PSYCH-313_STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION.pdf

PSYCH-313_STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION.pdf

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  PSYCH 313 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY “STEREOTYPES,PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION” DEFINING OUR TERMS  Racism- prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s racial background, or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one racial group over another.  Systemic racism- institutional and cultural levels of racial discrimination.  Sexism- defined as prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s gender or as institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one gender (typically men) over another (typically women).  Stereotypes- beliefs or associations that link whole groups of people with certain traits or characteristics.  Prejudice- consists of negative feelings about others because of their connection/membership in certain groups.  Discrimination- negative behavior directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group. CURRENT FORMS OF RACISM a) Modern racism- a subtle form of prejudice that tends to surface when it is safe, socially acceptable, or easy to rationalize. b) Aversive racism- racism that concerns the ambivalence between fair-minded attitudes and beliefs on the one hand and unconscious and unrecognized prejudicial feelings and beliefs on the other. o Microaggression- to characterize the everyday, typically subtle but hurtful forms of discrimination that are experienced frequently by members of targeted groups. c) Implicit racism- racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally. MEASURING IMPLICIT RACISM  Implicit Association Test (IAT), first developed and tested by Anthony Greenwald and others (1998).  The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures the extent to which two concepts are associated. o It measures implicit racism toward African Americans by comparing how quickly participants associate African American cues (such as a black face) with negative or positive concepts compared to how quickly they associate European American cues with these same concepts.  County-level implicit racism scores also predicted the degree of racial bias seen in the county regarding how black and white students were disciplined. INTERRACIAL INTERACTIONS  Interracial Interactions - refer to social interactions between individuals from different racial or ethnic groups. o Metastereotypes- thoughts about the outgroup’s stereotypes about them, and worry about being seen as consistent with these stereotypes.  “color-blind” mentality (demeanor acting)- trying to act as if race is so unimportant to them that they don’t even notice and certainly don’t care about their interaction partner’s race.
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  SEXISM: AMBIVALENCE, OBJECTIFICATION, ANDDOUBLE STANDARDS  Gender stereotypes- are distinct from virtually all other stereotypes in that they often are prescriptive rather than merely descriptive. o Indicates what many people in a given culture believe men and women should be like, not merely what people think they actually are like.  Ambivalent sexism- characterized by attitudes about women that reflect both negative, resentful beliefs and feelings and affectionate and chivalrous but potentially patronizing beliefs and feelings. Ambivalent sexism consists of two elements: a) Hostile sexism- characterized by negative, resentful feelings about women’s abilities, value, and challenge to men’s power. b) Benevolent sexism- characterized by affectionate, chiv alrous feelings founded on the potentially patronizing belief that women need and deserve protection.  Objectification- is when women are viewed or treated more as mere bodies or objects and less as fully functioning human beings. DOUBLE STANDARDS AND PERVASIVE STEREOTYPES  People often devalue the performance of women who take on tasks usually reserved for men and attribute women’s achievements to luck rather than ability. Same goes to men, they were perceived as less masculine if they worked for a female supervisor in a traditionally masculine occupation. BEYOND RACISM AND SEXISM Social psychological research encompasses a wide variety of stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination beyond racism and sexism. This expansion is driven by the understanding that multiple forms of bias exist and impact individuals in different ways. In addition to the forms of bias and discrimination mentioned earlier, social psychologists are also studying several other targets of prejudice and discrimination. These include: 1. Age: Apart from ageism targeting the elderly, researchers are examining bias and discrimination based on age throughout the lifespan. This includes stereotypes and prejudices against children, adolescents, and middle-aged individuals. 2. Weight and body size: Bias and discrimination based on weight and body size, often referred to as weightism or fatphobia, is an area of growing research. Scholars explore the stereotypes, stigmatization, and discrimination faced by individuals who are overweight or obese. 3. Sexual orientation: Prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation, such as homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, are widely studied. Researchers investigate the stereotypes, prejudice, and unequal treatment experienced by individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. BEING STIGMATIZED  Stigmatized- Being persistently stereotyped, perceived as deviant, and devalued in society because of membership in a particular social group or because of a particular characteristic. o refers to the process of experiencing social disapproval, negative attitudes, and discrimination
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  from others dueto a particular characteristic, trait, behavior, or status that deviates from what is considered “normal” or socially acceptable in a given culture or society.  Stigmatized individuals are targets of negative stereotypes, perceived as deviant, and devalued in society because they are members of a particular characteristic. STEREOYTPE THREAT: A THREAT IN THE AIR  Stereotype threat (proposed by Claude Steele)- the experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about one’s group.  Steele proposed that in situations where a negative stereotype can apply to certain groups, members of these groups can fear being seen “through the lens of diminish ing stereotypes and low expectations”. Steele (1997) called this predicament stereotype threat, for it hangs like “a threat in the air”.  Social identity threats- these threats are not necessarily tied to specific stereotypes but instead reflect a more general devaluing of a person’s social group. SOCIAL CATEGORIZATION AND INTERGROUP CONFLICT  Social categorization- the classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes.  As perceivers, we routinely sort each other into groups on the basis of gender, race, age, and other common attributes in a process called social categorization. INGROUP VS OUTGROUPS  Ingroups- groups with which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging, and identity.  Outgroups- groups with which an individual does not feel a sense of membership, belonging, or identity.  Outgroup homogeneity effect- the tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than among members of ingroups. MOTIVES CONCERNING INTERGROUP DOMINANCE AND STATUS  Social dominance orientation- a desire to see one’s ingroup as dominant over other groups and a willingness to adopt cultural values that facilitate oppression over other groups.  System Justification Theory- a theory that proposes that people are motivated (at least in part) to defend and justify the existing social, political, and economic conditions.  Superordinate goal- a shared goal that can be achieved only through cooperation among individuals or groups. REALISTIC CONFLICT THEORY  Realistic conflict theory- the theory that hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources.  Relative deprivation- feelings of discontent aroused by the belief that one fares poorly compared with others.
