Chapter 11 - Stereotypes and Prejudice

• stereotypes and prejudice

  • stereotype - beliefs about people (in groups)

    • benevolent sexism

      • women = nurturing and emotional

      • men = competent

    • ex: men are better at math than women

  • prejudice - unjustified negative behavior towards a group

    • ex: assuming that black people are more likely to participate in crime

  • discrimination - unjustified negative behavior towards a group’s membership

    • ex: men are paid more than women in their salaries

  • internalized prejudice - distancing yourself from the rest of a group

    • subtyping - prevents schema accommodation —> lets stereotype exist

      • ex: introverted lawyer

  • stereotype threat - being aware of negative stereotypes

    • underperform

    • microaggression

      • ex: a woman will perform worse on a math test because she is told that she is not good at the subject (but shes really smart)

  • social categorization - putting people into groups

    • not inherently bad (natural)

    • more useful in groups

  • outgroup homogeneity bias - other group is ALL the same

    • MY group is individual

• more stereotypes!

  • learning stereotypes - stereotypes persevere

    • developed early in children

    • its everywhere —> observational learning + cognition

      • ex: women are better at caring for children and babysitting them (societal expectation)

• related concepts

  • representativeness heuristic —> forming judgements by comparing a situation to a stereotype they already have in their mind

    • ex: a man might be labeled or seen as a body guard because he is fit and tall

  • dual processing

    • system 1 - rapid/automatic —> unconscious

      • relies on gut feeling

      • heavily influences emotions and experiences

    • system 2 - conscious effort —> analyzing info

      • relies on logic and accuracy

      • can override system 1

  • misinformation effect - remember something happening but it didnt

  • memory bias - cognitive bias where specific information (stereotypes) are recalled more easily than other information

    • reconstructive memory bias = changing a memory to fit schema

  • self-fulfilling prophecy - creating conditions for them to come true

    • knowing of a stereotype and acting based on a belief

  • in-group bias/favoritism - thinking your group is better

    • cultural - high context (collective) → desirable/natural

      • things go unsaid

      • America has low context (say a lot of movements and directions to the audience)

    • status dependent - low status = less in-group favoritism

    • black sheep effect - distance members —> negatively affects status

      • ex: baseball boys who are sick of losing want to go to Carmel instead so they can win

    • related concept: scapegoating —> blame another group for your problems

• Who is more susceptible to in-group bias?

  • authoritarian personalities - believe in a directive way of being

    • ex: parents and Nazis

  • social dominance orientation - inequality = natural

    • inequalities are accepted (some are inferior and we’re fine with that)

    • ex: Nazis

• Conditions for susceptibility

  • frustration - cannot address the source (vague) —> scapegoating

    • ex: Nazis

  • realistic group conflict theory - scarce resources cause people to turn on each other

    • rely on prejudice (Nazis)

  • speed - rely on stereotypes and in-group bias

    • heuristics and peripheral route of persuasion (emotions)

• How do we decrease prejudice, in-group bias, discrimination?

  • contact hypothesis - putting them all together —> integration of armed services

    • ex: brown v. board and ruby bridges (desegregation forced all races to attend the same school)

  • extended contact hypothesis - friend of a friend

    • a golden retriever is scared of cats because it is not around them often

    • BUT a dog that is surrounded by cats loves them because it is surrounded by them on a daily basis

• CONDITIONS

  • sustained contact - frequent intergroup contact (involves face-to-face)

  • equal status

  • mutual interdependence (collaboration)

  • superordinate goals

CALL OUT PREJUDICED/STEREOTYPED BEHAVIOR!!!

• double standard against genders

• don’t be judgemental!