SOCPSY - 9 PREJUDICE

Prejudice

A preconceived negative judgment of a group and its individual members.

Attitude

A combination of feelings, inclination to act, and beliefs.

Stereotypes

It is a belief about the personal attributes of a group of people.

Stereotypes

Sometimes overgeneralized, inaccurate, and resistant to new information. It may be accurate or inaccurate.

Attitude, Behavior

Prejudice is a negative _______________, discrimination is negative _______________.

Discrimination

Unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Racism

An individual’s prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race; institutional practices (even if not motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given race.

Sexism

An individual’s prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given sex; institutional practices (even if not motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given sex.

Social inequalities

SOCIAL SOURCES OF PREJUDICE

Unequal status breeds prejudice.

Socialization

SOCIAL SOURCES OF PREJUDICE

Prejudice springs from unequal status and from other social sources, including our acquired values and attitudes.

Institutional supports

SOCIAL SOURCES OF PREJUDICE

Social institutions (schools, government, media, families) may bolster prejudice through overt policies such as segregation, or by passively reinforcing the status quo.

Social dominance orientation

A motivation to have one’s group dominate other social groups.

Ethnocentric

Believing in the superiority of one’s own ethnic and cultural group and having a corresponding disdain for all other groups.

Authoritarian personality

Personality that is disposed to favor obedience to authority and intolerance of outgroups and those lower in status.

Scapegoat Theory

MOTIVATIONAL SOURCES OF PREJUDICE

When the cause of our frustration is intimidating or unknown, we often redirect our hostility. This is a phenomenon of “displaced aggression.”

Social Identity Theory

MOTIVATIONAL SOURCES OF PREJUDICE

Feeling superior to others.

Realistic group conflict theory

The theory that prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources.

Social identity

The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.

Categorize

SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

We find it useful to put people, ourselves included, into categories.

Identify

SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

We associate ourselves with certain groups (our ingroups) and gain self-esteem by doing so.

Compare

SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

We contrast our groups with other groups (outgroups), with a favorable bias toward our own group.

Spontaneous categorization

We find it especially easy and efficient to rely on stereotypes when we are pressed for time, preoccupied, tired, emotionally aroused, or too young to appreciate diversity.

Outgroup homogeneity effect

Perception of outgroup members as more similar to one another than are ingroup members. Thus “they are alike; we are diverse.”

Own-race bias

The tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race.

Stigma consciousness

A person’s expectation of being victimized by prejudice or discrimination.

Group-serving bias

Explaining away outgroup members’ positive behaviors; also attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions (while excusing such behavior by one’s own group).