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  SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY Ingroup favouritism- the tendency to discriminate in favor of ingroups over outgroups.  To explain ingroup favoritism, Tajfel (1982) and John Turner (1987) proposed social identity theory.  Social identity theory- the theory that people favor ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self-esteem.  According to this theory, each of us strives to enhance our self-esteem, which has two components: (1) a personal identity; and (2) various collective or social identities that are based on the groups to which we belong.  Schadenfreude- the experience of pleasure at other people’s misfortunes, particularly for celebrities or others we don’t feel empathy for.  Two basic predictions arose from social identity theory: (1) Threats to one’s self-esteem heighten the need for ingroup favouritism; and (2) expressions of ingroup favoritism enhance one’s self-esteem.  Steven Fein and Steven Spencer (1997) proposed that threats to one’s self esteem can lead individuals to use available negative stereotypes to derogate members of stereotyped groups, and that by derogating others they can feel better about themselves.  The results of this experiment suggest that a blow to one’s self-image evokes prejudice and the expression of prejudice helps restore self-image  Intergroup discrimination is achieved not only through negative reactions and behaviors toward outgroups but also through being especially favorable and helpful toward one’s ingroups.  Socialization- refers to the processes by which people learn the norms, rules, and information of a culture or group. SOCIAL ROLE THEORY  Social Role theory- the theory that small gender differences are magnified in perception by the contrasting social roles occupied by men and women.  According to Alice Eagly’s social role theory, although the perception of sex differences may be based on some real differences, it is magnified by the unequal social roles that men and women occupy.  This theory asserts that perceived differences between men and women are based on real behavioral differences that are mistakenly assumed to arise from gender differences rather than the unequal distribution of men and women into different social roles. STEREOTYPE CONTENT MODEL  Stereotype content model- model proposing that the relative status and competition between groups influence group stereotypes along the dimensions of competence and warmth.  According to the stereotype content model, many group stereotypes vary along two dimensions in particular: warmth and competence.  The stereotype content model proposes that stereotypes about the competence of a group are influenced by the relative status of that group in society—higher status is associated with higher competence.  Stereotypes about the warmth of a group are influenced by perceived competition with the group—greater perceived competition is associated with lower warmth. CONFIRMATION BIASES AND SELF- FULFILLING PROPHECIES
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   Illusory correlation-an overestimate of the association between variables that are only slightly or not at all correlated. AUTOMATIC STEREOTYPE ACTIVATION  Subliminal presentation- a method of presenting stimuli so faintly or rapidly that people do not have any conscious awareness of having been exposed to them. INTERGROUP CONTACT  Contact hypothesis- the theory that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce intergroup prejudice under certain conditions.  extended contact effect, or the indirect contact effect- knowing that an ingroup friend has a good and close relationship with a member of an outgroup can produce positive intergroup benefits in ways similar to direct contact. Conditions necessary for Intergroup Contact to remedy racism:  Equal status – Contact should occur in circumstances that give the two groups equal status.  Personal Interaction – Contact should involve one-on-one interactions among individual members of the two groups.  Cooperative activities – Members of the two groups should join together in an effort to achieve superordinate goals.  Social norms – the social norms, defined in part by relevant activities, should favor intergroup contact.  The effects of Intergroup Contact that reduce prejudice: o Enhances knowledge about the outgroup o Reducing anxiety about intergroup contact o Increasing empathy and perspective taking THE JIGSAW CLASSROOM  Elliot Aronson and his colleagues (1978) developed a cooperative learning method called the jigsaw classroom.  Jigsaw classroom- a cooperative learning method used to reduce racial prejudice through interaction in group efforts. SHARED IDENTITIES  The Common Ingroup Identity Model developed by Samuel Gaertner and John Dovidio (2010, 2012) proposes that if members of different groups recategorize themselves as members of a more inclusive superordinate group, intergroup attitudes and relations can improve. EXERTING SELF-CONTROL  Researchers have distinguished between two kinds of motivation to control prejudiced responses and behaviors: o One kind is externally driven—not wanting to appear to others to be prejudiced. o A second type is internally driven—not wanting to be prejudiced regardless of whether or not others would find out.  According to the self-regulation of prejudiced responses model proposed by Margo Monteith and others, internally motivated individuals in particular may learn to control their prejudices more effectively over time.  According to this model, people who are truly motivated to be fair and unprejudiced are often confronted with the sad reality that they have failed to live up to that goal.