06.05.Prejudice.STs.docx

Prejudice and Stereotypes 06/05/2023 Learning Objectives Define and differentiate stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination Describe the three main perspectives of intergroup bias (economic, motivational, and cognitive) and be able to provide basic descriptions of evidence of supporting these Defin...

Prejudice and Stereotypes 06/05/2023 Learning Objectives Define and differentiate stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination Describe the three main perspectives of intergroup bias (economic, motivational, and cognitive) and be able to provide basic descriptions of evidence of supporting these Define and explain outgroup homogeneity effect and ingroup differentiation, and how they relate to illusory correlations Define stereotype threat and be able to provide some examples Prejudice and Discriminate are Root Causes of Human Conflict Categorization (a root of intergroup bias) One way we simplify our enviro is to categorize to organize the world by clustering things into groups ST and prejudice begin from social categorization the natural cognitive process by which we place individuals into social groups A problem is that social categorization distorts our perceptions of others Are these the same thing? They are different The ABCs of Intergroup Bias Prejudice (affect) An unjustifiable engative attitude toward an outgroup or tward members of that outgroup Includes emotions or attitudes like dislike, anger, fear and disgust, discomfort even hatred Stereotype (cognitive) The positive or negative beleifs that we hold about the characteristics of social groups Ex include: Italians are romantic or college proffesors are ners Rem the representative heuristic? assume one example from a category represents the entire category Discrimination (behavior) Unjustified neg bx towards members of outgroups based on their group membership Includes behaviors like not hiring someone based on their gender, age, or race If someone is “racist” towards a certain racial group… Where does intergroup bias come from? Economic perspective Competetition with outgroups over scarce/valuable resources Motivational perspective Identifcaitomn with an ingroup, frustration or social identity Cognitive Perspective We take mental shrotcuts in our thinking ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE Realistic Group Conflict (RGC) Theory When groups compete for limited resources, the groups experience conflict, prejudice, and discrimination What are limited resources? Territory, jobs, power, food and water Attempts to explain why dome outgroups attract hostility and discrimination, while other’s don’t We tend to NOT have negative stereotypes about groups we don’t compeet with Britain has conflicts with Germany, but not with the Netherlands Robbers Cave Study (Sherif et al., 1961) One of the most (in)famous social psychology studies of the 20th century 22 5th grade boys (all strangers) participated in a 2.5 wk summer camp at Robbers Cave Park in OK Boys divided into two groups and created names (The Eagle and The Rattlers) The experiment involved three key phases Robbers Cave Study Key Phases Phase 1: Bonding For one week, the boys developed attachment to their groups by doing activities designed to promote unity, such as hiking, swimming, pitching tents, etc Neither group knew about the other’s existence Phase 2: Competition Groups were brought together for a four-day series of competitions between groups Other group was now obstacle to resource (prize) This led to conflicts, trash talk, and rading other group’s cabins, and burning the other group’s flag During subsequent two-day cooling off period, the boys tend to characterize their own in-group in very facorable terms, and the other out-group in very unfavorable terms Phase 3: Reverse the Effect? Researchers tried a few things in order to “reverse” the prejudice and reduce conflict between two groups Attempt 1: Mere Exposure Simply increase contact between groups only made sitauton worse The boys insulted each other and fought did not work Attempt 2: Superordinate Goals The boys were forced together to reach a common goal (food trug delivering food was stuck so they had to work together to free it) It worked! Prejudice went away Robber’s Cave: Important Points There were no diffs in background, appearance, or history of conflict; intergroup hostility developed anyways All this is required is conflict in economic competition Resources could include food, but also more abstract resources like power or influence Competition against ougrops often inreases cohesion within a group The intergroup conflict led ingroups themselves to adopt group names, social norms, create a shared social identity BUT worth noting, the this study has been widely criticized for being immoral; only performed in boys; a similar experiment was performed before this, but it failed A more Recent example Some americans think immigrants are “steaing their jobs” MOTIVATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Motivational Perspective Social Identity Theory A person’s self-concept and self-esteem are derived from personal identity and ingroup status/accompishments This idea is diff from RGC theory, bc it suggests that prejudice happens naturally and automatically when groups form In other words, it doesn’t require competition Motivational Perspective According to SIT, we devide the world into “them” and “us” based on a process called social