Prejudice and Stereotyping Exam 2

Contemporary Prejudice

Often expressed in ways that can be “justified” as not racial

Sometimes unconscious

Three major theories

1. Modern-Symbolic Prejudice

2. Averisive Prejudice

3. Ambivalent Prejudice

Modern Symbolic Prejudice

Beliefs include

• Racial prejudice and discrimination no longer exist

• Remaining racial differences results from lack of hard work

• Because black people are unwilling to work, their anger over inequality is unjustified

• Rather than working, black people are seeking special favors

• Black people get more than they deserve (connection to Relative Deprivation Theory

Psychological Bases of Modern-Symbolic Prejudice

• Mild to moderate anti-black emotions - feeling uncomfortable, weary 

• Belief in traditional values - hardwork, individualism, self-reliance 

• Low-outcome based egalitarianism - equal opportunity=equal outcome 

• Group self-interest (zero-sum belief) - promote interest of in-group 

• Low intergroup contact - little to no experience with the group, knowledge with the group 

Aversive Prejudice

• People who avoid marginalized group members

• Believe in equality but retain negative feelings toward marginalized groups

• Reject traditional racialized beliefs

• Support equality-enhancing programs

• View being unprejudiced as important to their self-concepts

• Won’t discriminate when discrimination would be obvious. Will discriminate when they can rationalize a negative response on the basis of some other factor

• Influenced by situational conditions

Aversive Prejudice Research -

Gaertner and Dovidio (1977)
Helping In An Emergency

Staged an emergency with either a white victim or a black victim

Someone was either present or no one was present

Who helped the victim?

More people helped the black victim when no was around, it was a little more in comparison to when the white victim was alone

More likely to help white people when others were around but were much less likely to help the black victim when other people were present

Excuse was that it’s not bias because there were other people there to help

Aversive Prejudice Research -

Gaertner and Dovidio (2000)

Hiring Recommendations 

Stereotype that white candidates are more qualified and will perform better 

Aversive Prejudice Research -

Johnson et al. (1995)

Legal Decisions

When using inadmissible evidence they were more likely to find the black defendant guilty than before

Ambivalent Prejudice

• Accept principles of equality

• Lingering negative attitudes

  • Have a prejudiced reaction if they don’t want to

• People don’t like internal conflict

Expressions of Prejudice

Hostile Prejudice: Actively negative expressions of people that target people

Benevolent Prejudice: If I’ve done something good, I can’t be biased, negative stereotypes

• provides moral credentials

• difficult to change

Stereotypes Guide Expectations 

People expect certain behaviors or characteristics in individuals based on stereotypes about the social category to 

Gender and Hiring in Science

Moss Racusin et al (2012)

Two Identical Resumes With Male Name Vs Female Name

Male applicants are seen as more competent, hireable, and can be mentored in comparison to female applicants

Offer a higher salary to males

Males outnumber on all basis (competence, hire ability), mentoring)

Six Bias Constructs

Stereotypes and biases guide expectations

1. Prescriptive Norms

2. Reconstructing Credentials

3. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Stereotypes influence evidence processing

4. Attentional Spotlight

5. Confirmation Bias

6. Untested Assumptions

Prescriptive Beliefs

Stereotypes set up assumptions about how people should and should not behave

(think about it as prescribing)

Ex: How women should be vs how men should be

Social penalties for violating these prescreptive norms

Prescriptive Norms

Expectation for what someone should be like based on stereotypes

Class Ex: People would ask Neil DeGrasse Tyson the scientist “Don’t you want to be an athlete?”

Hard to overcome these prescriptive norms

Reconstructing Credentials

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

• Decisions appear to be based on credentials and not on stereotypes and biases

• Reconstructing credentials inadvertently justifies discrimination

Ex: When it was a man they would emphasize street smarts if that’s what they were discussing and then the same for book smarts

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Expecations lead you to behave in a wya that causes others to behave the way you expected them to act

• When you have a stereotype about someone then you are more likely to portray that stereotype

Self Fulfilling Prophecy Case Study 

• Teachers told that some students, and not others, are more likely to succeed 

• Unbeknownst to the teachers, the researchers randomly assigned students to be “bloomers” vs “non-bloomers”

  • Teachers were observed to behave differently with “bloomers” than “non-bloomers”, gave them more help and attention

  • Changes in teachers behaviors: More smiling, more encouragement, and comments on homework - benefitted the bloomers intellectual ability

Stereoptypes Affect Evidence Processing 

• People do not process evidence objectively and rationally 

• Stereotypes influence how we process and attend to evidence, in a way that perpetuates stereotypes and biases

Attentional Spotlight

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

• Seek information that confirms stereotypes similar to confirmational bias but more about the attention processing 

Attentional Spotlight Case Study

Manipulating perceived socioeconomic class of Hannah

Showed pics of an ugly house and a nice house

Hannah had a mixed performance

Think Hannah is smarter when she lives in the nice house than when she lives in the ugly house

