"Conflict, Bias, Prejudice, and Discrimination" Slides

Economic perspective –

Ex:

there are limited resources

Ex: In 2023 there was a record year for violence over water resources across the globe.

Realistic Conflict Theory:

Conflict can often be rooted in economic scarcity – a fight over scarce resource.

In the realistic conflict theory, more pressure on resources - > more
____________ of one’s group…

prioritization

In the realistic conflict theory, more ethnocentrism –

Ex:

vilification (criticizing) of outgroup and enhancement of own group.

Ex: Your family and another family are struggling for the same resources, and you are willing to fight for those resources, so your group (family) does well, even if you are a good person.

Robbers Cave Experiment:

A couple psychologists set up a summer camp, and they bring in boys around like age 10 to stay there for a few weeks. At first, two groups of boys are kept apart and then slowly brought closer together and they are fighting over resources because they psychologists have created circumstances where they would have to be in conflict. Violent behavior erupts (burning other groups flags) but also superordinate goals because the groups had to work together and resolve conflict by getting a truck unstuck, fixing water tank, splitting money to watch a movie. Hierarchies formed within each group (the eagles and the rattles) some boys in each group were bossing others in their same group around.

Group conflicts can be resolved with
superordinate goals –

problems that
take both groups to solve

Minimal group paradigm (Tajfel) –

Ex:

people are placed into small meaningless groups and
then show favoritism towards those groups.

Ex: If I am placed in a group with random people but we are trying to do something, even if I don’t think I care, I will still show favoritism towards them.

In the minimal group paradigm (Tajfel), the groups are ________ – yet people still
show preferences

arbitrary (not based on a clear or logical rule/random).

We care about our ________ so when other people share this _______ your preference is for these people to ______.

identity; identity; succeed.

We are motivated to boost our ingroup’s
_______ and see the ________ of our outgroups.

Occurs more with groups that we are highly ___________ with.

Can lead individuals to ________ ______ those who could ________ the group.

success; failures.

identified

socially punish; critique

Basking in Reflected Glory:

Taking pride in the
group winning

People also _________ outgroups to increase
esteem.

Ex:

denigrate (criticize or belittle)

Ex: Negative ratings of Jewish candidates lowered self-esteem of Jewish people but not of non-Jewish people.

Stereotyping about outgroups is an inevitable
______ shortcut.

mental

When people are tired, their judgements align
with ___________.

Evidence that this process occurs within learning models designed to be ________.

stereotypes.

unbiased.

Paired Distinctiveness –

pairing two distinct
events because they co - occurred

People elicit ____-__________ __________.

Also, explain the graph.

self - fulfilling prophecies

Stereotypes about groups are about the group __ _______.

on average.

We implicitly assume there are:

exceptions to
every rule

Subtyping –

creating a subcategory of a group
labeled as exceptions, thus maintaining the
overall stereotype

Recall the fundamental attribution error – we ascribe positive traits as characters of
ourselves and situational actions of others (vice versa for negative traits)

People do the same process for groups with how we describe __ - v. __ - groups

in; out

People tend of emphasize ________ difference
(from oneself)

outgroup

Outgroup homogeneity effect –

people of an
outgroup are all the same

More contact with ingroup =

more chance to
see heterogeneity within our group

Outgroups members are treated as
____________ from that group

representative

People are better at recognizing members of their own ____.

Shown for people of many ______ (Black, Hispanic, White)

race.

races

People interact with ___ race most often, pay
attention to characteristics of the ____.

own, face.

With racial outgroups, people often attend to
just ____, ignoring those individual ___________.

race; differences.

Though all groups aware of stereotypes, more
prejudice =

more negative descriptions of
Black individuals

Vast majority of people are aware of ___________.

Whether you act on those or allow them to
affect your judgement is a separate ________.

stereotypes.

question.

Stereotype:

(explicit) beliefs that certain
characteristics describe members of a group

Bias:

systematic distortion in attitude towards
something, someone, or a group of people

Prejudice:

attitudinal and affective response
towards a group and its individuals

Discrimination:

favorable or unfavorable actions
(behavior) towards members of a group

Racism persists today, but many people do not
want to _____/are not _____ of their bias

admit; aware

Modern Racism: While many (White) people feel ________ towards Black people, individuals holding those beliefs will not endorse __________ racist statements
(Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986).

animosity; explicitly

Modern racism endorses view “discrimination against [Black people] is __ ______ a problem in the United States”

no longer

“Benevolent” racism and sexism is marked by “_______” stereotypes or
beliefs about a group (e.g., “women are
more caring than men”) –

positive;

typically following traditional gender and social roles

“Benevolent” racism and sexism is often accompanied by:

disdain towards
non- traditional gender and social
roles

In “benevolent” racism and sexism, by offering a reward in the form of
benevolence, this from of racism and sexism reinforces other ______
___________ (often much more harmful)

social hierarchies

While IAT can tell us about implicit attitudes,
recall that these do not always tell us about
_________ (behavior).

prejudice

You must be careful to measure the correct
_________ for your research.

construct

When Reducing Prejudice & Discrimination there are 3 broad perspectives and they are:

1. Color - blindness:
2. Multiculturism:
3. Intergroup Contact:

1. Color - blindness:

try to not see differences between groups.

Leads to increased discrimination if people ignore prejudice when it occurs.

2. Multiculturism:

celebrate cultural differences.

Preferred by members of marginalized groups, increases perspective taking & intergroup contact.

Can backfire if it causes a “minority spotlight effect”.

3. Intergroup Contact:

(positive) interactions with other groups can reduce bias towards those groups.

Diversity Trainings: Often do not work! Why?:

1. Mandatory (denies autonomy)
2. Emphasize implicit attitudes that people may
not be aware of
3. Rarely focus on behavior
4. Infrequent opportunities to practice good
behavior
5. Discrimination complaints get ignored (if
company points to training as evidence for
lack of problem

Summary
• Humans are motivated to support their ________, sometimes at the cost of an
________.
• We have ________, ____________, and ________
processes that lead to group conflict
• Group conflict often results in ____, _________,
and _____________.
• All forms of bias and discrimination cause
____.
• Measuring bias and discrimination requires we
understand what _________ we wish to assess.

ingroups; outgroup.

economic, motivational, cognitive.

bias, prejudice, discrimination.

harm.

construct