Notes Set 9/Ch. 10 Stereotypes

stereotype

the belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group

prejudice

an emotion-based attitude toward a group and its members

discrimination

unfair treatment of individuals based on their membership in a particular group

theory of modern racism

prejudice towards certain groups still exists although discrimination is illegal; racism is expressed in subtle ways, in one study participants were more likely to avoid responsibility for helping someone if they are of a different race

“benevolent” stereotypes

not all stereotypes are negative, but positive ones can be used to justify other negative beliefs and can disparage members that don’t fit the stereotype

measures of attitudes about groups

directly asking participants; indirect, non-self-report measures

implicit association test

a technique for revealing non-conscious attitudes toward different stimuli including particular groups, people are faster to press one key for group and stereotype match than contradiction

priming

presentation of information designed to activate a concept and make it accessible; can be used to measured prejudices that people may not know they have or want to admit

economic perspective

different social groups competing over scarce resources

realistic group conflict theory

theory that group conflict, prejudice, and discrimination are likely to arise over competition between groups for limited resources; prejudice and discrimination increase during conditions of economic difficulty

ethnocentrism

glorifying one’s own group while vilifying other groups

motivational perspective

prejudice results from motivations to view one’s ingroup more favorably than outgroups to feel good about themselves; people process information in terms of categories

social identity theory

the idea that a person’s self-concept and self-esteem derive not only from personal identity and accomplishments but also from the status and accomplishments of the various groups they belong to

boosting the status of the ingroup

self-esteem is based on status of groups, so we are tempted to boost the status of the group for ourselves; people who strongly identify with the ingroup react harshly to criticism of the group

self-esteem and group identity

people derive self-esteem from groups when they feel uncertain about their own attitudes, values, feelings, and place in the world

basking in reflected glory

taking pride in the accomplishments of other people in one’s ingroup; identify with groups victories but distance ourselves when they lose

denigrating outgroups to boost self-esteem

boost self-esteem with negative evaluations of outgroups; after receiving negative feedback about themself, participants are more likely to endorse negative stereotypes and rate people in the outgroup more poorly

cognitive perspective

prejudice results from biases in social cognition due to schemas about differences between ingroup and outgroup members

stereotyping in the cognitive perspective

stereotypes are part of the brain’s need to categorize everything; schemas that help process social information efficiently

stereotypes and cognitive energy

more likely to use stereotypes when we are mentally taxed; stereotypes free up mental energy for other things

stereotypes and biased assessment

stereotypes are often inaccurate and can lead to accentuation of ingroup similarities and outgroup differences

paired distinctiveness

the pairing of two distinctive events that stand out even more because they occur together; e.g. Americans seeing Vietnamese children walk on stilts might assume its a cultural activity

self-fulfilling prophecies

people act toward members of certain groups in ways that encourage the very behavior they expect

outgroup homogeneity effect

the tendency for people to assume that within-group similarity is much stronger for outgroups than for ingroups

own-race identification

the tendency for people to be better able to recognize and distinguish faces from their own race than from other races

reducing stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination

legal interventions; increased interactions among members of different groups

individual approaches to prejudice reduction

social norms through social media, messages delivered by high-status in-group member; cognitive and emotional training interventions

contact hypothesis

the idea that prejudice can be reduced by putting members of different groups in frequent contact with one another; research indicates that contact alone is not enough, several other conditions need to be met for contact to result in positive and productive group interactions

conditions for prejudice reduction

groups need to feel equal in status, groups need to have a shared goal, a community’s broader norms must support intergroup contact, interactions need to be on an individual, one-to-one leveldiv

multiculturalism

diversity ideology that encourages the acknowledgement and appreciation of people’s unique cultural and ethnic identities

benefits of multiculturalism

preferred by marginalized groups, increases perspective taking, pro-diversity, encourages positive evaluations of outgroup members, reduces anxiety about interracial interactions

color-blindness

diversity ideology that encourages treating others as unique individuals and downplaying or ignoring group differences

harms of color-blindness

can lead to more prejudice, discrimination, ethnocentrism, and in-group favoritism