PSD Prejudice, Stereotype, Discrimination

Prejudice: A generalized negative attitude or feeling toward a group and its members. This often involves negative emotions like dislike, fear, or anger.

Stereotype: A generalized belief about a group of people, where certain traits, characteristics, or behaviors are attributed to all members of that group. Stereotypes can be positive or negative and represent the cognitive component of social attitudes. They function as schemas or mental frameworks.

Discrimination: Negative behavior directed against individuals based on their group membership. This is the behavioral component of social attitudes and involves treating someone unfairly or differently (usually negatively) due to their group affiliation.

Explicit Prejudice: Consciously held and openly expressed negative attitudes toward a group.

Implicit Prejudice: Unconscious, automatic negative biases against a stigmatized group that individuals may not be aware of or able to self-report.

Stereotype Threat: The fear experienced by members of a stigmatized group that their behavior or performance will confirm negative stereotypes about their group. This can lead to increased anxiety, mental load, and ultimately poorer performance.

Institutionalized Discrimination: Discrimination that is embedded within the structures and policies of institutions (e.g., legal, political, economic, social).

Tokenism: The practice of admitting a small number of members from a marginalized group into a role or organization, often to appear inclusive but without significant representation or power. This can increase self-consciousness and negatively impact the performance of the token individual.

Ingroup: A social group to which an individual identifies as belonging.

Outgroup: Any social group with which an individual does not identify.

Ingroup Bias: The tendency to favor one's own group, viewing ingroup members more positively, treating them better, and viewing outgroup members more negatively and treating them worse.

Realistic Group Conflict Theory: The theory that intergroup conflict arises when groups compete for limited resources, leading to ingroup favoritism and outgroup hostility.

Scapegoating: Blaming a relatively powerless and easily identifiable group for societal frustrations or failures, often relying on existing prejudices against that group.

BIRGING (Basking In Reflected Glory): Associating oneself with the successes of one's ingroup to enhance self-esteem.

CORFING (Cutting Off Reflected Failure): Distancing oneself from the failures of one's ingroup to protect self-esteem.

Downward Social Comparison: Comparing oneself or one's group to others who are perceived as less fortunate or less capable to boost self-esteem.

Perceived Outgroup Homogeneity: The tendency to overestimate the similarity of members within an outgroup, perceiving them as "all the same."

Shooter Bias: The observed tendency for people to be more likely to mistakenly shoot unarmed Black individuals than unarmed White individuals in simulated scenarios.

Need for Structure: An individual difference variable reflecting the desire for clear, certain, and unambiguous knowledge. Individuals high in need for structure are more likely to rely on stereotypes.

Cognitive Load: The amount of mental effort being used in working memory. Higher cognitive load can increase reliance on stereotypes as cognitive shortcuts.

Goal-Based Approach (to reducing PS&D): A framework for intervention that focuses on identifying the goals that prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination serve and then implementing strategies to address those goals in more constructive ways. The four intervention strategies are: changing features of the person, changing features of the situation, giving people alternative ways to satisfy goals, and activating goals incompatible with PS&D.

Intergroup Contact: Direct interaction between members of different social groups, which, under certain conditions (equal status, common goals, intergroup cooperation, support of authorities), can reduce prejudice.

Self-Handicapping: A strategy individuals may use to cope with stereotype threat by creating obstacles to their own performance, providing an external excuse for potential failure.

Dis-identification: A strategy to cope with stereotype threat by distancing oneself from the domain in which the negative stereotype exists, reducing the importance of success in that domain for one's self-esteem.

Self-Fulfilling Spiral of Intergroup Competition: A process where initial intergroup competition leads to negative stereotypes and prejudice, which in turn fuel further competition and hostility, creating a cycle.

Self-Image Threat: Experiences of failure or frustration that can lead individuals to derogate members of stigmatized groups as a way to bolster their own self-esteem.