Understanding Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Prejudice

Emotion-centered judgments or evaluations about people based on their perceived membership in a group.

Discrimination

Behaviors toward a people because of their perceived membership in a group.

Adaptive categorization

The idea that the instinct to group and label other people and things arose because it was a benefit to survival.

Neural signatures

Established pathways through regions of the brain.

Ingroup

Any group in which you're a member.

Outgroup

Any group in which you're not a member.

Minimal group paradigm

An experimental method creating groups based on meaningless categories to study intergroup dynamics.

Kernel of truth theory

The idea that stereotypes originated with truth for a small group of people at some point in time but are now exaggerated and potentially out of date.

Social role theory

The idea that stereotypes form when we observe what people are doing, assume they are good at that, and then reinforce them to keep doing it.

Stereotype threat

Anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype about our group, which is distracting and ironically leads to poor performance (confirming the negative stereotype).

Culture

A collection of shared beliefs, customs, and social norms passed down from one generation to the next (including stereotypes).

White privilege

The cultural benefits of being White in White-centric societies.

Social agents

People who send messages about cultural beliefs and expectations that help transmit ideas from one generation to the next.

Institutional discrimination

Unfair treatment of individuals or certain groups by society or organizations through unequal selection, opportunity, or oppression.

Ingroup heterogeneity

The tendency for individuals to see wide diversity within their ingroups.

Outgroup homogeneity

The perception that all members of a particular outgroup are identical to each other.

Old-fashioned prejudice

Obvious, overt prejudice that is considered inappropriate by modern social standards.

Modern-symbolic prejudice

Prejudice from people who think they value equality but oppose any social change that would go away from 'tradition' to make equality possible.

Ambivalent prejudice

A combination of hostile and benevolent prejudice that means some group members are judged very positively while others are judged very negatively, depending on whether they fit our expectations.

Benevolent prejudice

Positive judgments of group members who have traits we value and align with our expectations.

Hostile prejudice

Negative judgments of people who do not fit prescribed group stereotypes or push boundaries of what people in their group 'should' do.

Realistic conflict theory

The idea that prejudice results from the justifications we create to determine that our ingroup 'deserves' limited resources.

Frustration-aggression theory

The idea that our frustrations build until they are released through aggression toward weaker targets we can blame.

Scapegoat theory

The idea that prejudice results from blaming an outgroup for our frustrations.

Stereotype content model

The idea that two categories of judgment, warmth and competence, interact to form four different types of prejudice and emotional reaction to outgroups.

Interactionist perspective

The idea that personality and situations jointly affect an individual's social behavior.

Prejudiced personality

The idea that certain traits are linked to a general tendency to dislike all outgroups.

Authoritarian personality

A personality characterized by submission to authority, discipline toward those who defy authority, and conforming to conventional beliefs.

Double-barreled item

A scale item that includes more than one basic idea, making it difficult for individuals to know how to respond if they agree with one of the ideas but not the other.

Social dominance orientation

A preference for social hierarchy and having power over outgroups.

Religiosity

The degree to which one is religious and why.

Intrinsic religiosity

Sincere belief in a faith and attempts to apply those principles to everyday behaviors.

Extrinsic religiosity

Practicing a faith only because of social or practical rewards.

Fundamentalism

Belief that one's faith is the only true religion, that teachings should be taken literally, and that evil is all around us.

Religion as quest

A spiritual or philosophical approach to religion that values skepticism and exploration.

Contact hypothesis

The idea that prejudice will decrease with exposure to members of a disliked outgroup.

Superordinate goals

Objectives that cannot be achieved without the cooperation of an outgroup; they often reduce prejudice when the goal is achieved.

Jigsaw classroom

A teaching technique in which students are divided into groups that must teach each other class material. Students must rely on each other and work cooperatively to pass tests.

Friendship contacts

Individual, positive, personal interactions that reduce prejudice.