Lecture 8- impacts of discrimination and reducing prejudice

What is stigma?

Characteristics (often negative) that distinguishes a group from others

What are examples of stigmatised characteristics?

• Race

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Age

• Mental illness

• Physical disability

Who is responsible for the early conceptualisation of stigma?

Erving Goffman

What is master status?

Characteristic seen as most important to one’s social identity

What master status is often seen for stigmatised groups?

• Stigmatised groups are often seen as their stigmatising attribute

• Race, gender, sexuality

What happens when people are conscious of being stigmatised?

They become more vigilant to signs of prejudice

What does sensitivity to perceiving bias and discrimination depend on?

Extent to which one identifies with their group

How does gender identity impact sexism?

Lower gender identity reduces effects of sexism

What is stigma consciousness?

Awareness of prejudice and discrimination

How does stigma consciousness impact sexism?

Lower stigma consciousness reduces effects of sexism

Why do people leave groups (disidentify)?

They no longer successfully serve one or more basic psychological needs

What are some examples of basic psychological needs?

• Promoting survival

• Reducing uncertainty

• Bolstering self-esteem

• Managing mortality concerns

What does experiencing more prejudice in daily life lead to?

• Poor psychological health

• Increased depression

• Lower life satisfaction

What are some long-term consequences of prejudice?

• Elevation of the body’s physiological stress response

• Poorer cardiovascular functioning

• Arterial plaque buildup and artery calcification

How can stereotypic expectations affect your actions?

• Lead the stereotyped person to behave as you expected

• Self-fulfilling prophecy

What studies support self-fulfilling prophecy consequences of prejudice?

• Interviewer study (Word et al, 1974)

• Woman engineering students (Logel et al, 2009)

Describe Word et al’s (1974) study about racial prejudice

• White person interviewed either white or black man

• If the interviewee was black the interviewer distanced themselves further physically

• If interviewee was white the interviewer was closer in proximity

• Pulled chair closer to the person

How does conforming to stereotypes help people get along with others?

• When motivated to get along with someone who hold stereotypes, we may behave accordingly

• People get along better when they conform other’s expectations

How is objectification a consequence of prejudice?

Has resulted from the strong focus many cultures place on women’s bodies

What is self-objectification?

When women view themselves as objects to be viewed and judged

What are the consequences of self-objectification?

• Increases body shame, appearance anxiety and self-disgust

• Disrupts concentration and interferes with cognitive performance

• Feelings of shame make women vulnerable to disordered eating, depression, and sexual dysfunction

What is stereotype threat?

The concern that one might confirm a negative stereotype

What does stereotype threat impair?

• Memory performance of older adults

• Driving performance of women

• Men’s emotional sensitivity

• Women’s maths skills

Under what conditions is stereotype threat strongest?

• Stigmatised identity is made salient in the situation

• Identity is chronically salient, due to high group identification

• The task is a diagnostic of ability relevant to the stereotype

• Individuals believe their performance will be compared with members of a group stereotyped as superior on a task

• Individuals are explicitly reminded of their stereotype

What can exposure to stereotype threat lead to?

• Disidentification

• Process of disinvesting in any area in which one’s group has been negatively stereotyped

What is do-nothing effect?

Even though most people say they would confront prejudice, few actually do

Why do few people confront prejudice?

• Social cost of confronting

• May face embarrassment or backlash if it doesn’t go to plan

What is the Stroop effect?

• Examines differences between automatic (reading) vs controlled (inhibition) processes in attention

• You have to state the colour of the text, while ignoring the word presented

What are the costs of concealing stigmatised identity?

• Concealment may be beneficial

• May have emotional and social consequences

What is rejection identification theory?

Suggests that negative consequences of being targeted by stigma can be offset by strong identification with group

What is attributional ambiguity?

• Members of stigmatised group uncertain if negative experiences are based on own actions or the result of prejudice

• Attributing to bias and not oneself may be adaptive

What is oppositional culture?

• Opposing majority group and its behaviours, ideas, and practices

• Devaluing perpetrators of stigma may help discount prejudice

What does reducing prejudice require?

Changing of values and beliefs

What are the challenges to changing prejudiced values and beliefs?

• Values and beliefs are integral to psychological security

• Prejudice often serves specific psychological functions for people

• Established prejudice contributes to self-perpetuating schemas

• Some people are unaware of prejudices and their influences

What are some challenges of reducing prejudice in legitimised systems?

• Significant challenges lie in changing these laws, customs, and norms

• Requires change in institutional structure

What is effective in media to reduce prejudice?

Counter-stereotypic images

What is process 1 of the dual-process view of prejudice?

Stereotypes and prejudice are automatic processes elicited through reflexive or experiential process

What is process 2 of the dual-process view of prejudice?

We use reflective or cognitive processes to control the degree to which those attitudes affect behaviour and judgement

What neurological mechanisms support the dual-process view of prejudice?

• Amygdala

• Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

What limitations are there when controlling our biases?

• Cognitive control is impaired when we are tired, aroused, or upset

• Regulation of automatic thoughts can be difficult when people are pressed for time, cognitively engaged, or distracted

What negative effects can controlling biases have?

• Exerting control makes it difficult to suppress other behaviour

• Suppression of stereotypes can backfire (stereotype rebound)

What factors contribute to positive intergroup contact?

• Equal status between groups

• Intimate contact that allows people to get acquainted

• Intergroup cooperation towards a superordinate goal

• Institutional or authority support

What is the contact hypothsis?

• 3 mechanisms by which contact creates positive change

• Reducing stereotyping (decategorising)

• Reducing anxiety

• Fostering empathy

What are the 3 factors involved in the contact hypothesis?

• Reducing stereotyping (decategorising)

• Reducing anxiety

• Fostering empathy

What are the effects of the contact hypothesis in the classroom?

• Children show increased self-esteem

• Increased motivation for learning

• Increased peer liking across racial and ethnic groups

What is stage 1 of the contact hypothesis?

• Initial contact

• De-categorisation

• Initial anxiety, but can lead to liking of the individual

What is stage 2 of the contact hypothesis?

• Established contact

• Salient categorisation

• Can lessen prejudice against the out-group

What is stage 3 of the contact hypothesis?

• Common ingroup identity

• Recategorisation

• Maximum reduction in prejudice and fosters cooperation

What are the 3 forms of indirect contact?

• Extended contact

• Media contact

• Imagined contact

What is extended contact?

• Having an ingroup friend who has outgroup friends is associated with lower prejudice and reduced intergroup anxiety

• Demonstrates intergroup relationships are permissible and possible

• Shows outgroup members are open to such relationships

What is media contact?

• Seeing outgroups in media is a form of extended contact

• Positive portrayals in the media can improve intergroup attitudes

• Watching characters in media is a form of ‘perspective taking’

What is imagined contact?

• Mentally practicing a ‘positive, relaxed, and comfortable’ first meeting with an outgroup member

• Rehearsal of these interactions plays a key role in self-regulation of emotions and planning of behaviour during potential contact

• Allows people to develop a script for the interaction

What is the social identity model of collective action?

• Attitude/behaviour change is more difficult in groups

• Must mobilise majority of group members for change

What are the 3 key factors of collective action?

• Perceived injustice

• Self-efficacy

• Social identity