Ch 10. Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Stereotype

Widely held belief that certain attributes are characteristic of certain groups

Prejudice

A preconcived attitude toward a group

• negative or positive

• emotion-based, is the feeling

Discrimination

Unfair treatment of individuals based on their membership in a particular group​

Differentiate Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Stereotype is the thoughts (belifs), prejudice is the feeling (attitude) and discrimination is the behavior (action)

Modern Racism

Prejudice toward racial groups that continues even though people reject openly racist beliefs.

• occurs in subtle or indirect ways

• Example study: Participants had the chance to help a White or Black person who needed medical assistance.

Out of Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination, which one is not always negative?

Stereotypes

• may include favorable assessments

  • Some groups may be stereotyped as smarter, nicer, or more athletic than others.​

Four Levels of Prejudice

1. Antilocution

2. Avoidance

3. Discrimination

4. Genocide

Antilocution

the stage of prejudice involving hateful speech or stereotyping

• ex: Using slurs

Avoidance

In this stage, the prejudiced group actively avoids members of the out-group, leading to social exclusion and isolation, though direct harm may not be intended.

• ex: “I’m avoiding downtown Cleveland because a lot of black people live there”

Discrimination

In this stage, prejudice is put into action by denying opportunities

• ex: Jim Crow Laws

Genocide

The last and most extreme stage of prejudice; involves the systematic extermination of a group. 

• ex: Israel v Gaza

How do we understand intergroup tension?

• Stereotypes and ongoing ethnic/religious/racial hostility highlight how deep and widespread these issues are.

• To understand why intergroup tension exists, we must recognize that there is no single, complete theory that explains stereotyping, prejudice, or discrimination.

• These phenomena are complex and arise from multiple sources—not one overarching explanation.

• people are reluctant to wrap head around arguments that don’t align with their stereotypes

Three General Theoretical Perspectives in Intergroup Tension

Economic, Motivational, and Cognitive

Economic Perspective

states that intergroup hostility occurs when there is competition for scarce resources (ex: Trump saying that Mexicans are stealing black jobs)

• Realistic Group Conflict Theory

  • ethnocentrism

• Suggests that prejudice can be reduced when groups work cooperatively to achieve a collective goal

  • may explain why racial integration is more successful in military— requires cooperative action

• describes historic examples of conflict:

  • racial and ethnic integration​ conflict

  • anti-immigrant prejudice (trump says that immigrants bring in drugs to obtain a goal)

Realistic Group Conflict Theory

Group conflict arises over competition for scarce resources (physical, economic, or conceptual)

Ethnocentrism

Praising your own group while putting down other groups.

• states that the group that believes it has the most to lose will show the highest levels of prejudice.

  • ex: Robbers Cave Experiment

• Hostile conflict makes ethnocentrism stronger.

Robbers Cave Experiment

Study on intergroup relationships

• Key Takeaways:

  • 1. Group formation (Week 1)

    • Two groups were separated and formed identities: “Eagles” and “Rattlers.”

    • Each group built unity and cohesion without knowing about the other group.

    2. Competition increases hostility (Week 2)

    • Groups competed in a tournament where only the winner got rewards.

    • Hostility quickly escalated: name-calling, stealing flags, food fights, raids, and threats of physical fights.

    • Competition created strong intergroup conflict.

    3. Reducing conflict

    • Introducing superordinate goals (goals requiring both groups to work together) reduced hostility.

    • Example: a supply truck “broke down,” forcing both groups to cooperate.

    • Cooperation led to reduced tension—interdependence softened conflict.

Bottom line: Separate groups form strong identities → competition creates hostility → cooperation toward shared goals reduces conflict.

Motivational Perspective

Argues that prejudice results from motivations to view one’s ingroup more favorably than outgroups​; motivated to satisfy psychological needs (ex: ingroup bias → when outgroup commit crimes, ingroup blames it on ethnicity. When ingroup members commit crimes, people blame the situation—they “had no choice.”)

• Highlights the idea that prejudice may result from motivations to feel good about oneself

  • Social Identity Theory

  • This is why it is hard not to be prejudiced, because it naturally helps us feel good about ourselves.

• Suggests that information is processed in categories

  • Creates “us vs them” mentality

Social Identity Theory

States that self-esteem can be bolstered by negative evaluation of outgroups.

• Suggests that the status/accomplishments of ingroup boost self-esteem

• Ingroup Bias:

  • boost the status of their groups and other members

    • give advantages to ingroup over outgroup

  • After getting negative feedback, people are more likely to endorse negative stereotypes about an outgroup.

    • Putting down the outgroup boosts their self-esteem.

• People who strongly identify with their ingroup may react to criticism of the group as personal criticism.​

Cognitive Perspctive

How we view things—argues that prejudice results from biases in social cognition due to schemas about differences between ingroup and outgroup members (ex: schema of Christians is that they’re all pro-life and republican)

• The brain works better by organizing

  • Prejudice limits our schemas

• Highlights stereotypes as mental shortcuts (schemas)

  • influence attention, perception, and memory

  • less effort required

  • conserve mental energy

    • this means they’re likely used when mentally taxed

• Highlights that stereotypes shape how we view and interact with different social groups.

  • They save mental effort but often lead to biased, unintentional judgments.

How Distinctiveness and Illusory Correlations Influence stereotypes

False beliefs about groups stick because we remember rare pairings more easily.

• Minority group members + negative behavior are both less common events, so people remember those instances more vividly.

  • This makes it seem like minorities do more negative things, even though that's not true

How do expectations and biased information processing​ influence stereotypes

Homogeneity effect: People see outgroup members as “all the same,” so they assume one person’s behavior represents the entire group.

• Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

  • impaired ability to view outgroup members as distinct individuals.​

How do self-fulfilling prophecies​ influence stereotypes

Stereotypes persist because people treat others in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to happen.

What is Subtyping?

When an outgroup member doesn’t fit an existing stereotype, they are placed into a special “exception” category instead of changing the stereotype

• This allows the original stereotype to remain intact.

Individual Approaches to Prejudice Reduction​

• School and media programs that promote acceptance of outgroups can help, but people often resist them.

• Prejudice can be reduced through social norms shared on social media IF the message comes from a high-status ingroup member—someone the audience respects.

• perspective taking—imagining yourself in an outgroup member’s position—to reduce bias.

• Contact Hypothesis: Prejudice can be reduced by increasing regular, meaningful contact between members of different groups.

• Diversity Training: little evidence of positive benefits. What will actually work is hiring more members of unrepresented group