categorization (ie,m we put people into social groups) and this naturally leads to prejudice The central hypothesis of social identity theory is that members of an ingroup will seek to: 1) view ingroup favorable bc this enhances self-esteem 2) find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self image Minimal Group Paradigm One simple way to test these effects it the minimal group paradigm A method that proposes that the minimal condition for group biases (like favoritism towards your own group and prejudice towards other groups) is simply being a member of a group Researchers create groups based on arbitrary and meaningless criteria to see if they can get people to develop intergroup bias Like...actually meaningless and silly stuff. Things like flipping a coin, color of shirt you’re wearing.. Example: Would you prefer that... 1) The ingroup and outgroup get $13 each? 2) The ingroup to get $9 and the outgroup to get $5? Minimal Group Paradigm If given the chance to distribute rewards across the ingroup vs. the outgroup, individuals want the ingroup to have more than the outgroup, even if it means they get less overall Ingroup Bias: tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others who belong to the same group that they do. COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE Schemas, heuristics, and stereotypes! Stereotypes and their dark side STs are basically schemas about groups of people Remember shcemas are knowledge structures; its your broad conceptualization of what something is based on prior experience Eg., a restaurant has waiters, tables, food STs can be useful, bc they decrease the time/effort needed to process/sort information helps us simplify the vast amount of information we are processing Remember what this is? represenative heuristic BUT! They can also be harmful when people rely on STS Ougroup Homogeneity Outgroup homogeneity effect tendency to assume members of outgroups are all alike If you rarely encounter outgroup members, the only info you may have about them are STs Ingroup Differentiation ingroup members are seen as more diverse (heterogenous) You encounter the ingroup all the time, so unique/identifying information is most useful, frequent, and attention grabbing Illusory Correlation Illusory correlation an incorrect belief that two things (x and y) are correlated when they are actually not Distinctive events capture attention and can therefor be over-represented in memory/beliefs Minority members are likely encountered more infrequently Negative behaviors occur less frequently than positive so they stand out that could make them more memorable Thus, negative behaviors from a minory group are even more distinct and will seem correlated This ties into confirmation bias believe things are related when they may not be, ignoring many other instances when not encounter addiction Confirmation Bias and Illusory Correlaton s Can also be fed by confirmation bias youll only notice negative behaviors that fit your stereotype Stereotype Threat (type of self-fulfilling prophecy) Our STs influence not only our jdugemnts of others, but also our beliefs about ourselves, and even our own perfromacne on important takss Group members usually know the Sts that others hold about them/their group ST Threat perfromacnce decrements that are caused by knowledge of cultural stereotypes The feat that we will confirm a ST that others have because of a group we’re in Classic ST Threat Effects Gender diffs in math perfromacne Aging and memory decline Can manipulate memory by priming them with false info Relevacne to Education: Racial Achievement Gaps How to avoid it? 1) put demographics form at end (reminding people of their gender/age/race/ethnicity can easily trigger ST in their mind) 2) change framing of questions/tests 3) Encourage students to think of skills as the result of hard work rather than inherent ability (frame as growth mindset v fixed mindset) Cognitive Biases Cognitive perspective emphasizes the cognitive processes that produce and maintain stereotypes and how stereotypes in turn affect prejudice and discrim Involves both Implicit (automatic) processes: occur outside of awareness Explicit (controlled) processes: occur with deliberate thought Implicit Association Test Task that measures the strength of associations between concepts and evaluations or stereotypes Implicit Association Tests Task that measures the strength of associations between concepts and evaluations of stereotypes This works by activating sschema/concepts about race/gender etc., and observing how this effects reaction times for judgments about positive and negative Key Take Aways • Intergroup bias involves economic, motivational and cognitive components • Stereotyping (cognitive) and prejudice (emotion/affect) begin from social categorization - the natural cognitive process by which we place individuals into social groups (creating “us” vs. “them” mentality) • Stereotypes may influence our performance on important tasks through stereotype threat à decrements become of self- fulfilling prophecy due to self-doub To reduce prejudice, we need to: 1) Be aware of our own stereotypes 2) Break down social categories; educate ourselves; increase contact with outgroup members 3) Work towards a common goal (cooperate) 4) Treat others as individuals rather than homogenous groups 5) Remove triggers that may induce stereotype threat 6) Pass laws and regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all people