Chapter 6: Prejudice

Thursday, December 10, 2015

10:43 PM

Definitions
o
Prejudice
An usually negative attitude towards the members of some

group based SOLELY on their membership of that group

Negative emotional responses based on group membership

o
Discrimination
Behaviors based on prejudices

Differential (usually negative) behaviors directed towards

members of a different social group

o
Stereotype
Belief that all members of a group share certain traits or

characteristics, including behaviors

Each group prejudice is made up of one or more such stereotype

o
Racism
Belief that observable differences among races are genetic

(nature-nurture issue)
o
Sexism
Belief that observable differences between sexes are genetic

More about Discrimination

o
Obvious forms of discrimination
Mild

Simple avoidance
Stronger

Exclusion from jobs, educaitonal opportunities, clubs,

neighborhoods
Extreme

Overt aggression
o
Subtle forms of discrimination
Tokenism

Having someone from a minority group be included in

something just to be able to say that there is "equal
representation"

The fact that these people from a minority group are

being included is used an excuse to give them the rights they
actually deserve
Because they are included, it can't be that bad for

them so their requests for more rights are more easily

ignored

For people who participate in tokenism, positive actions

toward a minority are used to justify their "nonprejudiced"
behavior
Reverse Discrimination

Discrimination against members of a dominant or majority

group

Affirmative action
History of Race
o
Hierarchy was established by Johnan Blumenbach in 1775 that put
Caucasians at the top
o
They believed that the superior race was genetically superior
Nature theory

o
However, evidence shows that differences between races are actually
caused by the environment, culture, learning and NOT genetics
Nurture theory

o
The idea of race is not really supported by evidence and biologists
today question its validity
Prejudice
o
Direct intergroup competition
Realistic Conflict Theory

Competition for resources can cause prejedice to form

between two competing groups

These groups will view each other in increasingly negative

terms, even to the point that they will no longer view the other
group as human

Hovland and sears (1940)

Robbers Cave Study (1961)

Boys were sent to a camp in Oklahoma and split

into two teams

First, they were asked to bond together to increase

the closeness of their group

Then they were pitted against each other in

competitive events
Strong prejudice developed between the two

groups
Eventually, the two teams were asked to work

together for superordinate goals

Tensions between the two groups decreased

dramatically and cross-group frienships formed

o
Social Learning of Prejudice
Children learn the views of their parents, friends, teachers, etc

Mass media promotes stereotypical images that allow children to

form prejudices early on

Example:
The media always portrays the damsel in distress

as a woman who does something wrong and needs saving

This can create the idea that women dont know

how to do anything and are useless

o
Social categorization
Ingroup vs. Outgroup

Favorability

Ingroup is more favorable than the outgroup

Variability

Outgroup homogeneity
They are all alike

Because we believe they are all the same, it's

easier to treat them as a group and not as individuals

We feel like we know who all of them are without

taking the time to know them

Ingroup heterogeneity
We are all different and unique

Ultimate attributional error

When good things happen to an outgroup, its because of

situational factors, and when it happens to the ingroup, it's
because of internal factors
Illusory Correlation

Incorrect presumptions about the outgroup can be made

because of feelings about the outgroup

There is probably a genetic component to this behavior

o
Threats to self-esteem
Having negative views about the outgroup allows group

members to bolster their own self image, particularly when it has

been threatened
o
Bogus Pipeline Study
Participants are told that their true attitudes can be read by a

machine (not true)

Because of this, participants will not lie when asked about their

attitudes and prejudices because they think the machine will pick up
on it anyway
o
Bona Fide Pipeline
Studies implicit stereotypes

Participants rate adjectives as good or bad

View photos of people from various ethnic stereotypes

View photos again and indicate if they have previously

seen them

The adjectives are then rated again

The point of this is to see if their attitudes towards

adjectives are changed based on the priming (looking at the
pictures)
DV is response latency while rating

Pushing the button faster means that the adjective

is highly associated with the photo

Combating Prejudice
o
Breaking the cycle
o
Direct intergroup contact
o
Recategorization
Changing the label that is given to a group into one that is more

inclusive and representative

Example:
Muslims vs. Humans

Cognitive interventions
Collective Guilt
Just say no to stereotypes with attributional training

Pictures of people along with a stereotype that goes with

their group are presented to a participant

They were told to say "no" to the stereotypes several

hundred times, and after a while, they were less able to
associate stereotypes
Social Influence
What others think about "them" affects what we think about
"them"
Participants are asked to determine how much certain groups
contain certain traits
When they are told that other people do not agree with these
stereotypes, the participants' stereotypes also decrease
If other people dont see other groups as "that bad" then it is
easier for the participants to do the same