PSYC241 LECTURE 10

Prejudice

Overview of Prejudice

• Definition: Prejudice is an unfair (and usually negative) way of feeling about a group of people, based only on the fact that they belong to that group.

The Failure of Logic Exemplar

• This section shows that trying to use facts or logic to change strong prejudices often doesn't work. When one argument is countered, the prejudiced person simply finds a new, often illogical, reason to keep their prejudice.

  • For example, if someone says "Jews only care for their own," and you show them research that Jews donate more to other communities, they might just say, "That shows they're trying to gain favor and interfere. They only care about money, that's why there are so many Jewish bankers."

  • If you then prove that few Jews are bankers, they might switch again: "That's just it, they avoid normal business; they're only in movies or run nightclubs."

Intergroup Dynamics

Us vs. Them

• Howard & Rothbart (1980): A study showed that people tend to remember bad things said by members of other groups more than bad things said by their own group. This means we often ignore the flaws of people in our own group but notice them in others.

Nature of Prejudices

Key Concepts

• Stereotypes: - Definition: Beliefs about the typical traits of people in a group.

• Prejudice: - Definition: Negative feelings or judgments about an outside group.

• Discrimination: - Definition: Negative actions taken against members of an outside group.

Stereotypes

Characteristics of Stereotypes

• Stereotypes can sometimes be true but are often over-generalizations that affect how we think by:

  • Making us process new information that fits the stereotype faster.

  • Making us focus on information that confirms the stereotype.

  • Making us ignore or argue against information that goes against the stereotype.

  • People who are highly prejudiced react faster to words linked to stereotypes than those who are less prejudiced.

Creation of Illusory Correlations

• Illusory Correlation: This is when we mistakenly believe two things are connected when they're not.

  • Example: If a woman's purse is stolen by someone from a particular group, she might start holding her purse tighter every time she sees someone from that group, even if there's no real link.

Media Influence on Stereotypes

Mass Media Role

• When a self-described homosexual person commits a crime, their sexual orientation is often mentioned. However, when a heterosexual person commits the same crime, their sexual orientation is usually not mentioned. This can wrongly make people think there's more violence among homosexuals.

Stereotypes and Cultural Reflection

• Even if people don't believe in stereotypes, they often know about them. Just being aware of stereotypes can change how we think about individuals from those stereotyped groups.

Stereotype Threat

• This is when individuals feel worried that they might act in a way that confirms a negative stereotype about their social group.

Types of Prejudices

• Sexism (against a gender)

• Racism (against a race)

• Homophobia (against homosexuals)

• Ageism (against older people)

• Prejudice against people with physical or mental disabilities.

Discrimination

Definition and Forms

• Discrimination: Negative actions aimed at members of a social group.

• Forms of Discrimination:

  • Not wanting to help people from other groups.

  • Tokenism: Doing small, symbolic favors for an out-group to appear fair, but not really addressing bigger issues.

  • Reverse Discrimination: Overly favoring people who are usually targets of prejudice, sometimes to an unfair extent.

Subtle Forms of Discrimination

• While obvious discrimination has decreased, hidden forms still exist:

  • Modern Racism: Hiding prejudiced attitudes, often by opposing things like interracial marriages.

Psychological Roots of Prejudice

Explanatory Theories

• Minimal Group Paradigm: Tajfel et al. (1971) found that simply dividing people into groups, even randomly, can make them act competitively towards each other.

• Cognitive Efficiency: We sometimes use quick mental shortcuts (heuristics) for social categorization, which can lead to prejudice.

• Social Identity Theory: Our groups give us a sense of who we are. This can lead us to favor our own group (in-group) and reject other groups (out-group).

Psychological Motives for Prejudice

• Realistic Group Conflict Theory: When groups compete for limited resources (like jobs or land), they can see each other as threats.

  • Historical Example: More lynchings (killing of Black people) happened during times of economic hardship.

• Relative Deprivation: Feeling like you have less than others, or that your group is worse off than another group, can fuel prejudice.

• Blaming the Victim: The belief in a just world often leads people to think that victims are responsible for their own problems.

  • Study finding that $33\%$ of people believed rape victims were almost always responsible for what happened to them.

• Social Learning Theory: Prejudice can be learned from family and social interactions.

  • Societal rules that justify unfairness can strengthen prejudice.

  • Prejudicial attitudes can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies, where expectations about a group cause them to act in ways that confirm the stereotype.

Explanations of Prejudice and Discrimination

• Innate Components: The idea that we have a natural fear of things that are unfamiliar or unusual.

• Learned Components: Influences from parents, media, and society teach us prejudice.

• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: When people are frustrated, they might direct their anger at an easier target, leading to prejudice against out-groups.

• The Authoritarian Personality: This links prejudice to traits like rigid thinking, obedience to authority, and being closed-minded.

• Social Dominance Theory: This theory highlights that people with a high desire for social hierarchy often support systems that create and maintain group inequalities.

Overcoming Prejudice

Contact Hypothesis

• Spending more time with members of other groups can reduce prejudice, especially when people work together for a shared goal.

• Socialization: Teaching parents how to raise children who are more open-minded and accepting.

Reduction strategies

• Re-categorization: Changing how we define "us" and "them" to include former out-groups into our own group (e.g., bringing students from different backgrounds into the same school).

Cross-Cultural Psychology

Cultural Symbols

• Symbols have special meaning within cultures and include:

  • Heroes: People who represent valued traits in a society.

  • Rituals: Important social activities and traditions within a culture.

  • Values: Strong preferences for certain ways of being or behaving over others (e.g., what is considered good or bad).

Varied Social Behaviours

• Cultures show big differences in how people behave, think, and what rules guide them (e.g., how much people conform or show aggression).

• People in Eastern cultures are often collectivist, meaning they value group harmony and relationships. People in Western cultures are more individualistic, focusing on personal independence.

Approaches to Studying Culture

Etic vs. Emic Perspectives

1. Etic Approach:

   • Looks at culture from an outside, objective view, focusing on similarities across cultures.

   • Example: A global study by WHO comparing depression symptoms in different countries like Switzerland, Japan, Canada, and Iran, to find both common and unique symptoms.

2. Emic Approach:

   • Looks at culture from an inside, culturally specific view, aiming to understand meanings and ideas unique to that culture.

   • Example: Research on "heartbrokenness" among Hopi Indians, showing how they express depression in their own cultural way, identifying five specific illness categories.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Approaches

Emic Approach Strengths

• Respects what makes each culture special, finding unique customs and beliefs.

• Allows for deep study to understand how people within a culture see and experience things.

• Results truly reflect the realities of that culture and focus on solving specific cultural problems.

Emic Approach Weaknesses

• Might ignore common human experiences across all cultures.

• Can take a lot of time and money.

• Tools used for study might not be trusted or proven in that specific culture.

Etic Approach Strengths

• Research findings can often be checked and confirmed in different cultures.

• Helps get reliable results and apply them worldwide.

• Saves time and money by studying many cultures at once.

Etic Approach Weaknesses

• Might view other cultures through the lens of one's own culture, possibly seeing differences as flaws.

• Study tools might not fit other cultures well, which could cause confusion or misunderstanding.

Cultural Influences on Personality

Big Five Personality Traits

• Even though the Big Five traits (Openness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness) are thought to be universal, studies show there are small cultural differences in how they appear.

Forms of Address

• How people address each other changes across cultures to show status.

• Using formal titles (e.g., addressing doctors by their last names) shows respect for social hierarchies.

Personal Space

• People's comfort with personal space varies by culture.

• For example, Latin Americans tend to have more physical contact than North Americans.

• Also, people living further from the equator often prefer more personal space.

Characterizing Culture by Values

Values as Constructs

• Values are broad ideas that guide individual and societal behavior, shaping attitudes in a meaningful way.

• Hofstede's Research (1977): A key study on how cultural values affect the workplace identified five main cultural dimensions:

  1. Individualism–Collectivism

  2. Masculinity–Femininity

  3. Power Distance

  4. Uncertainty Avoidance

  5. Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation

Individualism vs. Collectivism

• Individualistic cultures prioritize personal freedom and goals over group well-being. Collectivist cultures focus on group harmony and people's roles within the group.

• Example: After an injury, individualistic cultures encourage self-reliance, while collectivist cultures involve the whole family in care.

Masculinity vs. Femininity

• This dimension looks at the different roles men and women play in society. Feminine cultures have less strict gender roles.

Power Distance

• This is about how much inequality people expect and accept in power or authority within a society.

  • High Power Distance: People feel less comfortable disagreeing with those in charge.

  • Low Power Distance: People are more likely to discuss and challenge authority.

Uncertainty Avoidance

• This measures how much cultures try to avoid unclear or uncertain situations by having strict rules and regulations.

  • Cultures with strong uncertainty avoidance prefer clear, structured results. Cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance are okay with ambiguity.

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation

• Long-term orientation values patience and planning for the future. Short-term orientation focuses more on current experiences and quick rewards.

Conclusion

• Hofstede's study is like an etic approach to understanding cultural differences. It provides a framework for how deep-seated values and beliefs shape human behavior worldwide.