9.1 Prejudice

Introduction to Prejudice

  • Presentation by Tim Dosen, Social Psychology, Karel K. Himawan, Ph.D.

  • Email correspondence: karel.karsten@uph.edu

The Impact of Prejudice

  • Post 9/11 Attitudes:

    • 6 months after attacks, Pakistanis & Palestinians seen as negatively as drug dealers (Fiske, 2002).

    • 4 years post-Iraq War, 46% of Americans held a negative view of Islam; 58% believed Muslims were likely to be violent extremists.

Definition of Prejudice

  • Concept:

    • Prejudice: A preconceived negative judgment of a group and its individuals.

    • ABC Theory of Attitude:

      • Affect: Dislike those different from self.

      • Behavior: Engage in discrimination.

      • Cognition: Perceive them as ignorant and dangerous.

  • Types of Prejudice:

    • Overt (explicit, conscious) vs. Subtle (implicit, automatic).

    • Related terms: Stereotype, Discrimination, Racism, Sexism.

Related Concepts

  • Racism: Prejudicial attitudes and discrimination toward a specific race.

  • Sexism: Similar attitudes and discrimination based on sex.

Global Racial Context

  • Statistics:

    • Non-Hispanic Whites will decrease to 1/8 of the global population in the next 50 years.

    • Skin color differences hold minimal biological importance.

Current State of Racial Prejudice

  • Indicators:

    • 90%+ Americans willing to vote for a Black candidate.

    • 80% believe understanding historical discrimination is crucial for high school graduation.

    • Obama: First Black president elected.

    • Increase in interracial marriages (77% in 2006 vs. 48% in 1987).

    • Persistent racism remains, despite progress.

    • Differences in perceptions of racial prejudice between Black (category-referenced) and White (norm-referenced) perspectives.

  1. Category-Referenced Perspective

    • Definition: Evaluations or judgments made by comparing individuals to a specific category or group.

    • Example: Black individuals are assessed against others in the same racial group, which can lead to different interpretations of prejudice and discrimination.

  2. Norm-Referenced Perspective

    • Definition: Comparisons made by evaluating individuals against a broader population or normative standard.

    • Example: In assessing racial prejudice, White individuals are compared to a societal standard, which often illustrates different interpretations of racial dynamics.

Hugenberg and Bodenhausen Experiment

Objective:
To explore the influence of racial prejudice on social perception and how automatic processing leads to different interpretations of faces based on race.

Methodology:
Participants were presented with photographs of faces from different racial backgrounds, and their responses to these images were measured.

Findings:

  • Participants were more readily able to recognize and accurately identify faces that belonged to their own racial group.

  • The experiment demonstrated that implicit biases significantly impact social cognition and face recognition processes.

Conclusion:
The study highlights how prejudice can shape our perceptions and interpretations of individuals based on racial categorization.

Automatic Prejudice Toward Race

  • Research Findings:

    • Study by Greenwald et al. (1998, 2000): 90% of White participants slower to associate good words with Black individuals.

    • Correll et al. (2002, 2006): Investigation of automatic prejudice and its cognitive basis.

    • Brain Regions: Amygdala linked to automatic prejudice (fear/disgust).

Gender Prejudice

  • Concept:

    • Related to social stereotypes about behavior of genders.

    • Norms vs. Stereotypes: Norms are prescriptive; stereotypes are descriptive.

  • Stereotype Findings:

    • Women: Agreeable; Men: Outgoing (William et al., 2000).

    • Stronger gender stereotypes than racial stereotypes (Jack & Senter, 1981).

Preference for Gender

  • General Perceptions:

    • Women perceived more positively: "women-are-wonderful effect" (Eagly, 1994).

Gender Trait Stereotypes

  • Female Traits:

    • Warm, Emotional, Kind, Sensitive, Weak, Friendly, Fashionable, Gentle.

  • Male Traits:

    • Competent, Stable, Tough, Self-confident, Strong, Accomplished, Nonconforming, Aggressive.

