Chapter 5: Stereotypes, Prejudice And Discrimination

Discrimination

Behaviour- behaviours specifically negative directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group.

Prejudice

Affect /Feeling- negative feeling about others because of their connection to a social group.

Implicit Racism

Racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally

Stereotypes

Cognition- beliefs or associations that link the whole groups of people with certain traits or characteristics; overgeneralizations that can be more or less true (and could be positive)

Ingroups

Groups with which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging, and identity

Outgroups

Groups with which an individual does not feel a sense of membership, belonging or identity

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

the tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than among members of ingroups

Example Of Cognitive Heuristics

stereotypes

Problem With Stereotypes

Judge individuals on the basis of our expectancies about the group they belong to

Social Identity Theory

people favor ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self esteem

Social Identity Leads Us To

Feel good about ourselves, take pride in group memberships and seeing ourselves as superior, feeling even better about ourselves

2 Components Of Self Esteem

(a) Personal Identity (b) Social identity

SIT Is Based On Our Natural Tendency To

(a) Categorize things (b) Identify and associate ourselves with different groups (c) Compare and contrast our groups with other groups with a bias toward our own

Contact Hypothesis

the theory that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce intergroup prejudice under certain conditions

Jigsaw Classroom

A cooperative learning method used to reduce racial prejudice through interaction in group efforts

Consequences Of Ingroup-Outgroup Perception Include The Tendency To

(a) perceive members of the outgroup as more homogenous, as alike than different (outgroup homogeneity effect) (b) perceive members of the ingroup as more heterogenous, as more different than alike

Realistic Conflict Theory

hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources

How Stereotypes Survive

(a) we draw illusory correlations (certain characteristics go together) (b) the attributions we make about other people can reinforce our cognitions about others (c) subtyping effects (d) confirmation biases occur when we pay attention to information that confirms our biases and discount information that does not (e) self-fulfilling prophecies occur when the other person becomes the person we think them to be

Stereotype Threat

the fear that one will be reduced to a stereotype in the eyes of others

2 Predictions Of Social Identity Theory

(a) threats to one’s self-esteem heighten the need for in-group favortism (b) expressions of in-group favortism enhance one’s self- esteem (both supported by research)