Prejudice and Intergroup Relations

Definitiions

Prejudice-s negative feeling toward an indicidual based solely on his or her membership in a particular group

Racism-prejudiced attitudes toward a particular race

Aversive racism-Simultaneously holding egalitarian values and negative feelings toward minorities

Discrimintation-unequal treatment of different people based on the groups or categories to which they belong

Can happen without prejudice

Stereotypes-Beliefs that associate groups of people with certain traits

Subtype-people use for individuals who do not fit a certain stereotype

Categorization-the natural tendency of humans to sort objects into groups

Social Catogorization-the process of sorting people into groups on the basis of characteristics they have in common

Outgoing members-people who belong to a different group or category than we do

Ingroup members-people who belong to the same group or category as we do

outgroup homogeneity bias- the assumption that outgroup members are more similiar to one another than ingroup members are to one another

ABC's of intergroup relations

Affective Component is Prejudice.

Behavioral component is Discrimination

Cognitive Component is Stereotyping

Common Prejudices and Targets

Sigmas-characteristics of individuals that are considered socially unacceptable

Arabs and Muslims

More extreeme since Sept 11th

"lost e-mail" study

People who are overweight

stigma by association-rejection of those who associate with stigmatized others

homosexuals

Matthew Shepard

homophobia-excessive fear of homosexuals or homosexual behavior

People are more likely to be agressive toward gay people if they believe it is a lifestyle choice (not biological)

minimal group effect- the finding that people show facoritism toward ingroup members even when group membership is randomly determined

Ingroup Favoritism-preferential treatment of, or more favorable attitudes toward people in one's own group

negative stance towards "them"

Us vs. Them

Sherif (1953) summer camp study...creating and getting rid of prejudice

Realistic conflict Theory- competition over scarce resources leads to intergroup hostility and conflict

frusturation/agression theory

Competition-people can attain their goals ONLY if others do not

Cooperation-working together with others to help all achieve their goals

Discontinuity Effect-grroups are more ectreme and more hostile than individuals

Prejudice and Self-esteem

reguarding outgroup members as inferior raises your self-esteem (belonging to your superior group)

Ignorance?

contact hypothesis-Gordon Allport (54) idea that tregular interaction between members of different groups reduces prejudice (under favorable conditions)

Rationalization for opresssion

People in positions of power and wealth find stereotypes to be an appealing way of explaining their superiority

Stereotypes as heuristics

stereotypes as mental shortcuts

Gordon Allport (1954) stereotyping as "the law of least effort"

can lead to errors but often produce right answer

Always wrong, mostly wrong, or mostly right?

Janet Swim (1994) people's stereotypes are accurate in content and degree

Political stereotypes are not accurate

When people meet someone they generally rely on what they learn about that individual rather than stereotype

Always Negative?

Glick & Fiske (1996) Benevolent sexism =worse than hostile sexism for women's cognitive performance

still opressive

salience-being obvious/standing out

contributes to stereotyping

purely cognitive process (without emotional/motivational influence)

Scapegoat Theory-blamingg problems on outgroups contrributes to negative attitudes towards these outgroups (linked to attribution theory)

Hovland and Sears (1940) cotton and lynching. violence against african americans increased as the price of cotton decreased

Self-serving bias- tendency for people to take credit for success but refuse blame for failure (blame scapegoats)

Conflict and stress bring out stereotypes (racial stereotype useage increases when there is a disagreement)

Emotional stress can activate and distort stereotypes...Maner (2005) stereotyping after a horror movie

conformation bias-focus more on evidence that supports one's expectations than on contradicting evidence

Conscious Override

Mental Processes of Nonprejudiced People

Patricia Devine (1989) automatic system operates similiar in noth prejudice and nonprejudice people.

nonprejudice people replaced prejusice thoughts with tthoughts of equality

Discrimination in Reverse

Dutton & Lake (1971) restruant treated black people more favorable to avoid appeearing biased

If black couple arrived first they were seated despite breaking dress code

People overcome prejudice by making couscious efforts to be fair and equal in how they treat others

Motives for Overcoming Prejudice

motives: dedication to equality, and expressing prejudice can provoke social disapproval

Plant and Devine (1998) Internal and Extermal Motivation tto Respond without Prejudice (scale that measures motive on reducing prejudice)

Conscious override

automatic sustem sustains prejusices

conscious system strive to overcome prejudices

Contact

stereotypes/prejudices reduced with positive contact with outgroup member

Superordinate Goals

jigsaw classroom- cooperative learning technique for reducing feelings of prejudice

developed by Elliot Aronson

Self Fufilling and Self Defeating Prophecies

Self-fufilling prophecy- prediction that ensures, by your behavior, that it will come true (toliet paper shortage)

baby faces = more honest

Self-defeating prophecy-A preduction that ensures (by your behavior) that it will not come true

Stigma and self-protection

Crocker and Major (1989) african americans have higher self-esteem (despite prejudices against them)

social comparison-compare against eachother

Criteria of self-worth- discount standards

attribution theory-

Stereotype Threat

Stereotype threat-the fear that one might confirm the stereotypes that others hold

most powerful when it is difficult to contradict

Meta-analysis found that stereotype threat does impair test performance for women and minorities.

confirming neg. stereotypes=nervousness=worse scores

Imagining interacting with younger people improved performace for older people