Unit 2 Prejudice and Stereotyping

Hostile Humor

Pointing out negative stereotypes as a joke

Controlling talk

communication used to manipulate, coerce, or dominate a person or conversation, often for one's own gain.

Vanishing

Use of language like “women’s soccer team” and “soccer team”

Abnormalization

Pointing out lack of outgroup compliance with ingroup norms

Microaggressions

indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group

Covert discrimination

Attempt to ensure one’s failure in a given situation (often malicious)

Stereotype content model

• High warmth/high competence: active, passive facilitation

• High warmth/low competence: active facilitation, passive harm

• Low warmth/high competence: passive facilitation/active harm

• Low warmth/low competence: active/passive harm

Theory of Planned Behavior

Social norms and ability to control behavior are just as important as attitude in ability to control behavior

Internal Motivation (IMS)

More stable, less influenced by social norms, confidence, interest, low anxiety, pleasant interactions

External Motivation (EMS)

Less stable, avoidance, less warmth

IMS/EMS quadrant

• High IMS, Low EMS: effective

• High IMS/Low EMS: determined

• Low IMS/High EMS: Compliant

• Low IMS/Low EMS: unmotivated

Thrill Seeking Hate Crimes

Associated with Higher threshold for excitement, lower threshold for boredom. Identification of lower status groups as easy targets, low real animosity

Reasons for hate crimes

Defense of ingroup, intergroup attitudes, peer group dynamics, normalization of intergroup aggression

Losing Control of behaviors

associated with diminished executive function, disinhibitors, moral credentialing

White applicants to jobs are more likely to

Get a job interview, receive positive interview ratings, be offered a job

In the workplace, being white is equivalent to

8 additional years of work experience

Microinsult

Subtle messages of rudeness

Microinvalidation

Messages that undercut or invalidate the ideas, emotions, or lived experiences of an individual or group

Microassault

Deliberate, overt discriminatory comments that are motivated by a person’s group identity

Young children are most attentive to

Gender, race, and language

Kinzer et al. (2007)

Infants show social preferences for speakers of their native language at 5-6 months old (looking preference)

Babies and Gender

Babies prefer the gender of whatever their primary caregiver is either because of social preferences or ease of processing

Bar-Haim et al

White babies in Israel prefer white faces, black babies in ethiopia prefer black faces, black babies in Israel show no preference. Babies look longer at faces of same race as those in their environments. Shows the importance of exposure.

Explicit Race preferences and age

Explicit race preferences decrease with age. Implicit bias may remain stable, but we may just be better at reducing explicit biases

Ingroup favoritism vs outgroup prejudice

We may show preferential treatment to ingroup members as opposed to biased behavior towards outgroup members

Dominant group

Members of the ingroup for the dominant group may show a preference for their ingroup, whereas members of the outgroup may show no preference

Interracial Anxiety Transmission

Interracial interactions for people often feel more difficult than same race interactions

Nonverbal Behavior and Attitude Transmission

Nonverbal behavior influences children’s attitudes towards outgroups

Why don’t white parents discuss race with their white children

Anxiety, privilege, obliviousness of early biases in children

Children and bias

Parents underestimate how much of a preference children have for ingroups

4 types of socialization in children of color

Cultural socialization, preparation for bias, Promotion of mistrust, egalitarianism

Developmental Intergroup Theory

a framework explaining how children develop social stereotypes and prejudice, positing that prejudice is largely shaped by the environment

Concealability of Stigma

The extent to which a stigma is visible to others. Ie: Race, ethnicity, sexual orientation

Pros and Cons of concealability

Pros: Can “pass” as members of a non-stigmatized group
Cons: Members may receive less social support if their identity is hidden

Origin of Stigma

Whether a stigma is believed to be present at birth or deliberate

Controllable origins of stigma

Obesity: elicits hostility and avoidance

Uncontrollable origins of stigma

Ie: disability, cancer. Elicits pity and helping behaviors

Peril

The extent to which a stigma poses a threat and potential for contagion

Perceived danger (peril) of stigma

Perception of disease as deadly leads to vulnerability which leads to social rejection and victim blaming

