Social Psych ch. 5

stereotype

A belief or association that connects an entire group of people with certain traits or characteristics.

EX: “College athletes are dumb.”

prejudice

A negative attitude toward someone because they belong to a particular social group.

EX: Disliking someone because of their race.

Discrimination

Negative behavior toward someone because they belong to a particular group.

EX: Refusing to hire someone because of their race.

Individual level racism

One person discriminates against another.

Institutional level racism

organizations/institutions create or maintain unequal outcomes.

cultural leven racism

cultural practices and messages reinforce inequality.

systematic racism

racism that exists through broader institutional and cultural systems.

explicit bias

Bias that is obvious, conscious, and intentional.

EX: Someone openly using a racial slur.

implicit bias

Bias that operates automatically, unconsciously, or unintentionally.

Someone may genuinely believe they are fair but still show bias in certain situations.

cloud of ambiguity

Implicit bias is especially likely to appear when a situation is unclear or ambiguous because people can justify their decisions using reasons that aren't obviously related to prejudice.

Important: can allow hidden biases to influence decisions.

implicit association test

A test designed to measure automatic associations between different concepts.

EX:, it can examine how quickly someone associates racial groups with positive or negative concepts.

interracial interactions

these can sometimes be uncomfortable because both people may worry about stereotypes and how they are being perceived.

metstereotypes

Your thoughts about the stereotypes that another group has about your group.

color-blind approach

Trying to act as though racial differences don't matter or aren't noticed.

The textbook says research often finds that this approach can actually make interracial interactions more uncomfortable.

multicultural approach

Acknowledging and positively valuing racial and ethnic differences.

This can improve intergroup interactions.

Ambivalent sexism

Sexism that contains both negative and seemingly positive attitudes toward women.

-has 2 types: hostile and benevolent

hostile sexism

Negative, resentful attitudes toward women.

benevolent sexism

Positive-sounding but potentially patronizing or limiting attitudes toward women.

-EX: “Women need to be protected by men.”

glass ceiling

An invisible barrier that makes it harder for women to reach the highest positions of power or leadership

concealable stigma

A stigmatized identity or characteristic that a person can hide from others.

The burden of deciding whether/when to reveal it can create stress.

intersectionality

The idea that people belong to multiple social categories at the same time, and those identities can intersect to create unique experiences of prejudice or discrimination.

-EX: a black woman may experience racism and sexism

stereotype threat

The fear that you might confirm a negative stereotype about your group, which can hurt your performance.

-EX: Female college students score lower on a math test when told the test produces gender differences, compared to when they are told it does not

disidentification

When someone begins to distance themselves from a particular area because it has become connected to threats to their self-esteem or identity.

EX: “Maybe I'm just not a math person anyway.”

socialization

The process through which people learn the norms, rules, information, and attitudes of their culture or group. This can happen without consciously knowing it.

-This is one reason prejudice can be learned. Children can pick up stereotypes from parents, friends, school, culture, media

gender socialization

Children can receive different messages based on gender. Over time, repeated messages like these can teach children what behaviors are supposedly appropriate for boys vs. girls.

-EX: mothers being more likely to encourage boys to take risks and tell girls to be careful

Social Categorization

The process of dividing people into social groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, etc. This is a natural cognitive process, but it can have negative consequences.

-People tend to overestimate differences BETWEEN groups and underestimate differences WITHIN groups.

ingroup favoritism

The tendency to favor members of your own group. Interestingly, the textbook says this can happen even when groups are created based on completely meaningless differences.

outgroup homogeneity

The tendency to see members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than members of your own group.

-EX: “Us = individuals. Them = all the same.” “Everyone at that school is basically the same.”

conflict theory

The idea that competition over limited resources can create conflict and prejudice between groups.

subordinate goals

Goals that two competing groups must work together to accomplish. Cooperate instead of compete.

social identity theory

The theory that part of our self-concept comes from our membership in social groups, which can lead us to favor our ingroup.

social dominance orientation

A tendency to support or prefer hierarchy and inequality between social groups.

EX: “Some groups should be higher in society than others.”

System Justification theory

The idea that people are motivated to see the existing social system as fair, legitimate, or justified, even when the system produces inequality.

stereotype content model

perceived status is related to competence, while perceived competition is related to warmth.

dehumanization

Seeing members of an outgroup as less than fully human, sometimes comparing them to animals or objects. This can make prejudice and mistreatment more extreme.

Automatic stereotyping

Knowing a stereotype exists is enough for it to sometimes become activated—you don't necessarily have to believe it.

contact hypothesis

The idea that contact between members of different groups can reduce prejudice when certain conditions are present. Even knowing that someone in your own group has a close friendship with someone from an outgroup can reduce prejudice.

common ingroup identity model

The idea that prejudice can be reduced when different groups begin seeing themselves as part of a larger shared group.

Instead of: “Us vs. them” It becomes: “We're all part of the same group.”

self-contstrual

the way a person thinks about and defines themselves, especially in relation to other people.

interdependent self-construal

you see yourself as connected to and influenced by other people. Your relationships, groups, and responsibilities are an important part of who you are.