people have mutually satisfying and pleasant contact with each other and they are in different groups, this can actually help to reduce hostilities and prejudices between them -and it's also been found that even just imagining that you are having positive interactions with other people from different groups can help you decrease your prejudices towards them

Why might the outgroup homogeneity bias occur?

-it could be due to lack of adequate exposure to others who are in different groups than our own

What are the possible downsides that could come about by being more externally motivated to decrease one's prejudice?

-it could lead them to engage in public conformity so that they explicitly say that they are not prejudiced, despite having some internal feelings of prejudice still -and this can make it so that they feel a lot of external pressure to act a certain way, so that when they no longer feel like the forces exerting that pressure on them exist anymore, they may be even more prejudiced than they would have been before

Why might people stereotype?

-it helps us to more easily make sense of the people that we come across in our lives -sometimes when we are first meeting a person, we only have a limited amount of information to go off of for making an evaluation/impression of them, so while we do obtain some information about who they seem to be during that initial meeting with them, we still have a lot of gaps, and so we may use stereotypes we've learned to help fill in those gaps to provide ourselves with a more comprehensive idea of who this person likely is

What racial stereotype is often prevalent in our society? What implications could this have?

-it's been found that people, whether black or white, tend to believe that a black person is more likely to be violent and aggressive than a white person -it's been found, through the use of computerized simulations, that people of both races are more likely to mistakenly shoot an unarmed black person compared to an unarmed white person -**this matters because it can actually have real-life lethal consequences, because that is evident in how there are often more incidences of unarmed black individuals being shot and killed by people like police officers

How effective is contact for reducing one's prejudices? Explain.

-it's quite effective! -it's been found that even vicarious contact (like having a friend that is friends with someone from a group you feel prejudice towards) can work in some instances, but this is primarily only going to work for the more overt forms of prejudice -meanwhile, more covert forms of prejudice are best resolved and decreased through the use of direct intergroup contact

Is competition between groups an inevitable occurrence?

-nope! -actually, there are two different ways to help reduce ingroup competition... -one way is to make each group member more identifiable, rather than allowing people to become deindividuated in the group, because when they are deindividuated, they are more likely to do something antisocial, like being hostile or competitive -and the other way is to consider the long-term effects that can occur because of competition between the groups, and considering whether it is worth the potential costs it could cause

Is it safe to say that the process of stereotyping is primarily the result of culture? Why or why not?

-not really! while it is true that culture helps us learn specific stereotypes and pass them on to others, there definitely seems to be a natural component involved as well -humans seem to be hard-wired to categorize information that they come across, because by putting things into different groups, it helps us more easily make sense of our environments, as opposed to if we tried to think about each thing we come across as a separate, individual entity -and so stereotyping is thought to be an extension of this natural inclination to categorize, due to the fact that we are cognitive misers

How does the U.S. compare to other countries, in regards to our degree of prejudice?

-overall, we still have way too much prejudice, considering we tend to idealize tolerance and equality of others -but at the same time, compared to other societies throughout history, we are pretty equal and tolerant to some degrees

How do we typically go about developing our specific stereotypes?

-primarily through those *within* our same groups -because we tend to spend the most time with others who are in the same group as us, and so we get most of our information from them as a result

The best-known form of prejudice is _____, which is ______.

-racism -which is when you hold a negative view of someone solely based on their race

How accurate do our stereotypes tend to be? Explain the patterns found, and also why this might occur.

-research has actually found that, for the most part, they are pretty darn accurate in *both* content and degree, typically within 20% of objective facts about the group we're stereotyping -this is true for gender, racial, and age stereotypes, BUT political stereotypes tend to be very inaccurate, and so were personality traits based on the country the person is from -there are a few different reasons for why our stereotypes are, on average, pretty accurate... 1. it could be because we use our stereotypes as a type of heuristic and, while heuristics sometimes do lead us to make inaccurate thoughts, for the most part we use them because they get us to the right answer more times than not 2. it could also be because stereotyping has changed over the years, so that now we are more often taught not to unfairly prejudge someone, so when we do use stereotypes, it could be that they are based on more careful observations of those within that particular group and so therefore they are more accurate

How do we use prejudices?

-some believe that we form prejudices based on our assumptions -**but the more likely way that they operate is that we use our stereotypes and prejudices more as hypotheses that we use and see if they apply, rather than trying to use them as a rule that we try to apply in every situation -**so, instead of treating our stereotypes and prejudices like firm assumptions, we instead tend to treat them like expectations that we apply to each interaction with someone of that group to see if still holds up or not (rather than just assuming it does and always will)

What is a stereotype? How is it related to subtypes?

