Untitled Flashcard Set

US Demographic Shift (2019)
In 2019, ~49.95% of the U.S. population under age 16 identified as a racial or ethnic minority, reflecting increasing diversity and potential future shifts in majority/minority status.

Different Frameworks of “Progress”
Some evaluate progress by focusing on improvements made; others focus on persistent disparities to argue more work is needed.

Ignoring Disparities
Pretending inequality no longer exists prevents meaningful progress and solutions.

Multiple Truths
Understanding someone’s lived experience provides insight into differing perspectives; multiple truths can coexist.

Social Problems Framework
Social problems reside in communities and systems, not just individuals.

Individual Agency within Systems
Individual responsibility matters, but it operates within larger structural constraints.

Stereotypes
Cognitive beliefs about groups (“Group X is ___.”). Can be positive or negative but still harmful.

Positive Stereotypes
Seem favorable (e.g., “Asians are good at math”) but overgeneralize and create pressure.

Prejudice
Affective, emotion-based evaluation of a group (“I feel ___ toward Group X.”). Usually negative.

Discrimination
Behavior toward a group based on group membership. Can be interpersonal or institutional.

ABCs of Prejudice
Affect = Prejudice
Behavior = Discrimination
Cognition = Stereotypes

Why the ABCs Don’t Always Align
Social norms, self-presentation concerns, motivation to control prejudice, situational constraints, and automatic processes.

Prejudice Without Discrimination
Holding negative attitudes but not acting on them.

Discrimination Without Intent
Policies or practices that produce unequal outcomes regardless of awareness.

Institutional Discrimination
Organizational norms, laws, or policies that produce unequal outcomes across groups.

Social Identity
A person’s sense of who they are based on group memberships.

Intersectionality
Concept coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw; overlapping identities create unique experiences of privilege and oppression.

Intersectionality Challenges
Difficult to study quantitatively; often requires qualitative approaches.

Salience of Identity
Some identities are more noticeable depending on context and situation.

Labeling Debate (e.g., PMDD)
Labels can both pathologize and empower by providing validation and access to support.

Privilege
Unearned access to resources due to advantaged group membership.

Power
Control over access to resources and influence over behavior and outcomes.

White Privilege
Automatic advantages received by White individuals due to dominant group membership.

Peggy McIntosh
Described white privilege as an “invisible knapsack” of unearned assets (1988).

Redlining
Federal housing policies that denied loans primarily to Black Americans, reinforcing racial wealth gaps.

Invisibility Thesis
Claim that White individuals often do not recognize their racial identity.

Knowles et al. (Challenging Invisibility Thesis)
Argue that White individuals are aware of race and strategically manage identity to reduce threat.

Meritocratic Threat
Fear that accomplishments were not fully earned due to privilege.

Group-Image Threat
Discomfort from association with a group benefiting from unfair advantages.

Strategies for Managing Privilege Threat
Denial, reinterpretation, distancing, dismantling.

Dismantling Privilege
Actively supporting policies to reduce inequality and remedy injustice.

Missing White Woman Syndrome
Term coined by Gwen Ifill; disproportionate media attention toward missing young White women.

Media Incentives
News outlets prioritize stories that increase viewership and ad revenue.

Illusory Correlation
Perceiving a relationship between two variables that is weaker or nonexistent.

Media and Illusory Correlation
Rare but vivid pairings (e.g., mental illness + violence) repeated in media inflate perceived frequency.

Ingroup
A group you identify with.

Outgroup
A group you do not identify with.

Ingroup Favoritism
Preference for members of one’s own group.

Minimal Group Paradigm
Even arbitrary group assignments create ingroup bias.

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect
Belief that outgroup members are “all the same.”

Reasons for Outgroup Homogeneity
Limited contact, less familiarity, focus on group-level information.

Self-Categorization Theory
People define themselves as members of social categories; context determines salience.

Outgroup Overexclusion
Ambiguous individuals more likely categorized as outgroup, especially among high-ethnocentrism individuals.

Ethnocentrism
Favoring one’s own racial or national group over others.

Top-Down Processing
Pre-existing schemas and stereotypes guide perception.

Bottom-Up Processing
Perception guided by incoming sensory information.

Stereotypes as Top-Down Cues
Stored beliefs bias interpretation of ambiguous stimuli.

High-Prejudice Individuals & Ambiguity
More likely to rely on stereotypes when categorization is unclear.

Situational Salience
The category that makes someone “different” in a context becomes more noticeable.

Stereotype Accuracy
Extent to which stereotypes align with objective group differences; controversial area of study.

Lee Jussim
Argues stereotype accuracy is an empirical question that should be tested.

Barriers to Studying Accuracy
Social pressure, motivational biases, fear of undermining prejudice research.

Cultural Transmission of Bias
Bias passed through language, media, norms, and institutions.

Language Transmits Bias Through
Categorization, evaluation, attribution.

Media as Structural Amplifier
Media amplifies bias by shaping visibility, assigning roles, framing causality, and repetition.

Gender Representation in Media (2014–2015 Study)
Men represented twice as often as women; women more sexualized.

Sexual Minority Representation
Extremely underrepresented in major film and TV roles.

Ethnic Representation in Media
White characters disproportionately represented and more often shown in authority roles.

Age Representation
Older men represented more than older women; double discrimination for women of color.

Villains and Mental Illness Trope
Media frequently portrays villains as mentally ill, reinforcing false associations with violence.

Disability as Childlike Trope
Portrayals depict disabled individuals as naive or childlike, reinforcing patronizing stereotypes.

Superwoman Stereotype
Expectation that women excel simultaneously in career, caregiving, and domestic roles.

Jean Kilbourne
Argues media and advertising normalize unrealistic and harmful stereotypes about women.

Advertising and Gender Roles
Women often shown in domestic roles; men in authority/professional roles.

Media Exposure & Implicit Bias
Greater exposure to biased media (e.g., Iraq War coverage) associated with stronger implicit prejudice.

Beauty Magazine Exposure
Increases internalization of thin ideal and body dissatisfaction.

Repetition → Familiarity → Normativity
Repeated exposure makes ideas feel normal and true.

Explicit Attitudes
Conscious, self-reported evaluations.

Implicit Attitudes
Automatic evaluations outside conscious awareness.

Awareness ≠ Control
Knowing about bias does not automatically prevent biased behavior.

When Bias Shows Up Behaviorally
More likely under time pressure, cognitive load, ambiguity, or stress.

Key Insight About Bias
People can genuinely value equality yet still behave in biased ways due to automatic and structural influences.