Personality development and social relations

Stereotype
To generalize A belief about the personal attributes of a group of people Overgeneralized, inaccurate and resistant to new information

Prejudice
A negative prejudgment of a group and its individual members Biases us against a person based on the persons perceived group An attitude (Affect, Behavior tendency, Cognition)

Prejudiced attitudes need not breed hostile acts, nor does all oppression spring from prejudice.

discrimination Negative behavior toward a group or its members

racism Individuals prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race Institutional practices that subordinate people of a given race

sexism Individuals prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given sex Institutional practices that subordinate people of a given sex

Even when there is no prejudicial intent

Sources of prejudice
Social sources Emotional sources Cognitive sources

Social sources
Social conditions that breed prejudice

Social inequalities

Unequal status (example, rich vs poor) Religion Stereotype threat: self-confirming apprehension that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Social identity
Conformity Institutional supports

The we aspect of self-concept Ingroup bias: tendency to favor ones own group (ingroup vs outgroup, we vs them)

A change of behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure

Often go unnoticed, not deliberate attempts to oppress a group (example, shampoo commercials always feature long-haired women) Reflect cultural assumptions

Emotional sources
Effects of emotions and personality factors on prejudice

Frustration and aggression

Scapegoat theory: displaced aggression (one person from the group is always blamed, or is the scapegoat) Realistic group conflict theory: prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources (example, competition for Best Feasib study)

Personality dynamics/Socialization

Need for status Ethnocentrism: belief in the superiority of ones own ethnic and cultural group, and a corresponding disdain for all other groups Authoritarian personality: as children, they often faced harsh discipline supposedly leading them to repress hostilities and project them to outgroups

Cognitive sources
How we think influence stereotypes

Categorization

Simplifies our environment Perceived similarities and differences Example, All men are polygamous

Distinctiveness

Distinctive people: when you are alone in the midst of people, you become more noticeable and object of more attention Distinctive cases: because of lack of information, we base our judgment on what we superficially know Illusory correlations: false impression that two variables correlate Example, All elderly people walk slow: age vs speed

Attribution

Group-serving bias: explaining away outgroup members positive behaviors, attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions Just-world phenomenon: tendency to believe the world is just and people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Reducing prejudice
Seek to create cooperative, equal-status relationships Mandate nondiscrimination Pullout institutional support

Thank you!
Reference:

Myers, D. (2002). Social psychology (2nd ed.). New York:McGrawHill.