Chapter 12: Conflict & Peacemaking

How does prejudice affect stigmatized group members?

Internalization of stereotypes

attritional ambiguity

Stereotype threat

How does prejudice affect stigmatized NON group members?

Self fulfilling prophecy

Shooter bias

Internalization of stereotypes

Privately accepting the descriptive stereotypes of one’s group as an accurate description of oneself

Attributional ambiguity

Difficulty interpreting feedback from others

E.g., Uncertain whether feedback reflects their own performance OR others’ biases

• Negative feedback = “did I do poorly OR is the person giving the feedback prejudiced?”

• Positive feedback = “did I do well OR is the person giving the feedback patronizing/compensating for their biases?”

Stereotype threat

Fears that one will confirm the stereotype about one’s group interferes with performance

Stereotype becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy

Stereotype threat experiment

Black and White Stanford students all took a test → difficult verbal passage from GRE

• Half were told that the test was diagnostic of intellectual ability

  • *RESULTS = Black participants got lower scores compared to White participants → self-fulfilling property/stereotype threat

• Half were told it was NOT diagnostic

  • RESULTS = scores were similar

How can we reduce the negative effects of stereotype threat?

Not emphasizing social category

Emphasizing incremental/growth models of ability (NOT fixed mindsets)

Self-affirmations

Simply learning about stereotype threat can reduce its affects

• Labelling the situation can help to explain the anxiety is causes and reduce discomfort

Self-fufilling prophecy

When your expectations about another person lead you to engage with them in ways that confirm those expectations

Shooter bias

The tendency among the police to shoot Black civilians rather than white → EVEN when they are unarmed…

Unarmed Black people = 3.5x more likely to be shot by police (as compared to unarmed white people)

What are 2 ways of reducing prejudice?

1. Contact hypothesis

2. Superordinate goals

Contact hypothesis

Increased contact between members of barriers social groups can be effective in reducing prejudice between them

Ex. military, socially assisted housing projects, roommates of different races

*BUT in the context of racial desegregation in American schools → this unfortunately did not reduce stereotypes and prejudice

Moderated version contact hypothesis

1. Status equivalence

2. Personal interaction

3. Multiple out-group members

4. Co-operative activities

5. Normalizing intergroup contact

Superordinate goals x jigsaw classroom (making a team)

A co-operative learning method where interracial groups work together

Social outcomes = more positive attitudes toward minority/outgroup members

Academic outcomes = improvement in academic performance for minority/outgroup members (*no change for majority)

Conflict

A perceived incompatibility of actions or goals

Peace

Low levels of hostility and aggression in mutually beneficial relationships

Peace = the outcome of managed conflict

Social trap

When conflicting parties become caught in mutually destructive behaviour → through rationally pursuing their own self-interest

Tragedy of the Commons

The “commons” = any shared resource

• Ex. air, water, energy sources, and food supplies

The tragedy occurs when individuals consume more than their share → the cost of their doing so is dispersed among all

• THUS causing the ultimate collapse!

Non-zero-sum games

Games in which outcomes need not sum to zero

With cooperation of both teams → both can win!

BUT with competition → both can lose…

*Mixed-motive situations

Equal-status contact

Contact on an equal basis

Just as a relationship between people of unequal status breeds attitudes consistent with their relationship, so do relationships between those of equal status…

THUS to reduce prejudice = interracial contact should ideally be between persons equal in status

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that require cooperative effort → unites group

Goals that override people’s differences

Bargaining

Seeking an agreement through direct negotiation between parties

Mediation

An attempt by a neutral 3rd party to resolve a conflict by facilitating communication and offering suggestions

Arbitration

Resolution of a conflict by a neutral 3rd party who studies both sides and imposes a settlement

GRIT

“Graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension reduction”

A strategy designed to de-escalate international tensions

How do we avoid social traps?

1. Rules regulating self-serving behaviour

2. Keep social groups small so people feel responsible for one another

3. Enable communication → reduces mistrust

4. Changing payoffs to make cooperation more rewarding

5. Invoking altruistic norms