Confirmation Bias 

Giving confirmatory information more wait than disconfirmatory information 

• more evidence in stereotypes than against it 

Confirmation Case Study

(Cox and Devine, 2017)

• Confirming evidence that leads them to believe they will do well will improve their performance

• Performance stayed the same when it was disconfirmed (no growth)

Blatant Discrimination

Unequal and harmful treatment that is intentional and visible

Subtle Discrimination

Typically unintentional and is more subtle

Language of Prejudice 

1. Hostile Humor 

2. Controlling Talk 

3. Vanishing 

4. Abnormalization 

5. Microagressions 

6. Microagressions

Hostile Humor 

Attempting to make prejudiced jokes 

• used to be the primary form of humor for comedians

Controlling Talk 

Keep low status people in their place

• (not your role)

Vanishing

Linguistic device that make outgroups disappear (chairman, fireman), soccer team won- implies that it was the men’s soccer team who won 

Abnormalization

Make them seem different from the in-group.

• This group is not like our group 

Microagressions

• Everyday instances of racism, homophobia, sexism, or there bias

• Convey hostility or derogatory or negative messages based on group membership

• Ex: An Asian American, born and raised in the US, is complimented for speaking “good English”

Covert Discrimination 

Unequal or harmful treatment that’s hidden, purposeful, want them to fail, make it seem like you are not biased 

Active Facilitation 

Doing things that help a group get ahead 

Passive Facilitation

Not helping them or stopping them from getting ahead

Active Harm

Actively seeking and harming people

Passive Harm

Not doing things/ avoiding what would be helpful

High Warmth + High Competence 

Behavior:

Active facilitation 

Passive harm 

High Warmth + Low Competence

Active facilitation

Passive Harm

Low Warmth + High Competence

Passive Facilitaton

Active Harm

Low Warmth + Low Competence

Active Harm

Passive Harm

Theory of Planned Behavior 

Not just about whether or not you have the attitude, likely to be influenced by norms or control of 

• comes out with hate crimes → there are other reasons other than attitude 

Internal vs External Motivation Case Study

(Plant and Devine, 1988)

Losing Control

Control is diminished by

1. Diminished executive function -

2. Disinhibitors - Being stressed and overwhelmed can lead you to not override your biases and things such as consuming alcohol

3. Moral Credentials - If you act non prejudiced you are more likely to express prejudice in the future

Internally Motivated People’s Response to Expressing Prejudice 

Will feel guilt and discomfort 

Will take actions to reduce prejudice 

Externally Motivated People’s Response to Expressing Prejudice 

Will experience threat and anger 

Will take actions to reduce prejudice only if they believe it will be apparent to others 

• only care about the social norms and who thinks they are expressing prejudice 

Workplace Discrimination

• Policies, practices, or behaviors of individual employees that lead to different outcomes for members of different groups

• Individual level or organizational level

Hiring

• Employment audits

• White applicants are more likely than applicants of color to:

  • Get a job interview

  • Receive positive interview ratings

  • Be offered a job

• Being white = 8 additional years of experience

  • shows advantage, immediately given 8 years of experience

Shifting Standards

Stereotypes function as standards against which we judge members of stereotyped groups 

• If competition for resources: high status group will be rewarded

• If no competition: low-status group will be rewarded

• Lead to less feedback and support

• Contribute to the maintenance of stereotypes

Justification for Discrimination

• Business related facts used to justify discrimination

• e.g. “need for harmony”, “placating customers”

Microinsult

Subtle messages of rudeness

e.g. “You’re really articulate” → didn't expect someone from that group to be articulate

Microinvalidation

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

e.g. Telling a friend that someone being rude to them had nothing to do with race → invalidating race

Microassault 

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

e.g. Describing a group of people as “those people” or wearing a short with a confederate flag 

Effect of Microaggressions at Work

• Impaired work performance

• Decreased job satisfaction

• Increased stress

• Increased intentions to quit one’s job

Hate Crimes

Criminal offenses in which victims are chose because of group membership

Underestimated due to reporting challenges

• what is considered a hate crime differs based on state and 47/50 states take hate crimes into account

Offenders are disproportionately

• male

• young

• known to the victim

Motivation for Hate Crimes 

1. Intergroup Attitudes - not primary drivers 

2. Thrill Seeking - see them as easy, safe victims as people will care less

3. Defense of the In-Group - perpetrators see themselves as protecting group

4. Peer Group Dynamics - if you’re group is engaged, you are more likely to engage 

5. Normalization of Intergroup Agression

Effect on Hate Crime Victims

Psychological Consequences - More traumatic if you are assaulted based on your identity than randomly

Secondary Victimization -

Marginalized Groups

A group of people who have a characteristic that is devalued by the group with the most status or power at any given society

• dependent on historical and cultural context - status can change depending on location and time 

