Social Groups: Race

What is ingroup love?

A tendency to evaluate and prefer one's own group positively, even without hostility toward others.

What is outgroup hate?

Negative evaluation or dislike of people from groups other than one’s own.

Definition: Ingroup love?

Positive evaluation of one's own group, arising even without negative attitudes toward others.

Example: Ingroup love?

Preferring classmates from your own team during a group project.

Definition: Outgroup hate?

Negative evaluation of groups other than one’s own.

Example: Outgroup hate?

Refusing to play with another group because you believe they are ‘bad.’

What does anticipation of future cooperation do to minimal group bias?

It eliminates minimal ingroup bias in both children and adults (Misch et al., 2021).

Definition: Minimal group bias?

Preference for one’s assigned group even when groups are arbitrary.

Example: Minimal group bias?

Children prefer those labeled with the same color even when groups are random.

What happened in the control condition of the cooperation study?

The connection with the ingroup failed.

What happened in the experimental condition of the cooperation study?

The connection with the outgroup failed.

Core learning goal about racial bias?

Understand how racial bias develops and how to intervene to reduce it.

Definition: Stereotyping?

A cognitive process of assigning traits to individuals based on group membership.

Example: Stereotyping?

Thinking 'Asians are good at math.'

Stereotyping process?

Group → Belief about traits → Applied to individuals

Definition: Prejudice?

An affective, usually negative, attitude toward a group and its members.

Example: Prejudice?

Feeling discomfort or dislike toward immigrants.

Prejudice process?

Group → Emotion → Behavior tendency

Definition: Discrimination?

Behavioral expression of prejudice; acting unfairly toward group members.

Example: Discrimination?

Refusing to hire someone because of their race.

Discrimination process?

Prejudice → Behavior → Outcomes

What is ingroup bias?

Favoring one’s own group over outgroups.

Definition: Ingroup bias?

Preference for members of one’s own group without necessary hostility toward others.

Example: Ingroup bias?

Choosing to sit with students from your club.

What did Raabe & Beelmann’s meta-analysis find?

Prejudice is low in early childhood, peaks in middle childhood, and declines in adolescence.

Alternative explanation for apparent racial bias?

It might reflect general ingroup bias, not true prejudice.

Factors influencing group preferences?

Group size, familiarity, and perceived social status.

Key question from South African research?

Group size, familiarity, and perceived social status.

South African finding: Black children?

Did not show own-race preference.

South African finding: gender?

All children preferred their own gender.

Finding about status?

Children favored groups associated with higher social status.

Rizzo et al. finding on playmate choice?

White children preferred White peers and least often chose Black peers.

Average choice rate: Black peers?

~0.18, significantly below chance.

Average choice rate: Latino/a peers?

~0.19, below chance.

Average choice rate: Asian peers?

~0.24, at chance.

Average choice rate: White peers?

~0.39, above chance.

What did not explain anti-Black bias?

Age, familiarity, income, demographics, or parental politics.

Main takeaway from Rizzo et al.?

Pro-White and anti-Black preferences are robust and unexplained by measured factors.

Intervention tested by Perry et al.?

Guided parent–child conversations about racism.

Effect of guided conversations?

They reduced pro-White implicit bias in children and parents.

What predicted stronger reduction in bias?

Color-conscious messages.

What predicted smaller reduction in bias?

Colorblind ideology and external attributions.

Definition: Color-conscious messages?

Messages acknowledging racism, naming bias, or linking events to systemic racism.

Example: Color-conscious messages?

'What happened was unfair because it treated the child differently due to race.'

Definition: Colorblind messages?

Messages denying or minimizing the role of race.

Example: Colorblind messages?

'Skin color doesn’t matter; maybe it was just a misunderstanding.'

Definition: External attributions?

Blaming prejudiced behavior on external influences like parents, media, or environment.

Example: External attributions?

'He acted that way because he learned it from TV.'

Development of prejudice?

Age → Prejudice trend (low → peak → decline)

Status influence on preference?

Perceived status → Preference strength