Chapter 10.docx

Chapter 10: Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination What Factors Contribute to Stereotyping and Prejudice? Stereotype: A belief that associates a whole group of people with a certain trait Prejudice: Hostile or negative feelings about people based on their membership in a certain group Discrimin...

Chapter 10: Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination What Factors Contribute to Stereotyping and Prejudice? Stereotype: A belief that associates a whole group of people with a certain trait Prejudice: Hostile or negative feelings about people based on their membership in a certain group Discrimination: Behaviour directed against people solely because of their membership in a particular group You are more likely to express prejudice if your self-esteem is threatened Other ways in which social psychological factors contribute to stereotypes and prejudice: Social learning Social categorization Cognitive biases Social Learning People form attitudes through broad learning principles (e.g., classical conditioning, operant conditioning, modelling): Children may receive rewards and punishments for expressing particular attitudes or engaging in particular behaviours toward others. Children also form attitudes by watching their parents We often also look to our peers for guidance in forming our attitudes and behaviours Social learning explains why people are often willing to express certain types of prejudice, but not others. Believing others agree with our stereotypes increases their strength and accessibility: makes them more resistant to change Multiculturalism: A better means than colour-blindness to diminish ethnic discrimination, because multiculturalism includes celebrating differences in combination with learning about other cultures. Social Categorization The practice of classifying people into in-groups or out-groups based on attributes the person has in common with the in-group or out-group Can be done on meaningless grounds such as eye colour and shoe size Consequences of classification: Out-group homogeneity effect In-group favouritism Out-Group Homogeneity Effect We tend to underestimate the variability of out-group members compared to the variability of in-group members This is because we typically have less exposure to and familiarity with people in the out-group than those in our in-group Cross-ethnic identification bias: We tend to see outgroup members as looking very similar to one another, and show greater accuracy for recognizing in-group members than out-group members In-Group Favouritism We evaluate our in-group more positively than out-groups Self-interest: We are motivated to favour those in our in-group because they are more likely to favour us in return In-group favouritism is more likely when we heavily identify with the group and when group norms are salient Social dominance orientation: Personality variable referring to extent to which you want your in-group to dominate and be superior to out-groups Cognitive Biases We often use shortcuts in our thinking. These can lead to stereotyping These biases include: Illusory correlation The ultimate attribution error The contrast effect Perceptual confirmation Confirmation bias Illusory Correlation We tend to overestimate the association between variables that are only slightly or not at all correlated Because we pay particular attention to things that are novel or unique, people who are distinctive are more salient Behaviours committed by members of small or rare groups receive more attention and are more memorable than the same behaviours committed by members of common groups Ultimate Attribution Error We tend to make dispositional attributions for negative behaviour and situational attributions for positive behaviour by out-group members, yet make the reverse attributions for in-group members These attributions help us feel safe in an often-unpredictable world Belief in a just world: We assume bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people Can lead to scapegoating and “blaming the victim” Contrast Effect We perceive stimuli that are different from expectations as more different than they actually are Shifting standards model: People within a group are more often compared to others within that group rather than to people in other groups Makes it is easier for minority group members to make minimum standards, but can be insulting Perceptual Confirmation We tend to see things in line with our expectations Interpret ambiguous information as supporting our stereotypes, see the same behaviour in a different way depending on our expectations We recall information about a person that is consistent with our expectations, we interpret and encode that information in distinct (stereotypical) ways We require fewer examples to confirm our beliefs about a trait that is highly stereotypical of a person in an out-group Confirmation Bias We tend to search for information that supports our initial view Ask questions designed to confirm our expectations Ignore information that disputes our expectations Assessing Stereotypes Ways in which researchers in psychology measure stereotypes: Self-report measures Covert measures The Implicit Association Test The bogus pipeline Self-Report Measures Commonly-used to examine people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours This approach is direct, and can be cost-effective, gather data from many people relatively quickly Problematic for testing something as sensitive as stereotypes Covert Measures The Implicit Association Test (IAT): Based on the assumption that it is easier—and therefore faster—to make the same response to concepts that are strongly associated with each other than those that are weakly associated The bogus pipeline: A fake lie-detector test What are the Consequences of Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination? Stereotypes can have long-lasting, negative consequences Ways in which the use of stereotypes leads to negative consequences: Behavioural confirmation/self-fulfilling prophecy Stereotype threat Reduced psychological well-being Reverse discrimination Behavioural Confirmation/Self-Fulfilling Prophecy We tend to seek, interpret, and create information that verifies our own beliefs Study: How implicit biases by male interviewers could lead to self-fulfilling prophecies in their evaluations of female applicants for a job: An interviewer’s perception of women as incompetent influenced their evaluation of the applicants, which then influenced the applicants own evaluation Stereotype Threat Fear that your behaviour may confirm an existing cultural stereotype, which then disrupts your performance Interferes with your ability to perform well and thus leads you to confirm the negative stereotype about your group The impact of stereotype threat on academic tasks has been demonstrated by people in a variety of different types of stereotyped groups Stereotype threat can influence the same person in different ways, depending on which aspect of their