Psychology of Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination: Key Concepts and Studies

Affect

prejudice

Behavior

discrimination

Cognition

stereotype

Interpersonal discrimination

A store employee follows a black customer around the store assuming they might steal

Organizational discrimination

women are consistently paid less than men for the same job role and performance

Institutional discrimination

segregation in schools (Plessy v. Ferguson)

Cultural discrimination

Immigrants being told to 'speak english' in public, even when speaking privately to family or friends.

Pros of self-report measures of prejudice

faster, cheaper results

Cons of self-report measures of prejudice

self reporting bias/ social desirability

Pros of physiological measures of prejudice

avoids social desirability

Cons of physiological measures of prejudice

more difficult to measure and quantify behaviors

Stanley Milgram's experiments

demonstrated how the power of the situation could lead to many harmful acts

Minimal groups paradigm

minimal conditions is enough to produce discriminatory ingroup behavior

Maximum Joint Profit

maximizing the absolute/total amount of money that the ingroup member received

Maximum Difference

ensuring that the ingroup member received more money than an outgroup member, even if that was a lower absolute amount of money

Maximum In-group

ignoring the outgroup and getting the most money possible for their ingroup

Park & Rothbart (1982) findings

Minimal groups alone with no history, perceptual difference, bias how the brain encodes faces

Social Role Theory

proposes that stereotypes arise because people believe we ARE the roles we PLAY

Model example 1

live models

Model example 2

verbal models

Model example 3

symbolic models

Mamie and Kenneth Clark's "doll study"

revealed the harmful effects of internalized racism and segregation on Black children

Positive distinctiveness

Striving to see your group as unique and superior and help yourself feel better as a group member

Personal Relative deprivation

when people feel personally treated unfairly it does not strongly lead to prejudice

Group deprivation

when they feel as if their group is being treated unfairly they are more likely to show prejudice

Realistic conflict theory

Groups in competition for scarce resources develop conflict and negative attitudes, but working together on shared goals can reduce these tensions.

Sherif's Robber's Cave summer camp study

key to reducing prejudice between the two rival groups of campers

Superordinate goals

Goals that require cooperation between rival groups to achieve, key to reducing prejudice.

Resource scarcity

A condition where there are very few job openings, affecting evaluations of applicants.

Resource abundance

A condition where there are lots of job openings, affecting evaluations of applicants.

Ultimate attribution error

The tendency to attribute outgroup members' negative behaviors to their character and positive behaviors to situational factors.

Integrated threat theory

A theory that combines three theories to explain multiple routes from social categorization to prejudice.

Social Identity Theory

A theory that explains how individuals derive part of their identity from the social groups they belong to.

Relative Deprivation Theory

A theory that suggests individuals feel deprived when they compare themselves to others and perceive themselves as worse off.

Group Threat Theory

A theory that posits that perceived threats from outgroups can lead to prejudice.

Stereotype Maintenance

The processes that help sustain stereotypes in society.

Motivation to act/respond without prejudice

Decreases the likelihood of stereotype application.

Cognitive resources

Having sufficient cognitive resources (e.g., able to be alert, attentive) decreases the likelihood of stereotype application.

Individuating information

Having access to individuating information decreases the likelihood of stereotype application.

Threats to self-esteem

Increases the likelihood of stereotype application.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to seek out, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's beliefs.

Subtyping

The process of placing someone who doesn't fit into a certain stereotype into a separate subgroup.

Bias blind spot

The concept that people recognize an outgroup's biases but fail to recognize their own.

Internal prejudice

Prejudice that stems from personal beliefs and values.

External prejudice

Prejudice that is influenced by social pressures and expectations.

SES context

The socioeconomic status context in which an individual is perceived, affecting evaluations of ability.

Hannah study findings

Expectations of high SES individuals performing better confirm that stereotypes bias perceptions of ability.

Double Jeopardy Model

Multiple marginalized identities (e.g., race + gender) add cumulative disadvantage; discrimination is additive.

Subordinate Male Target Hypothesis

Within marginalized groups, men are more likely targeted for discrimination; focuses on gender hierarchy within the group.

Intersectional Invisibility Model

People with multiple subordinate identities (e.g., Black women) are often overlooked, facing unique marginalization beyond additive effects.