Aesthetics of stigma

The potential for a stigma to evoke a disgust reaction. We avoid unappealing, although non contagious, physical traits due to an over-generalization from an instinct to avoid contagious disease

Disruptiveness of stigma

The extent to which a stigma interferes with smooth social interactions

Disruptiveness leads to

Avoidance, intergroup anxiety. Interference with smooth interactions because non-stigmatized individuals are uncertain how to behave

Course of stigma

The extent to which a stigma persists over time. Greater stigma observed if stigma is persistent

Social contagion

The idea that you can catch a stigma by associating with a stigmatized individual

Neuberg Study on Social Contagion

• College men watched an interaction between person A and person B

• IV: Person A revealed to Person B that they were either gay or straight

• DV: participants asked how comfortable they were with both men

• Results: extra bias for person B when person A was straight, bias for person A when person A is gay (more bias by association than for the individual themselves)

Tokenism

The inclusion of a member of a marginalized group just to portray an image of diversity within a group

Attributional Ambiguity

A psychological state of uncertainty about the cause of a person’s outcomes or treatment.

Attributional Ambiguity Occurs When

whenever there is more than one plausible reason for why a person was treated in a certain way or received the outcomes that they received

Attributional Ambiguity Leads to

Uncertainty about how to interpret or respond to feedback

Self Esteem Buffer

Marginalized groups can feel more uncertainty about negative outcomes/feedback if they are due to discrimination against them or their own behavior

Self-esteem harm

Marginalized groups may discredit positive feedback as a form of sympathy

Cultural Mismatch

Universities tend to favor individualistic norms, whereas first gen students tend to come from families who value collectivism. This can create a mismatch of cultural values, which disadvantages first gen students

Cultural Mismatch Intervention

• IV: university welcome letter manipulation either independent or interdependent

• DV: 5 minute speech about their college goals, cortisol change during speech

• Results: When students experienced a match in their cultural values, they experienced much lower anxiety

Minority Stress Theory

Model for understanding experiences of discrimination

Mediation

• addresses How and Why x predicts y

Moderation

addresses questions of When and For whom x prediction y

Microaggressions and Health

Those who experience more microaggressions experience more negative health outcomes

Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy

People believe that members of their group are more likely to be discriminated against than they are as individuals.

Psychological Disengagement

A defensive process where people decouple their self-worth outcomes in a domain, especially when their group is stereotyped to do poorly

Psychological Disengagement Short-Term effects

Can secure access, reduce bias, and improve evaluations

Psychological Disengagement Long-Term effects

Cognitive load, stress, burnout; less authenticity

Confronting Stigma

Reframing, reclaiming, and self-labeling

Modern Symbolic Prejudice

a subtle, covert form of bias that masks negative attitudes behind seemingly neutral or abstract beliefs. Instead of overt, old-fashioned bigotry, it involves opposing policies aimed at racial equity while claiming to hold egalitarian values.

Aversive Prejudice

a form of prejudice where individuals who consciously endorse egalitarian values harbor unconscious negative feelings toward members of an out-group. People may avoid marginalized group members or reject traditional racialized beliefs. People may believe in equality but retain negative feelings toward marginalized groups. Won’t discriminate when discrimination would be obvious. Will discriminate when they can rationalize a negative response on the basis of some other factor.

Ambivalent Prejudice

a form of prejudice where individuals hold both positive and negative feelings or beliefs about an out-group, such as admiring some members while disliking others.

Psychological Bases of Modern Symbolic Prejudice

Mild to moderate anti-Black emotions, belief in traditional values, low outcome-based egalitarianism, group self-interest (zero-sum belief), low intergroup contact

Individualism and Ambivalent Prejudice

Leads to a focus on negative behavior

Egalitarianism and Ambivalent Prejudice

Leads to a focus on disadvantage and feelings of sympathy

Prescriptive Beliefs

Stereotypes set up expectations about how people should or shouldn’t behave

Reconstructing Credentials

Unintentionally adjusting the value of specific credentials to favor an applicant from a stereotype- congruent group

Attentional Spotlight

Stereotypes draw attention to information consistent with expectations and away from information inconsistent with expectations

Confirmation Bias

Giving confirmatory information more weight than disconfirmatory information

Untested Assumptions

beliefs or propositions accepted as true without proof or critical examination