Prejudice and Intergroup Relations

Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes

• Prejudice: negative feeling toward an individual due to their group membership
• Discrimination: unequal treatment based on group membership
• Stereotype: cognitive beliefs that associate groups with traits
• Aversive racism: simultaneously holding egalitarian values and negative feelings toward people of other races

The ABC of Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes

• Affective component: prejudice
• Behavioral component: discrimination
• Cognitive component: stereotyping

Stereotypes and Socio-Cognitive Categorization

• Categorization: tendency to sort objects into groups
• Social categorization: sorting people into groups on the basis of common characteristics
• Outgroup members: people who belong to a different group or category than we do
• Ingroup members: people who belong to the same group or category as we do
• Outgroup homogeneity bias: outgroup members are more similar to one another than ingroup members

Prejudices and Subjective Perception

• Prejudice is an affective-based perception on differences among groups of people
• Includes racial prejudice (racism) and gender prejudice (sexism)

Common Prejudices and Targets

• Prejudice and discrimination against Arabs and Muslims has dramatically increased since September 11, 2001
• Atheists are disliked around the world in communities in which the majority of individuals are religious
• Bias against admitting overweight students to college
• Homophobia: excessive fear of homosexuals or homosexual behavior

What causes prejudice?

• Inner processes (e.g., emotions) contribute to prejudice and stereotyping
• Salience: being obvious or standing out
• Scapegoat theory: blaming misfortunes on outgroups contributes to negative attitudes
• Self-serving bias: taking credit for success but refusing blame for problems and failures
• Confirmation bias: focusing more on evidence that supports one's expectations than on evidence that contradicts them

Overcoming Stereotypes, Reducing Prejudice

• Conscious override: automatic system may sustain prejudices; conscious system can strive to overcome
• Mental processes of nonprejudiced people: difference lies in conscious system
• Discrimination in reverse: when people are accused of prejudice, they often exert themselves to prove the opposite
• Motives for overcoming prejudice: dedication to equality and social disapproval
• Contact: covert expressions of prejudice can be reduced by intergroup contact
• Superordinate goals: cooperating to achieve common goals is one powerful antidote to intergroup conflict

Impact of Prejudice on Targets

• No culture seems immune to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination
• Most have stereotypes; people dislike being stereotyped
• Self-fulfilling prophecy: prediction that ensures, by the behavior it generates, that it will come true
• Stigma and self-protection: social comparison, self-worth, and attribution theory
• Competitive victimhood: people may claim victim status because of moral, legal, or financial advantages
• Stereotype threat: fear that one might confirm stereotypes that others hold
• Self-defeating prophecy: prediction that ensures, by the behavior it generates, that it will not come true