Prejudice and Stereotyping

Correl et al (2011)

How would you improve upon their approach?

-Maybe include other participants that are not black and white

-More relevant particpants

Whites’ self-reported attitudes toward Blacks have become more positive

Devine & Elliot –personal beliefs from 1930-1990s Support for segregated schools among Whites (68% in 1942, 4% in 1995)

Evidence of continuing prejudice

Bogus pipeline research Early physiological and implicit measures Differential experiences, outcomes, and treatment based on race

White and Black Americans overestimate racial economic progress (White Americans even more so; Kraus et al., 2017,2019)

Kraus et al (2019)

For every dollar in the US how much did black people earn

Is Racial Prejudice Declining?

 Depends on who you ask: White people rate racial prejudice as less of a problem than Black people – why?

Is Racial Prejudice Declining?

White people focus on progress since slavery and Jim Crow era

Black people focus on how far society has to go to reach full equality (Eibach & Ehrlinger, 2006)

Evidence of continuing prejudice – video “True Colors” from 1991

A study involving a white and black man in a city going through several situations and observing how they were treated by white people. The white man was approachable and treated kindly whereas the black person was mistreated and neglected. The car dealership showed two separate prices 10-20% then 20-20% for black people.

Is Racial Prejudice Declining?

White people rate racial prejudice=less of a problem than Blacks

Why do white people rate prejudice as less than a problem than Blacks?

White people focus on progress since slavery and Jim Crow era
Black people focus on how far society has to go to reach full equality (Eibach &
Ehrlinger, 2006)

Old-fashioned Racism

Belief in biological inferiority of Black people, support of discrimination and segregation

Modern/Symbolic Racism

denial of discrimination and resentment of both gains made by Black people and lack of progress

Black people perceived as morally inferior

because

they violate traditional (White) American values

Aversive Racism

White Americans both

Possess egalitarian values &

nonprejudiced self-image (inconsistent

with modern racism)

Experience negative feelings

(discomfort) & automatic beliefs

Response is determined by presence

of nonracial justification for negative

response

Aversive Racism

Aversive Racism:Frey and Gaertner (1986) examined

willingness to help a partner

working on scrabble task

White pp – partners either Black or

White

Partner deserving or undeserving of

help

Examined the % pp’s who gave

scrabble letters to help partner

Aversive racists will respond in a

racist manner only

if they can avoid

appearing biased to themselves or

others.

Aversive Racism

People what to be “good” fair people

Also, want good outcomes for

themselves and their ingroup

Aversive Racism

Dovidio and Gaertner (2000)

participants evaluated applicant for a

peer counselor

Candidate was Black or White

Candidate varied in qualifications (3

levels)

Aversive Racism

Experience intergroup discomfort and

come off as unfriendly

Aversive racists will respond in a racist

manner only

if they can avoid appearing biased to themselves or others

Aversive Racism

People what to be “good” fair people

Also, want good outcomes for themselves and their ingroup

Aversive Racism:Dovidio and Gaertner (2000) pp’s evaluated

applicant for a peer counselor

Candidate was Black or White

Candidate varied in qualifications (3 levels)

Aversive Racism:Dovidio (2001) White pp’s worked on a

problem-solving task with Black partner

Categorized based on implicit and explicit

prejudice scores

Old fashioned – high on both

Aversive Racism

Aversive

high on implicit, low explicit

Nonprejudiced

low on both

Aversive Racism

Both rated friendliness of White pp

Aversive racism can lead

to overly positive

responses in effort to appear unbiased

Overly Positive Outgroup Responses

Harber (1998) – White pp’s gave feedback on a

weak essay

 Gave more positive feedback if they believed it came

from Black (vs White student)

 Why is this a problem?

Overly Positive Outgroup Responses

Modern Approaches to Sexism

Glick & Fiske

Attitudes toward women can be ambivalent and

represent both

-Parallel forms exist for responses toward men

benevolent sexism (BS):

paternalism, seeing

women as virtuous and fragile

hostile sexism (HS):

angry responses to

feminism & female dominance

Why might benevolent prejudice be

problematic?

1. It seems to provide moral credentials to the

perpetrator

2. Some targets endorse it

3. Benevolent prejudices are difficult to change

4. May undermine confidence etc.

Benevolent Sexism: Dardenne et al.(2007) – women

interviewed for a position

Recruiter made HS, BS, or no sexist

comments

– Completed problem solving test (for position)

Dumont et al., 2010

What is the difference between hostile and

benevolent sexism?

• Who were the participants?

• What were the 3 experimental conditions?

