Chapter 6: Prejudice
Thursday, December 10, 2015
10:43 PM
Definitions
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Prejudice
An usually negative attitude towards the members of some
group based SOLELY on their membership of that group
Negative emotional responses based on group membership
o
Discrimination
Behaviors based on prejudices
Differential (usually negative) behaviors directed towards
members of a different social group
o
Stereotype
Belief that all members of a group share certain traits or
characteristics, including behaviors
Each group prejudice is made up of one or more such stereotype
o
Racism
Belief that observable differences among races are genetic
(nature-nurture issue)
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Sexism
Belief that observable differences between sexes are genetic
More about Discrimination
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Obvious forms of discrimination
Mild
Simple avoidance
Stronger
Exclusion from jobs, educaitonal opportunities, clubs,
neighborhoods
Extreme
Overt aggression
o
Subtle forms of discrimination
Tokenism
Having someone from a minority group be included in
something just to be able to say that there is "equal
representation"
The fact that these people from a minority group are
being included is used an excuse to give them the rights they
actually deserve
Because they are included, it can't be that bad for
them so their requests for more rights are more easily
ignored
For people who participate in tokenism, positive actions
toward a minority are used to justify their "nonprejudiced"
behavior
Reverse Discrimination
Discrimination against members of a dominant or majority
group
Affirmative action
History of Race
o
Hierarchy was established by Johnan Blumenbach in 1775 that put
Caucasians at the top
o
They believed that the superior race was genetically superior
Nature theory
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However, evidence shows that differences between races are actually
caused by the environment, culture, learning and NOT genetics
Nurture theory
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The idea of race is not really supported by evidence and biologists
today question its validity
Prejudice
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Direct intergroup competition
Realistic Conflict Theory
Competition for resources can cause prejedice to form
between two competing groups
These groups will view each other in increasingly negative
terms, even to the point that they will no longer view the other
group as human
Hovland and sears (1940)
Robbers Cave Study (1961)
Boys were sent to a camp in Oklahoma and split
into two teams
First, they were asked to bond together to increase
the closeness of their group
Then they were pitted against each other in
competitive events
Strong prejudice developed between the two
groups
Eventually, the two teams were asked to work
together for superordinate goals
Tensions between the two groups decreased
dramatically and cross-group frienships formed
o
Social Learning of Prejudice
Children learn the views of their parents, friends, teachers, etc
Mass media promotes stereotypical images that allow children to
form prejudices early on
Example:
The media always portrays the damsel in distress
as a woman who does something wrong and needs saving
This can create the idea that women dont know
how to do anything and are useless
o
Social categorization
Ingroup vs. Outgroup
Favorability
Ingroup is more favorable than the outgroup
Variability
Outgroup homogeneity
They are all alike
Because we believe they are all the same, it's
easier to treat them as a group and not as individuals
We feel like we know who all of them are without
taking the time to know them
Ingroup heterogeneity
We are all different and unique
Ultimate attributional error
When good things happen to an outgroup, its because of
situational factors, and when it happens to the ingroup, it's
because of internal factors
Illusory Correlation
Incorrect presumptions about the outgroup can be made
because of feelings about the outgroup
There is probably a genetic component to this behavior
o
Threats to self-esteem
Having negative views about the outgroup allows group
members to bolster their own self image, particularly when it has
been threatened
o
Bogus Pipeline Study
Participants are told that their true attitudes can be read by a
machine (not true)
Because of this, participants will not lie when asked about their
attitudes and prejudices because they think the machine will pick up
on it anyway
o
Bona Fide Pipeline
Studies implicit stereotypes
Participants rate adjectives as good or bad
View photos of people from various ethnic stereotypes
View photos again and indicate if they have previously
seen them
The adjectives are then rated again
The point of this is to see if their attitudes towards
adjectives are changed based on the priming (looking at the
pictures)
DV is response latency while rating
Pushing the button faster means that the adjective
is highly associated with the photo
Combating Prejudice
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Breaking the cycle
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Direct intergroup contact
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Recategorization
Changing the label that is given to a group into one that is more
inclusive and representative
Example:
Muslims vs. Humans
Cognitive interventions
Collective Guilt
Just say no to stereotypes with attributional training
Pictures of people along with a stereotype that goes with
their group are presented to a participant
They were told to say "no" to the stereotypes several
hundred times, and after a while, they were less able to
associate stereotypes
Social Influence
What others think about "them" affects what we think about
"them"
Participants are asked to determine how much certain groups
contain certain traits
When they are told that other people do not agree with these
stereotypes, the participants' stereotypes also decrease
If other people dont see other groups as "that bad" then it is
easier for the participants to do the same