Submission (Right-Wing Authoritarianism)

We should always obey leaders in authority.

Aggression (Right-Wing Authoritarianism)

People who defy authority should be punished.

Conventionalism (Right-Wing Authoritarianism)

Traditional values should be followed.

Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)

Preference for group hierarchy & dominance; prejudice from competition/inequality preference.

Protestant Work Ethic (PWE)

The belief that hard work, discipline, and perseverance are morally virtuous and lead to success, while idleness is wrong.

Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)

Valuing obedience to authority and tradition.

Need for Order/Structure

Desire for certainty, stability, and predictability.

Just World Beliefs

Belief that people get what they deserve and the world is fair.

Consequences of System Justification

Four consequences discussed in class.

Difference between RWA and SDO

RWA primarily predicts opposition to equality-enhancing policies, whereas SDO predicts affective hostility toward minority groups.

Psychology Students' SDO Scores

Psychology students had lower SDO scores than pre-law students.

Third- and Fourth-Year Psychology Students' SDO Scores

SDO scores decreased further compared to first-year psychology students.

Third- and Fourth-Year Pre-Law Students' SDO Scores

SDO scores increased compared to first-year pre-law students.

Exposure to Psychology

Tends to reduce preference for hierarchy.

Pre-Law Training

May reinforce hierarchical beliefs.

Compare & Contrast Models

All address multiple identities, but differ in mechanism: additive disadvantage (Double Jeopardy), gendered targeting (Subordinate Male), or unique invisibility (Intersectional Invisibility).

SDO

Primarily predicts broad opposition to equality and multiple forms of prejudice.

RWA

More strongly linked to negative affect and stereotyping of groups condemned by authority figures.

Racial Essentialism

Race is a fundamental and meaningful source of human division that has an inherent, inalterable biological basis.

Essentialism

A belief that categories have an underlying, natural, unchanging 'essence' that makes members of a category what they are.

Social Construct

Set societal rules that divide people based on perceived worth.

Historical Example of Racial Categories

Gender identities and their corresponding stereotypes in the past century illustrate that racial categories are arbitrary and fluid.

Race-Sorting Exercises

Illustrate that racial categories are inconsistent, socially constructed, and context-dependent rather than fixed or biological.

Beliefs about Race Scale

Categories include Biological Beliefs, Cultural Beliefs, and Social Beliefs.

Biological Beliefs

Seeing race as rooted in genetics/biology.

Cultural Beliefs

Seeing race as tied to culture, traditions, or values.

Social Beliefs

Seeing race as a social construct shaped by society.

Genetic Diversity

Humans share 99.9% of our DNA, with more genetic diversity within racial groups than between them.

Eugenics

Affected science and society by creating divides, ranking systems, and discrimination.

Multiracial Population Growth

Grew 276% between 2010 and 2020.

Hypodescent

The social practice of assigning a multiracial person to the racial group that is considered lower in the social hierarchy.

Chen et al.'s (2018) Experiment 2

Photos of black-white multiracial individuals were often not categorized as white, most often characterized as black.

Identity Denial

Denying someone's true identity because they don't fit expected racial group appearances, leading to feelings of rejection and detachment.

Gender Essentialism

The belief that men and women have fixed, inherent, and natural traits that define their abilities, preferences, and roles.

Gender Binary

Roles assigning everybody into two distinct categories — male and female.

Sex Assigned at Birth

Based on visible 'biological' markers often defined by genitalia — XX/XY.

Gender Identity

Socially constructed behaviors, roles, and identities that are 'assigned' to each sex.

Gender Expression

How one's gender identity is embodied and outwardly communicated to others.

Bem's Sex Role Inventory

Important for the psychology of gender as it introduced the concept of androgyny and found it linked to psychological health & flexibility.

Chen et al.'s (2018) Experiment 2 finding

Photos of black-white multiracial individuals were often not categorized as white-- most often characterized as black.

Androcentrism

Centering normalization of men and men's perspectives.

Real-world example of androcentrism

Crash Test dummies are only made of men and center men's safety.

Hyde's (2005) review finding

According to Hyde's review of 46 meta-analyses on psychological differences between men and women, approximately 78% of differences were small or close to zero in size.