• How did the instruction condition influence

participants’ performance on the test (both

accuracy and latency)? If so, how?

Dumont et al., 2010

In which condition did the women:

– view the recruiter as having the most negative view

of women (perceptions of sexism)?

– Report the most intrusive thoughts about being

incompetent?

– Have greater accessibility of memories of being

incompetent in the past?

Physiological responses:

HS elicited heightened Blood

Pressure (BP) and Heart Rate; BS elicited impaired cardiac

recovery (Salomon et al., 2015)

Benevolent and Hostile Sexism

Glick et al (2000) examined HS and BS

across 15000 pp in different cultures

• Across cultures HS and BS are highly

correlated (~.9)

• Women are more likely to reject HS than BS

Benevolent and Hostile Sexism

The average level of HS and BS in a culture

is related to gender equality in culture (e.g.,

education, longevity, pay)

Hostile

Sexism for men and women across cultures

Benevolent

sexism for men and women across cultures

Benevolent and Hostile Sexism

HS and BS have implications for

– Emotions (Anger vs Anxiety)

– Reactions to sexual assault victims

– Work related responses

– Medical Decisions

– Legal Decisions (BS – more lenient for women)

Ambivalent Prejudice:

a mixture of positive and negative  responses toward an outgroup resulting in ambivalent reactions to the group (Katz & Hass).

Ambivalent Prejudice:

Many Whites have developed positive attitudes toward Black people

➢Many also have lingering negative attitudes

Ambivalent Prejudice

Cues from the situation determine the direction of amplified response

➢White pp’s worked with a Black or White partner and the pair failed or succeeded on task (Hass et al., 1991)

➢If pair succeed, pp’s rated partner more positively if Black than White

➢If pair failed, pp’s rated partner more negatively if Black than White

Implicit vs. Explicit Attitudes

Examined the influence of White pp’s implicit and explicit racial attitudes for

responses in interactions (Dovidio et al., 2002)

Compared responses between interactions with White and Black confederates

Implicit vs. Explicit

Both implicit and explicit prejudice influenced interracial interaction

 Explicit prejudice was related to verbal behavior and self perceptions

 Implicit prejudice related to nonverbal behavior and evaluations by partner and coder

➢Implicit and explicit prejudice influenced

interracial interaction

Explicit prejudice was related To

verbal behavior and self perceptions

Implicit prejudice related to

nonverbal behavior and evaluations by partner and coder

Authoritarian Personality

susceptibility to unquestioning obedience to authority

Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)

group of attitudes including authoritarian submission & aggression and conventionalism

Implicit vs. Explicit

➢Examined the influence of White pps implicit and explicit racial attitudes for responses in interactions (Dovidio et al., 2002)

➢Compared responses between interactions with White and Black confederates

 

Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) Is related to

prejudice and aggression toward groups that authority figures condemn or that violate traditional values

Implicit vs. Explicit Attitudes

Examined the influence of White pp’s implicit and explicit racial attitudes for responses in interactions (Dovidio et al., 2002)

➢Compared responses between interactions with White and Black confederates

 

Implicit vs. Explicit

Both implicit and explicit prejudice influenced interracial interaction

➢Explicit prejudice was related to verbal behavior and self perceptions

➢Implicit prejudice related to nonverbal behavior and evaluations by partner and coder

Authoritarian Submission

1) Laws have to be strictly enforced if we are to preserve our way of life.

Authoritarian Aggression

12) One good way to teach certain people right from wrong is to give them a good stiff punishment when they get out of line.

Conventionalism

8) A lot of our society's rules regarding modesty and sexual behavior are just customs which are not necessarily any better or holier than those which other peoples follow. (R)

Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)

desire that one’s ingroup dominate and be superior to outgroups

–Group-based dominance

– belief that one’s group ought to be at the top of the social ladder (e.g., # 1)

–Opposition to equality

belief that the groups on the bottom ought  to stay there (e.g., #6)

Social Dominance Orientation

desire that one’s ingroup dominate and be

superior to outgroups

Social Dominance Orientation Two components:

Group-based dominance – belief that one’s

group ought to be at the top of the social ladder

(e.g., # 1)

– Opposition to equality – belief that the groups

on the bottom ought to stay there (e.g., #6)

Social Dominance Orientation

People with more power in society exhibit

higher levels of social dominance

orientation.

Pp’s assigned high power roles in the lab

reported higher SDO (Guimond et al

2003).

Legitimizing myths

sets of attitudes and beliefs that people high in SDO use to justify their dominant position.

E.G.: Group stereotypes are used to justify inequality (people from group x are not smart)

SDO

Focuses on dominance and maintaining the ingroup’s dominance.