personality is made salient Stereotypes can be activated in subtle ways Stereotype threat leads to decreased performance because it leads to lower working memory capacity Being the only representative of one’s group in a situation leads to lower levels of performance Reduced Psychological Well-Being Rejection-identification model: People in disadvantaged groups experience a negative impact on their well-being when they perceive prejudice and discrimination against themselves Members of low status groups are, not surprisingly, more likely than those in high status groups to report experiencing personal discrimination Social Costs of Attributions to Prejudice People who attribute poor behaviour to prejudice can also experience social costs Members of minority groups are aware of the personal costs of reporting discrimination to members of majority groups Strategies for Minimizing Effects of Prejudice Disengage from and ignore negative feedback Compare your outcomes to those of others in your in-group as opposed to those in an out-group Devalue dimensions on which your group does not do well, value dimensions on which your group excels Increase your identification with the in-group, as a way of increasing self-esteem and well-being Reverse Discrimination Occurs when we show preferential treatment to those in stereotyped groups Can lead us to prefer candidates from under-represented groups over those from other groups, and to justify such preferences on seemingly objective criteria The Hazards of Positive Stereotypes We react differently to people in the different groups Positive stereotypes can have detrimental effects Hostile sexism: Feelings of hostility towards women based on their threat to men’s power Benevolent sexism: Holding positive, but patronizing, views of women Aversive prejudice: Conscious endorsement of unprejudiced beliefs about a group while at the same time holding unconscious negative attitudes toward the group Is Stereotyping Inevitable? Evidence that stereotyping is inevitable: Automatic activation of stereotypes Difficulty of suppressing stereotypes Active maintenance of stereotypes Persistence of subtle forms of discrimination Stereotypes are Activated Automatically Stereotypes are activated without conscious awareness, even among people who describe themselves as nonprejudiced Occurs for ethnicity, age, gender Stereotypes are Hard to Suppress Trying to suppress stereotypes is ineffective Trying to inhibit initially prejudicial responses can lead you to show more prejudice later on Disconfirming Evidence is Ignored Subcategorization: The maintenance of prior beliefs by creating separate categories for people who disconfirm these stereotypes Encountering stereotype-inconsistent information can decrease the strength of stereotypes if this information is dispersed across different group members as opposed to being concentrated in a small number of people Subtle Discrimination Persists Stereotypes of women, homosexuals, and Blacks are less prevalent today than they have been in the past, more subtle types of discrimination remain Benevolent Discrimination Benevolent discrimination underlies views that, for example, women are pure, fragile, and good at nurturing Although seemingly positive (albeit patronizing) because they flatter women on their feminine nurturing qualities, these beliefs serve to undermine women’s abilities, rights, and freedoms and ultimately threaten their social status Stereotypes can influence how people are treated, albeit often in subtle ways We may also justify acts of discrimination in creative ways to avoid appearing prejudiced How Can Social and Cognitive Interventions Help Overcome Stereotypes? The use of stereotypes can be reduced Ways in which social and cognitive interventions can help people overcome their reliance on stereotypes Provide training and education Be motivated to avoid stereotyping Provide Training and Education Take another’s perspective This is more effective if it is done at an emotional level (rather than a cognitive one) Learn considerable information about a person Helps us think about their group in a more diverse way Provide training in statistical reasoning Helps us gain knowledge about how we erroneously think things go together Be Motivated to Avoid Stereotyping If you are motivated, you can reduce your reliance on stereotypes Increase self-awareness Adopt egalitarian goals Be motivated to be accurate Avoid trying too hard How Does Culture Influence Prejudice and Stereotypes? Degree of prejudice: Prejudice varies from culture to culture in terms of degree and content Racial democracy theory: The degree of racial tension that has been evident in the U.S. has been largely absent from Latin American societies where people tend to be less prejudiced Content of Stereotypes Auto-stereotypes: Stereotypes you hold about your own group Hetero-stereotypes: Stereotypes about other groups There is significant agreement on hetero-stereotypes Meta-stereotype: Your beliefs about the stereotypes that outgroup members hold about your own group Reliance on Cognitive Biases People in collectivistic cultures show more in-group favouritism Types of Stereotypes Cultures vary in the stereotypes they hold about different people These stereotypes influence how we see members of different groups For example, cultures differ in their stereotypes about people who are overweight, and about women Stereotypes About People Who are Overweight Collectivistic cultures emphasize the role of situations Put less blame on obese people for their weight Show lower levels of prejudice and discrimination against obese people In the US, researchers found that an increase in body size was associated with teacher’s negative perceptions of students Carrying more weight is clearly valued in some cultures Stereotypes About Women Women are perceived to be higher in traits of warmth, positive emotions, and vulnerability Men are perceived to be assertive, impulsive, and excitement seeking Gender stereotype learning begins by age five In a given culture, parents’ expectations influence children’s sex- role behaviours There are cultural differences in gender stereotypes and knowledge of stereotypical masculine or feminine behaviours Some sexist beliefs are very similar across different cultures Hostile and benevolent sexism are correlated in all cultures Both men and women commonly endorse benevolent sexism Both men and women see men in more negative ways In other ways, cross-cultural comparisons reveal different beliefs about women Mean scores on hostile and benevolent sexism in a given culture are inversely related to gender equality, including women’s empowerment and development In highly sexist cultures, women endorse benevolent sexism more than men The perception of women as needing protection, and as part of the property of their families, can have dangerous and deadly consequences Film • A Class Divided (2009) – You can access this film through the Carleton Library: A Class Divided - Carleton University (exlibrisgroup.com)