-stereotypes=beliefs/schemas we form in our minds whereby we associate entire groups of people as being characterized by certain traits -they're related to subtypes because subtypes are when you take the stereotype and treat it as a general rule for a group and then you create a subtype that serves as an exception -so, when you see an individual in the group that violates your stereotype for the group, you may put them in a subtype that serves as a way to still categorize that person into basically a different version of the stereotype

Describe what the discontinuity effect is. Why is it significant, and does it occur?

-that is how groups tend to be much more likely than just individuals to be hostile and competitive and more extreme in their behaviors -**and it basically implies that groups won't be able to get along with each other as well as individuals can get along with each other -the reason that has been given for why it occurs is thought to be because of fear and greed, because our group is less likely to trust other groups, so when we are together in our own groups, we are more likely to be more greedy and try to snag as many resources as we can so the other group can't get them

What happens with the outgroup homogeneity bias? Why might it be important?

-that is the tendency we have where we assume that, when considering ingroup versus outgroup members, we believe that outgroup members are more similar to each other than the ingroup members of our own groups -this can have important implications in situations such as eye witness accounts, because with the OHB, we also tend to inaccurately believe that outgroup members also look similar to each other, so we tend to be much better at being able to identify individuals who committed a crime when they are part of our own group, whereas if they are an outgroup member, we might be less accurate and potentially could choose the wrong person

Describe what homophobia is. Why is it significant?

-that is when a person has an excessive and irrational fear of people who are homosexual, or just to homosexual behaviors in more general terms -**significant because it's been found that those who are homophobic have been found to be more likely to be aggressive against gay men; are more likely to believe negative stereotypes they hear about people who are gay; and are less likely to believe the positive stereotypes they are told about gay people

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy? Why is it important?

-that is when we come to find out that there are certain expectations put on how people expect/assume we are going to act, and then once we are made aware of those expectations, we actually do end up starting to behave in those ways, which only reinforces their expectations -**significant because this is one outcome that could occur to people who are being the targets of prejudice and stereotypes -**and it can be used to predict how a stereotype is going to affect the person being targeted by it

What occurs with the confirmation bias? Why is it significant?

-that is when we tend to focus more on information that supports our own beliefs, more so than on any information that might go against our beliefs and expectations -**significant because it has been found that, even when we see someone from a group that we have a stereotype about doing something that goes against said stereotype, we often implement the confirmation bias so that our stereotype actually becomes even stronger

What does stigma by association mean?

-that is when you become the target of social rejection and prejudice as a result of you spending time with, and being associated with, someone who has some sort of stigma tied to them

What is salience? Why is it significant?

-that means that something is obvious or stands out a lot -**it is significant because it can be a contributing factor for the formation of a stereotype or prejudice against a group -**and it also shows how some stereotypes might be based purely on cognitive considerations, without having any emotional connections to it or being motivated to form it -and so, if you see one individual from a group different from your own, and they do something that just stands out, then you might see this and form a stereotype that all people in the group must also act like that

What does it mean if someone is prejudiced?

-that means that they essentially pre-judge a person or a group, and they hold a negative view towards them just because of the group that they are a member in

What does it mean if someone is stigmatized? What are some of the more common reasons for why someone might be stigmatized?

-that means that they have certain characteristics or traits about them that are deemed socially unacceptable, and this can foster feelings of prejudice and actions of discrimination against them -common stigmas=mental illness, poverty, physical deformities, having some sort of sickness, weight

What irony has been found in certain prejudices that people hold?

-that people tend to consider their own group as being much more motivated by love, whereas other groups are considered to be more strongly motivated by hate -and this is ironic because just the fact that you hold those prejudicial views towards other groups indicates that you are not just motivated by love

What is categorization? Why is it significant?

-that refers to our natural tendency we have whereby we try to basically put things we come across into different groups or categories -**this is one method we use to try to make better sense of our worlds/environments and to make things easier for us to process and understand -**and it also implies that we kind of have this natural tendency to engage in social categorization as well, whereby we not only categorize inanimate objects into groups, but also people we come across as well (which can contribute to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination)

The scapegoat theory is related to ____ because _____.

-the attribution theory and the self-serving bias -that's because, with attribution theory, that looks at how we determine what the cause of certain events are, and so we might blame other people and make external attributions about the negative events that occur in our lives -and then with self-serving bias, that is when we blame others and external things on the bad things that happen to us, while taking credit for when good things happen to us, so we are more likely to blame the bad things on others

What is thought to be the source of many of the stereotypes that exist against black people? Explain.