• sometimes referred to as ‘minoritized’ or ‘stigmatized’ group

Concealibility

The extent to which a stigma is visible to others 

Negative: Less social support to cope with stigma-related stressors 

Positive: Can pass as non-stigmatized, which can have significant social advantages 

Origin 

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

• Perceived onset un-controllable (e.g. physical disabilities, cancer): elicit pity and helping behaviors 

• Perceived onset-controllable (e.g. obesity, HIV): elicit hostility and avoidance 

Peril

The extent to which a stigma poses a personal threat and potential for contagion
Perceived danger → increased prejudiced 

• Perception of diseases as deadly → vulnerability → social rejection and victim blaming 

Aesthetics 

The potential for a stigma to evoke a disgust reaction 

• Avoiding aesthetically unappealing, although not contagious, physical traits indicating possible illness due to an over-generalization from an instinct to avoid contagious disease

Disruptiveness

The extent to which a stigma interferes with smooth social interactions

• Stigmas that are perceived to interfere with smooth interactions because non-stigmatized individuals are uncertain how to behave

• Lead to avoidance due to intergroup anxiety

Course

The extent to which a stigma persists over time

• Greater stigma if peoples stigma is present

• If its short lived, transient, stigma is not really observable

Social Contagion 

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

Social Contagion Case Study

Participants: College men

Watched an interaction between two men who were friends

One of the men (person A) revealed to the other man (person B) that he was straight or gay

Participants then rated their comfort for each man

Participants are more comfortable with the gay person than they are with the straight man who is friends with the gay man

Tokenism

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

• Actions of tokens are seen as representative of entire group - thought to be the speaker for the group

• Tokens often feel isolated

• Tokens in the workplace

  • Misleading Branding

  • Symbolic Diversity

  • Lack of Support

  • Extra Work - asked to serve on things like diversity committees, extra labor and energy

Attributional Ambiguity 

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

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

• Mostly arises in social interactions between people who differ in their social or identities or group memberships and in which there is uncertainty about whether discrimination played a role in feedback

• Leads to uncertainty about how to interpret and respond to feedback, often negatively influencing future performance  

+ Attributional Ambiguity

• Marginalized group members can feel uncertainty about whether negative outcomes are due to discrimination against them or their own behavior

  • Self Esteem Buffer- Is it because they don't like my group or was my essay actually really bad?

• Can also discredit positive feedback as a form of sympathy rather than seeing it as the result of their ability and achievement

  • Self Esteem Harm- Does the teacher actually believe I did good or do they just not want to seem biased? Harmful because then they don’t get feedback on how to improve

Cultural Mismatch Case Study 

Method: University welcome letter manipulation (independent or interdependent framing) 

After reading the university welcome letter they had to give a 5 minutes speech about their college goals that was recorded and would be “evaluated by a university committee”
Dependent Variable: Cortisol change during speech 

Analysis: Examined the interaction between condition (letter) and social class 

Results: If they had a culture match, they’d be more comfortable, less anxiety, and perceive task as easier 

Minority Stress Theory

• One of the core models for understanding experiences of discrimination

• Initially studied regarding sexual orientation

• Note: Experiences of discrimination are not universal across or within groups

Mediators

Addresses questions of “How” and “Why” X predicts Y

Moderation 

Addresses questions of “When” and “For Whom” X predicts Y 

Microagressions towards Asians and Black Americans Case Study 

Evaluated: Frequency of experiencing 6 different kinds of microagressions

• Exoticization: “Someone assumed that I spoke a language other than English”

• Inferiority: “Someone assumed that I would not be educated because of my race” - Asians experienced this more than Black Americans 

• Criminality: “Someone assumed that I would physically hurt them because of my race” - Black Americans experienced this more than Asians 

• Microinvalidations: “I was told that I should not complain about race” - Black Americans experienced this more than Asians

• Environmental: “I observed people of my race portrayed negatively in movies” - Asians experienced this more than Black Americans 

• Workplace/School: “An employee or coworker was unfriendly or unwelcoming toward me because of my race” - Black Americans experienced this more than Asians

Experiencing microaggressions was associated with more negative health outcomes 

Personal/ Group Discrepancy

• People’s belief that their group, as a whole, is more likely to be discriminated against than they, themselves, are as individuals

Explanations

• Cognitive: Different standards of comparison for individual vs. group experiences

• Motivational: Desire to minimize own experiences with discrimination

Psychological Disengagement

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

Short Term: Protects self worth, conserves effort when payoff seems unattainable or unfair

Long Term: Reduces motivation/ participation in the domain

Behavorial Compensation

Adjusting behavior to preempt bias and disconfirm a negative stereotype when discrimination is expected

• Extra monitoring and effort are expended to be seen as competent

Short Term: Can secure access, reduce bias, and improve evaluations

Long Term: Cognitive load, stress, burnout; less authenticity

Confronting Stigma

Strategies used by stigmatized group members to directly challenge and change the meaning and impact of stigma

Reframing: Flipping the value of a stereotype

Self-Labeling/Reclaiming: Adopting a term on your