Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Aronson Soc Psych
Aronson Soc Psych
Prejudice: Causes
and Cures
Activation of Stereotypes
Devines theory is based on the distinction between
automatic and controlled information processing.
Automatic processing is when we have no control,
i.e., under certain conditions the stereotypes are
automatically triggered, e.g., Native Canadians are
lazy.
Controlled processing allows for the suppression of
these automatic stereotypes, e.g., Thats not fair;
Native Canadians are no lazier than anyone else.
Activation of Stereotypes
Activation of Stereotypes
Activation of Stereotypes
Meta-Stereotypes
Recently, Vorauer et al (1998) raised the possibility
that our level of prejudice depends not solely on
whether our stereotype of a particular group is
positive or negative, but also on whether we think
members of that group ascribe to a positive or
negative stereotype of us. This is referred to as a
meta-stereotype.
A meta-stereotype is a persons beliefs regarding
the stereotype that out-group members hold about
him/her.
2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
What Causes Prejudice?
Meta-Stereotypes
For example, studies show that white students at
the University of Manitoba believed that Native
Canadians perceive white Canadians as prejudiced,
unfair, selfish, arrogant, wealthy, materialistic,
phony, etc a meta-stereotype.
Moreover, when white students were asked about
their reaction to an anticipated interaction with
Native students at U of M, the white students felt
that they would experience negative emotions and
would not enjoy the interaction very much.
Right-Wing Authoritarianism
Those who score high on right-wing authoritarianism
compared to lows,
-hold traditional, nonegalitarian attitudes toward
women
-express more negative attitudes toward French
Canadians, Natives, and Pakistanis, and
-show especially high levels of prejudice against
homosexuals.
The End
2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.