-the fundamental attribution error -that's because a lot of these stereotypes portray black people as being lazy, childlike, and unintelligent -but the problem is that, at the time that these stereotypes were being formed, a lot of black people were slaves, which meant that they had no rights, no ability to access education really, and they were forced to be dependent on others -and so when people looked at slaves, they made the wrong attribution that this was due to them being lazy, etc. and some of those stereotypes have stuck around

What was the old belief about the impact of stereotypes on African Americans? Is this the same or different from the current belief? Explain.

-the old belief that social psychs had was that African Americans likely internalized such stereotypes against them that existed in society, and they believed that the impact of this internalization was that African Americans likely had low self-esteems; and that the low self-esteems explained why AAs often ended up in lower income jobs, etc. -but since the 1980s, and continuing on through present social psychology, it's been found that actually, AAs tend to actually have higher self-esteems, both compared to other minorities and also compared to white people

Is there any validity in the idea that stereotypes might serve as heuristics? Why or why not?

-there actually does seem to be some support! -that's because it's been found that, when people use stereotypes, they do tend to show better memory for other unrelated information as well -and the reason behind this is thought to be because, if you are using stereotypes as heuristics, then that allows you to save a lot of mental effort, which you can then dedicate to other, more important information -and it's been shown that we are more likely to use stereotypes when our judgment abilities are reduced for one reason or another (like when we are tired), which goes along with the suggestion that we use stereotypes to help reserve our mental energy

How do many people view Muslims? Why might this be?

-there is actually a lot of more covert discrimination that occurs against Muslims -this is seen in the way that there is ever increasing workplace discrimination against those who identify as being Muslim or Arab -the reason for this is thought to be at least partially due to media, because sometimes the media often puts forth and perpetuates prejudicial views of Muslims, and they even sometimes inaccurately state that a Muslim is responsible for some type of terrorist attack when it wasn't even a Muslim who truly did it

What arguments have been proposed for why prejudice exists? Which is thought to be the more accurate one? Explain.

-there is an ongoing debate about it, whereby some believe that it is due to cultural effects, and others believe that it is more an innate phenomenon within us 1. the one side believes that we start off in life being nice and accepting of everybody and then, through the process of socialization, we come to learn these stereotypes and prejudices and come to be intolerant of others in certain groups; this has some support because it is true that the specific information in stereotypes does have to be learned, we are not just born stereotyping those specific traits 2. but the other side believes prejudice is more ingrained in us because it's been found that babies as young as 6 months old start to categorize people and even judge them based on their racial group; so it seems that we are kind of born with a predisposition to reject those who are different than us -**ultimately, neither one is perfect on its own; so like most things, it seems that prejudice is a combo of culture and nature because we do seem to have this natural tendency to categorize people into groups, but then culture comes along and gives meaning to those categorizations and teaches us specifically what to categorize people on, and how to feel about them and treat them

What are superordinate goals? Why are they significant?

-these are goals that people have whereby the only way that you can achieve it is by working together with others and actually working as a team to do so -**significant because it's been found that implementing these types of goals can actually be a successful way of reducing hostility and prejudices between different groups (as demonstrated in Sherif's summer camp experiment)

Is stereotyping the same thing as social categorization? Explain why or why not.

-they are certainly related, but they are not necessarily the same thing -social categorization is the actual process of categorizing people we come across into different groups based on certain characteristics that they share -and then stereotyping is related because it involves thinking about people and evaluating them based on their categorization into those groups, but it is different because stereotyping is associated with connotations because our stereotypes are how we think about those people within the groups and how we associate them with positive or negative traits -but social categorization is the process that occurs before that, whereby we are actually sorting people into groups based on those traits, and social categorization doesn't have any innate connotations to the categories we make

How readily can stereotypes be altered? Explain.

-they are often quite hard to change -that's because, even when a person interacts with someone who is an exception to their established stereotype, instead of actually modifying their stereotype or getting rid of it completely, they actually instead tend to just create a subtype, which is like a smaller category within that same stereotype to classify people so that they still fit within your stereotype, just in a different way

In what way are stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination related to one another?

-they collectively represent the ABCs (affect, behaviors, cognitions) of our interpersonal relationships -because prejudices serve as the affect -discrimination serves as the behaviors -and then stereotypes are the cognitive portion

What is a person's typical behavioral response when they are accused of being prejudiced?

-they often try to go towards the other extreme and do things that try to prove that they are definitely not prejudiced -and we often try really hard to avoid doing anything that could even make someone think that we are being prejudiced

How do researchers determine what a person's motivation is for not wanting to be prejudiced?

