Stereotypes and prejudice

Stereotypes are based on…

…any kind of group membership

What are stereotypes?

Widely shared and simplified evaluative images of a social group and its members.

What is the outgroup homogeneity effect?

The tendency to perceive members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than they actually are, while viewing members of one's own ingroup as more diverse.

What is prejudice?

Unfavourable attitude toward a social group and its members, based solely on membership in that group.

What are the difficulties in measuring prejudice?

Some people won’t openly disclose some of their beliefs (if they aren’t socially acceptable).

What is discrimination?

It results from prejudice and refers to overt behaviour that is directed towards a person simply because of their presumed group membership.

Why does this happen^?

• Categorisation of physical and social worlds (a convenient way of learning and remembering)

• It sometimes feels good and can lead to improvd self-esteem

Who experimented with the idea of discrimination and self-esteem?

(Fein & Spencer, 1997)

What did their experiment include^?

The participants received positive/negative feedback on an IQ test and then were asked to review two job applicants with the same qualifications, but one was Italian and the other was Jewish.

What were their results^?

They showed that individuals were less likely to negatively evaluate a member of a stereotyped group if their self-image had been boosted through self-affirmation. For those whose self-image was threatened, derogating the stereotyped individual helped boost their self-esteem. The authors suggest that stereotyping and prejudice may serve as a way to protect or enhance self-image.

What is the dual process theory?

It suggests that people use two cognitive systems, one which is fast and intuitive, and the other which is slow and analytical, to process information and make decisions.

Who investigated this^?

• (Devine, 1989)

• More subliminal priming with stereotyped words led to rating Donald as more hostile

• Those who rated lower on the Modern Racism Scale wrote down fewer negative thoughts about black Americans

• They that automatic processes (like subliminal stereotype activation) can influence judgments (seeing Donald as hostile), while controlled processes (like personal beliefs, measured by the Modern Racism Scale) can override these biases if individuals are motivated to do so

Who explored the idea of automatic prejudice?

(Correll, 2002)

What did this study involve^?

• Participants played a video game in which they saw photographs of Black or White men holding a gun or another object

• Pretended they were a policeman; instructed to “shoot” the person if holding a gun, not shoot the person if he was not holding a gun

• Had around 0.6 seconds to respond to each picture

• Participants were faster to shoot an armed black target and not to shoot an unarmed white target

How else can we measure prejudice?

Implicit Association Test (IPA)

How have implicit attitudes changed over time?

(Charles & Banaji, 2022) showed that overall, attitude trends are largely parallel across most groups (followed the same trend) but younger and politically liberal groups tend to change faster toward neutrality, while older and more conservative groups change more slowly.

Can we reduce prejudice over time?

(Lai, 2016) tested 9 interventions to reduce implicit racial preferences over time and while all interventions successfully reduced implicit preferences immediately, none produced lasting effects after several hours to days.

What are some other outcomes of stereotypes?

• People make mistakes because of their stereotypes

• Self-fulfilling prophecy (things turn out as you expect because you unconsciously influence them)

What is the pygmalion effect?

This refers to the phenomenon where higher expectations from others lead to an improvement in an individual's performance, as they internalize and strive to meet those expectations.

Who explored this effect^?

(Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968)

What did their study show^?

Teachers were told that certain students were expected to "bloom" intellectually, based on a new test, although these students were actually chosen at random. The result showed that these "bloomers" gained an average of two IQ points in verbal ability, seven points in reasoning, and four points in overall IQ, compared to other students.

What is behavioural confirmation?

Expectations can cause us to act in ways that make others unintentionally behave how we expected (e.g. if you expect someone to be unfriendly, you might act distant or cold toward them, and they might then respond in an unfriendly way - confirming your original expectation).