Chapter 5: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental terms and concepts in social psychology relating to stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism, and methods of bias reduction.

Prejudice

Negative feelings about others because of their connection to a social group, representing the affective component of intergroup attitudes.

Stereotype

Beliefs that associate a whole group of people with certain traits, forming an evaluative cognitive image of a social group.

Discrimination

Behaviors directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group, involving unjust treatment based on race, sex, age, or other characteristics.

Individual Racism

Prejudice and discrimination directed against an individual based on their racial background.

Institutional Racism

Institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one racial group over another.

Modern Racism

A form of prejudice that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable, and easy to rationalize.

Implicit Racism

Racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally, displaying subtle indicators such as reduced eye gaze or poorer medical care.

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

A psychological measure designed to detect the extent to which two concepts or categories are automatically associated in memory.

Sexism

Prejudice and discrimination based on a person's gender, or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one gender over another.

Ambivalent Sexism

A framework consisting of two related components: hostile sexism (negative, resentful feelings) and benevolent sexism (affectionate, chivalrous, but potentially patronizing beliefs).

Hostile Sexism

A component of ambivalent sexism characterized by negative, resentful feelings and beliefs about women's abilities, value, and challenge to men's power.

Benevolent Sexism

A component of ambivalent sexism characterized by chivalrous, affectionate, yet patronizing beliefs that women need protection and special care.

Objectification

The viewing or treatment of people primarily as mere physical bodies or sexual objects rather than as fully functioning, complete human beings.

Being Stigmatized

Being persistently stereotyped, perceived as deviant, and devalued in society due to membership in a specific social group or possessing a particular characteristic.

Stereotype Threat

The fear of being judged or treated in terms of a negative stereotype, or that one might confirm that stereotype, which can hamper academic performance through anxiety.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A process where a perceiver's expectations about a group member cause the perceiver to act in ways that induce the member to behave in a stereotype-confirming manner.

Social Categorization

The classification of individuals into groups based on common attributes, which economizes cognitive effort but can exaggerate intergroup differences.

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

The tendency to assume there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than among members of ingroups.

Confirmation Bias

The cognitive tendency to interpret, seek, and create information in a manner that verifies existing beliefs or stereotypes.

Illusory Correlation

The tendency to overestimate the association between two variables that are only slightly related or not related at all.

Contact Hypothesis

The theory that direct contact between hostile groups reduces prejudice, provided four key conditions are met: equal status, personal interaction, cooperative activities, and supportive social norms.

Common Ingroup Identity Model

A model stating that intergroup bias decreases when members of different groups recategorize themselves as parts of a single, inclusive superordinate group.

Decategorization

A cognitive shift wherein people pay less attention to social categories and intergroup boundaries, focusing instead on personal, individual characteristics.