-they use a questionnaire that asks them why they care about not being prejudiced -and if they respond with more answers that fit into Internal Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice, this means that they actually have an inner, personal desire to be as nonprejudiced as possible -and if they respond with more answers that fit into External Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice, then their motivation is much more about trying to retain social approval

What is the lost letter technique? Why is it significant?

-this is a research study that was originally created by Stanley Milgram, but then was more modernly updated -instead of dropping letters, the modern variation involved a lost email, whereby the researchers sent out a "lost email" stating that a student had either won a scholarship or had not won it, but it was "accidentally" sent to the wrong student -and the researchers counted to see the frequency that people forwarded the email to the "correct" student (who had an Arab-sounding name) -and it was found that people were much more likely to forward the email to the correct recipient when the email said that they hadn't won the scholarship, compared to if it said they did win it -**and this helps to show how there is still a lot of persistent, more low-key prejudice and discrimination against Muslims (all over the world)

Assess the accuracy of this statement: prejudice and discrimination against the LGBTQ community is not much of a concern in current society.

-this is definitely not true! -there is still a lot of discrimination and prejudice against LGBTQ individuals in jobs, in the military, and even in just day-to-day interactions -those who are transgender are still not allowed to serve in the military -and there are even some stores that refuse to serve LGBTQ customers -one good thing is that the amount of support for same-sex marriages has been increasing a lot over time around the world

Assess the accuracy of this statement: competition is inevitable in human society.

-this is not true! -in fact, there are actually many different societies throughout the world that still exist where they do not allow competition to occur

Assess the accuracy of this statement: a significant minority of people outwardly identify as being prejudiced.

-this is not true! -instead, the majority of people say that they aren't prejudiced, but despite that they might say this, sometimes people's actual behaviors aren't aligned with their explicit attitudes

Assess the accuracy of this statement: with prejudice and discrimination, you can never have one without the other, they always occur simultaneously.

-this is not true! -there are instances in which you can be prejudiced without discriminating against those people that you feel negatively towards, because you might just feel negatively towards them but not actually act on those feelings -and you can also sometimes experience discrimination without prejudice because sometimes you might behave in a way that is discriminatory, sometimes inadvertently, without actually feeling any sort of negativity towards people in that group

Assess the accuracy of this statement: sometimes people who are racist might hold conflicting views.

-this is true! -they might experience *aversive racism* which is when they have conflicting views where they have simultaneous beliefs and values that promote egalitarianism, but also find themselves having negative/unpleasant feelings about a particular race(s) -so, they conflictingly believe in racial equality, but they also tend to feel uncomfortable when they are around people in a racial minority, and thus try to avoid interactions with them

Who is most likely to be prejudiced against LGBTQ individuals?

-those who are politically conservative -those who are more religiously conservative -those who are "disgusted" by homosexual behaviors

How might evolution play a role in the formation of prejudices?

-throughout human history, people were often part of hunter-gatherer groups, and these types of groups often faced the problem of small availability of scarce resources -so, if there were two different groups that perched in the same area for some time, then this means that the scarce resources would be stretched even thinner and there would likely not be enough for both groups to adequately be sustained, which would therefore prompt natural hostility between the groups -and it is thought that maybe the reason that we still have prejudices today against groups different than our own is because, in the context of these HG groups, those who were more prejudiced against the other group prevailed in being able to obtain more of the limited resources

Is the argument that homosexuality is unnatural a reasonable one? Discuss why or why not.

-ultimately, it is not a very valid argument -homosexual behaviors have actually been found to be pretty common not only among humans, but among many other different species around the world -plus homosexual behaviors have also been found among humans all around the world, too

When are we more likely to implement racial stereotypes?

-when people are in groups and the group disagrees, rather than if everyone in the group agrees with each other

How does one's circumstances influence their stereotypical thinking?

-when people are undergoing worse, more stressful times, then they typically tend to think more stereotypically towards other groups, which in turn can also make them become more hostile towards other groups during times of stress -and this can be physical stress or emotional stress

Under what circumstances are people especially likely to express prejudicial views towards those who are homosexual?

-when they think that those who are homosexual are basically making a lifestyle choice, rather than considering it to be more of a biologically-based type of attraction

Are there ever exceptions to the outgroup homogeneity bias?

-yes! -although we typically and wrongly assume that outgroup members are a lot more alike than they really are, the exception is when someone from an outgroup gets angry -because when they express anger, then this actually helps us more accurately and easily identify that individual

Who is most likely to be supportive of LGBTQ individuals?

-younger Americans -certain cultures (like Dutch people)

What reasons might someone have for not wanting to be prejudiced? Why does it matter what their motivation is?