Gender Discrimination

  • Research Example:

    • Goldberg’s 1968 experiment revealing gender bias in perceived article value.

  • Parental Attitudes:

    • Different pride and happiness levels in announcing births of boys vs. girls (Gonzalez & Koestner, 2005).

  • Misogyny: Defined as hatred of women; no parallel term for men.

Gay-Lesbian Prejudice

  • Cultural Variation:

    • Criminalization of same-sex relationships varies by country.

  • Statistics:

    • 6% in Spain view homosexuality as morally unacceptable vs. 98% in Ghana (Pew, 2014).

    • Mixed but increasing support for gay marriage in Western countries (McCarthy, 2014).

    • High rates of harassment experienced by gay adolescents (GLSEN, 2012).

Sources of Prejudice

  • Categories:

    1. Social Sources

    2. Cognitive Sources

    3. Motivational Sources

Social Sources of Prejudice

  • Factors:

    • Social Inequalities, Socialization, Institutional Support.

Social Inequalities

  • Concepts:

    • Social dominance orientation (SDO): Desire to dominate other groups.

    • Perceptions of groups: Negative views towards perceived inferior groups (e.g., slaves, women).

Socialization

  • Ethnocentrism: Belief in the superiority of one’s own group; leads to intolerance.

  • Authoritarian Personality: Linked to higher incidences of prejudice.

  • Religion and Prejudice: Fundamentalist members express more prejudice than non-members (Altemeyer & Hunsberger, 1992).

Links between Religion and Prejudice

  • Findings:

    • Church attendees show different levels of prejudice based on fervency of beliefs (Batson & Ventis, 1982).

    • Religion can both propagate and reduce prejudice (Allport, 1958).

Conformity and Prejudice

  • Influences:

    • Conformity to socially accepted prejudice and gender roles.

    • Employment status of mothers shapes children's views on stereotypes.

Institutional Support

  • Factors:

    • Institutions like schools and media can reinforce prejudices through policies and representations.

    • Example: The "Face-ism" phenomenon.

Motivational Sources of Prejudice

  • Focus Areas:

    1. Frustration and Aggression

    2. Social Identity Theory

Frustration and Aggression

  • Understanding: Scapegoat theory explains hostility toward outgroups when frustrations arise from unidentified sources.

  • Economic context affects ethnic peace.

Social Identity Theory

  • Concept: “We” aspect of self; phases include categorization, identification, and comparison.

  • Ingroup Bias: Favorability towards one's own group.

Cognitive Sources of Prejudice

  • Focus Areas:

    1. Categorization

    2. Distinctiveness

    3. Attribution

Categorization

  • Mechanisms: Ease of spontaneous categorization when under stress or aroused; leads to outgroup homogeneity and own-race bias.

Distinctiveness

  • Effects: Distinctive individuals gain more attention; leads to stigma consciousness.

Attribution

  • Biases: Group-serving bias and the Just-World phenomenon illustrate how groups view behaviors.

Consequences of Prejudice

  • Key Issues:

    1. Self-Perpetuating Prejudgments

    2. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

    3. Stereotype Threat

Self-Perpetuating Prejudgment

  • Characteristics: Prejudgments often lead to subtyping and subgrouping to maintain stereotypes.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

  • Definition: When victims of prejudice believe in their stereotypes, they fulfill the predicted negative outcomes.

  • Stereotype Threat: A concern about confirming stereotypes affects performance more immediately than self-fulfilling prophecies.

Strategies to Change Prejudice

  • Interventions can be effective if group relationships change.

    • Social Learning View: Correct children’s early experiences of bigotry.

    • Contact Hypothesis: Promote interactions between previously segregated groups.

    • Recategorization: Shift perceptions of us vs. them.

    • Emotional Techniques: Support both victims and aggressors in addressing prejudices.

    • Training: Teach individuals to resist associating stereotypes with social groups.

Conclusion and Questions

  • Quote by Jonathan Davis: "You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same."