Social Psych- Stereotyping

stereotype

cognitive --> belief structures that link a category of people with certain types of behavior

prejudice

affective --> feelings about a person because he/she is a member of a certain category

- can be implicit

discrimination

behavioral --> behavior towards a person that is based primarily on their category membership

- obvious or subtle

"benevolent" prejudice

stereotypes that include favorable assessments of abilities or positive attitudes towards group members

problems with positive stereotypes

- can justify holding negative stereotypes

- may belittle members that don't fit the stereotype

modern racism

prejudice directed at racial groups that exists alongside the rejection of explicitly biased beliefs

- subtle

implicit association test (IAT)

a technique for revealing nonconscious attitudes toward different stimuli, particularly groups of people

- difficult to trust self-reports

relationship between RT and bias

stronger implicit bias = faster RT to associate stereotypical words with their groups

priming

The presentation of information designed to activate a concept and hence make it accessible

economic perspective

identifies the roots of intergroup hostility in competing interests that can set groups apart from one another

realistic group conflict theory

a theory that group conflict, prejudice, and discrimination are likely to arise over competition between groups for limited resources

socialization/ethnocentric theory

the media perpetuates stereotypes by vilifying competing groups

- groups with most to lose = most prejudice

institutional support/systemic bias

certain identities get advantages because of the social system

Robbers Cave Experiment

experiment which showed that even arbitrary group distinctions (camp teams) can cause a bitter rivalry and discrimination, thus demonstrating in-group/out-group biases

superordinate goals

goals that transcend the interests of any one group and that can be achieved more readily by two or more groups working together

effect of competition

increase group cohesion

cognitive perspective

traces the origins of stereotyping to the same cognitive processes that enable people to categorize

categorization

a cognitive process used to organize information by placing it into larger groupings of information

"cognitive miser" problem

when people prefer efficiency and mental ease over careful thought

- heuristics

- schemes

- categories

- stereotypes

automatic processing

- automatic, uncontrolled, and unconscious

- often based on emotional responses

controlled processing

- conscious, systematic, deliberate

- can override automatic

shooter bias

- white and black participants were both more likely to shoot unarmed black targets than white targets

- bias predicted by IAT scores

- automatic processing

self-esteem motivation

prejudice may result from wanting to feel good about oneself

Just World Belief

the assumption that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people

- not accurate bc of inequalities

scapegoating/blame victim

instead of people believing they don't deserve something, they blame outside group

motivation for prejudice

wanting to be part of a favored group

in group bias

tendency to feel and act favorably toward members of one's own group

motivational perspective

emphasizes the psychological needs that lead to intergroup conflict

minimal group paradigm

an experimental paradigm in which researchers create groups based on arbitrary and seemingly meaningless criteria and then examine how the members of these "minimal groups" are inclined to behave toward one another

social identity theory

the idea that a person's self-concept and self-esteem comes from the status and accomplishments of the various groups to which the person belongs

minimal group results

participants rate members of own group more positively, give them more money, etc.

out-group homogeneity

tendency to perceive members of out groups as more similar to one another than members of in-groups

consequences of bias on minority group members

- lower self esteem

- discrimination/bias

- stereotype threat

consequences of bias on majority group members

depleting intergroup interaction

stress and bias

increased cortisol levels after intergroup interaction and witnessing discrimination

effects of social identity theory

receiving negative feedback about self--> more likely to endorse negative stereotypes

stereotype threat

the apprehension experienced by members of a group that their behavior might confirm a cultural stereotype, and therefore they act in that way

how stereotypes solidify

negative group-based stereotype --> group member awareness --> reminder of group membership --> stereotype consistent performance

multiple identities

behavior aligns with the identity participants activated

- Asian identity = higher math score

- female identity = lower math score

prevent stereotype threat

- counter stereotypes

- don't remind of stereotype

- don't remind of group membership

- teach that tests are fair

- teach about stereotype threat

cross group interaction

can be challenging because of fear induced by stereotype

conscious override of bias

- difficult under cognitive load

- cognitive/emotional training

ways to change social norms

- school and media promote acceptance

- social media can reduce prejudice

- only by high status in group member

- short lived

colorblindness

reduce, eliminate, and ignore category membership

multiculturalism

consider, emphasize, and celebrate category membership

white multiculturalism

support racial/ethnic diversity

white colorblindness

racial/ethnic minorities should adapt to mainstream ways

minorities' psychological engagement

higher with multiculturalism than colorblindness

conditions for intergroup contact

1. mutual interdependence

2. common goal

3. equal status

4. informal, personal contact

5. multiple contacts over time

6. social norms of equality

How do individual interactions affect prejudice?

emphasizes individuality instead of group membership

- can decrease prejudice

How does sharing a common identity affect intragroup prejudice?

People start thinking of each other as a unit, not individual people

- reduces prejudice

illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship where none exists

paired distinctiveness

the pairing of two distinctive events that stand out even more because they occur together

self-fulling prophecies

people act towards certain groups in ways that encourage the expected behavior

subtyping

Explaining away exceptions to a given stereotype by creating a subcategory of the stereotyped group that can be expected to differ from the group as a whole

effects of subtyping

making exceptions does not change the belief

- independent woman = "she's just a feminist"

supportive vs contradictory evidence

People tend to accept supportive evidence at face value, whereas they often critically analyze and discount contradictory evidence

own-race identification bias

the tendency for people to be better able to recognize and distinguish faces from their own race than from other races

prejudiced vs unprejudiced individuals

- differ in their controlled processing

- prejudiced people believe stereotypes, unprejudiced reject

How effective is diversity training?

not very effective

- diversity training doesn't change hiring

- majority becomes alienated

- minorities doubt own competence