1. because they genuinely care about trying to implement equality towards everyone as much as possible 2. because they do not want to be socially rejected, since those who are prejudiced often face social disapproval -**the source of the motivation matters because it has a big influence on their behaviors -**so, if they are more externally motivated by social disapproval, they outwardly say that they are tolerant of everyone, but then when they are able to be more anonymous with their answers, they tend to be much more prejudiced; so their attitudes are highly dependent on whether they think others will or will not be able to know how they respond -**but if they are more internally motivated, then they tend to respond with low prejudicial attitudes whether or not they think other people can know their responses -**and then if they are not motivated either way, then they tend to have pretty moderate prejudicial views all the time

What are the possible reasons for why scapegoating might occur?

1. it could be out of a motivation to try to maintain feeling like they are still morally superior because, if they can blame a negative event onto the other person, then they can avoid feeling like they personally did something immoral that contributed to those outcomes 2. it could be out of a motivation to try to have control because, when bad things happen, there are a lot of things that usually contribute to it and they are often hard to control, so when you just place the blame on someone else, this makes it a lot easier and gives you the illusion that you have control over the bad thing

What reasons have been proposed for why some people hold prejudices while others do not? Which argument seems to be most credible?

1. it could be that those who are not prejudiced are not familiar with, and do not know of, the stereotypes; but this is not thought to be the reason because researchers have found that people who are not prejudiced still often know of the same stereotypes that prejudiced people know 2. it might be that, since both kinds of people are aware of the stereotypes, it might be that the ones who are prejudiced just think of the stereotype when they interact with those of that group; but this is also found to not necessarily be true because both types of people do still think of the stereotype when interacting with those other groups 3. this argument, which has been found to be true, is that the automatic system is the same for both types of people, in that automatically they both have the stereotype brought up in their minds, but it's just that those who are not prejudiced use conscious processing to override it and implement more equal feelings

What are the different theories proposed for why we have prejudices and stereotypes?

1. it is related to our evolution 2. contact hypothesis 3. they can be used as justification for oppressing certain groups 4. they are related to heuristics 5. they can help us boost our self-esteems 6. realistic conflict theory

What patterns have been found in the treatment of people who are considered overweight? What is important to note about these findings?

1. it's been found that there is a lot of prejudice against people who are overweight and obese 2. it's so bad that there has even been found to be a bias against students who are overweight or obese so that if they are, then their chances of being admitted into college are less than those who are not 3. and this prejudice is especially true when talking about females 4. people tend to associate those who are overweight with being less attractive, less popular, less successful, having poorer self-control, and being less trustworthy and hardworking 5. and obese women tend to earn 6% less than other women; and obese men earn 3% less than other men -**important to note is that, in our society and in societies around the world, prejudice against those who are overweight or obese are less taboo, and people are much more willing to outwardly express their prejudices and discriminatory behaviors against those who are overweight

What are thought to be the primary reasons for why people hold homophobic prejudices? Explain.

1. it's most likely because they worry that they are going to have someone who is homosexual try to hit on them and they don't want to have to reject them 2. it could be that they are afraid that, if someone who is homosexual tries to hit on them, then they might actually have a positive response to it themselves 3. it could also be related to self-presentation, and how they might be afraid of what other people might think about them if they spend time with those who are homosexual, because they want to avoid stigma by association

How do prejudices affect those who are being targeted by the prejudice?

1. people really feel negatively when they know there is a stereotype or prejudice against them, and they really want people to treat them and evaluate them as individuals instead 2. sometimes they might respond in a hostile or aggressive manner 3. sometimes there might be a self-fulfilling prophecy that occurs whereby they actually end up reinforcing the stereotype 4. in some cases, people might actually bolster their self-esteem as a protective measure against the prejudice and stereotyping

Describe the process that occurs to make a self-fulfilling prophecy happen.

1. the target of the stereotype/prejudice believes that the certain event will occur to them in the future 2. this belief causes them to experience a change in their behaviors that they likely wouldn't have had, had they not known about the expected event 3. the expected event does occur, at least partially due to the fact that they changed their behaviors

True or false: it is often much easier to promote hostility between groups than to be able to reduce hostility between groups.

True!

True or false: even when a stereotype is positive, it could still potentially be harmful.

True! This is seen in instances such as benevolent sexism, because it tends to involve treating women with chivalry and respect, but at the same time it can be harmful in that it further reinforces traditional stereotypes of women. And it's actually been found that benevolent sexism is more detrimental to women's cognitive performance on tasks that outward, hostile sexism.

Competition is said to be _____.

a zero-sum game, whereby one group gets to be victorious and the other loses out

Prejudice is founded on _____.

perceived differences among groups of people

The most widely talked about forms of prejudice are _____.

racism first, and then sexism