RWA

Focuses on submission to ingroup authority and resenting threats to traditional values

SDO or RWA (which better predictor?)

Hostile Sexism

•SDO

SDO or RWA (which better predictor?)

–Benevolent Sexism?

•RWA

SDO or RWA (which better predictor?)

–Sexual Prejudice?

•RWA

SDO or RWA (which better predictor?)

–Racial Prejudice?

•Both

A Class Divided

Documentary from 1985 based on an

experiment that Jane Elliott, a 3rd grade

teacher, did in her class in 1968 to teach

them about prejudice

Self-esteem

plays two different

roles in prejudice

Self-enhancement

– looking down on

others can bolster self-esteem

High self-esteem is related to more

prejudice – particularly if defensive self-

esteem

Self-Esteem

Self-protection

when threatened, people

may respond with prejudice to feel better

Self-protected

Fein & Spencer (1997) – Provided Christian

pps with negative or neutral feedback on

intelligence test

Neg feedback led to lower state self-esteem

(immediately after feedback)

Self-Esteem

Self-esteem - Fein & Spencer cont

Next, the Christian pp’s asked to evaluate

a job candidate, saw resume, photo, and

video interview

Half the time she was presented as Jewish,

half the time Christian

Evaluated the candidate and then

re-reported self-esteem

Self-esteem - Fein & Spencer cont’

Intergroup Emotions:

the feelings

aroused when people think about or

interact with members of social

groups

Intergroup Emotions two main models:

both focus on

different responses across outgroups

Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick: Stereotype content model:

classifies group stereotypes along two broad dimensions: warmth (W) and

competence (C)

• Our emotional response depends on where the group falls on W and C

Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick

Cottrell & Neuberg : Outgroup Threat Model:

Focuses on the

specific perceived threats posed by

different outgroups

• What are some threats that outgroups can

pose (or be perceived as posing?)

Cottrell & Neuberg

Different threats result in specific

emotional and behavioral responses.

• Economic threat

–

• Values or Health threat

–

• Safety threat

–

Cottrell & Neuberg

Different threats result in specific

emotional and behavioral responses.

• Economic threat

– Anger - Aggression

• Values or Health threat

– Disgust – Avoidance

• Safety threat

– Fear - Escape

Intergroup Anxiety:

Feelings of

discomfort about interacting with

outgroup members

Intergroup Anxiety is caused

by negative expectations about the outcome of intergroup contact

What could cause of negative intergroup

expectations?

-Lack of prior contact/poor contact

– Perceiving outgroup as dangerous/mean

– Fearing negative responses from ingroup (e.g., Stigma by Association)

Result of negative intergroup expectations=

Expect outgroup contact will be awkward/unpleasant-

-Avoid contact

Religion and Prejudice

Some religions proscribe (forbid) some

prejudice while permitting prejudice against

“value violators”

Religion and Prejudice a persons approach to religion:

(intrinsic, extrinsic, fundamentalist) influences how

religion relates to prejudice

Religious Fundamentalism

Belief that there is one set of religious

teachings that contain the truth

• Consistently associated with different forms

of prejudice

(even proscribed prejudice)

Morality and Prejudice

Researchers have identified 5 foundations of

morality that people endorse to differing degrees

Morality and Prejudice

Questionnaire: Does outcome violate one of the 5

standards?

1. Care (distress for victims)

2. Fairness (justice)

3. Ingroup Loyalty

4. Authority (Obedience)

5. Sanctity (Purity, chastity)

Morality and Politics

Conservatives and liberals differ in the

importance they place on the 5 moral

foundations (Grahm et al., 2012; Kivikangas et

al., 2021)

Morality and Politics

Liberals higher on care and fair

 Conservatives rate all similarly

 Conservatives higher on loyalty,

authority, and sanctity

Morality and Politics

Different priorities lead to different moral decisions that feel right

This may contribute to the ferocity of political debate

However, both groups perceive these

differences to be larger than they are (we

stereotype political groups).

Intergroup attitudes are influenced by

the relative focus on foundations

Morality and Prejudice

Less focus on Care and more focus on Ingroup , Loyalty promotes more outgroup bias

Higher focus on purity contributes to prejudice toward sexual outgroups and anti-immigration attitudes

Higher focus on fairness than authority leads to more support for protesting

Awareness of Social Categories

Children form categories to simplify the

world and free up mental resources.

From an early age children are aware of

social categories

Implicit Awareness of Social

Categories

Children implicitly recognize differences between basic social categories

Fagan and Singer (1979) studied attention to faces in 5-6 month infants