Prejudice & Discrimination

Prejudice

unjustified, negative attitude toward an individual/group

• based on gender, ethnicity, class, or culture

• Involves: beliefs, emotions, predisposition to certain behaviors

Discrimination

A behavior where you treat people differently based on prejudice

Just-world phenomenon

tendency for people to believe the world is just and people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

• encouraged by people in power to defend hierarchies

• whatever you believe can lead to victim blaming

• view from lens of prejudice

Ingroup Bias

tendency to prefer members of our own group— people who look and think like us— to people of outgroup, people perceived as different/apart from group

our brains like to classify

• put world into categories

• make judgements quickly and efficiently → may be wrong

How do categories contribute to prejudice?

Outgroup Homogeneity

the tendency to see all members of an outgroup as similar to each other, while viewing members of ingroup as distinct individuals

Ethnocentrism

regard own ethnic/national group as the standard

• in group bias

Stereotypes

overgeneralized beliefs about a particular group

• can lead to discrimination

• remeber vivid cases

• availability heuristic

Implicit Attitudes

unconscious beliefs/stereotypes that influence how we act

• automatic attitude

Implicit Associations Test

gauge implicit attitudes, identifies beliefs, and biases that people are unable or unwilling to report

• timing ability to pair words with face and images

Social Comparison Theory

when we compare ourselves

• make us feel better/worse about ourselves

Downward Social Comparison

when we compare ourselves to people who are worse off than ourselves

• improve self-concept

Upward Social Comparison

when we compare ourselves to people who are better than us

• makes you feel worse

Relative Deprivation

tend to feel that we have been deprived of a resource if we think other people have more of it