Transcript Prejudice
Prejudice Hostile, negative attitudes toward a distinguishable group of people based solely on their membership in a group What causes prejudice? Nature? Biological survival mechanism Nurture? Learned from our parents, society, teachers, etc. Mental bi-product? Social categorization: Us vs. Them In-group bias: + feelings & special treatment for people in our group and – feelings & unfair treatment for people not in our group Out-group homogeneity: perceiving individuals not in our group as more similar to each other than they really are as well as more similar than the members of the in-group are Stereotype A generalization about a group of people where identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members regardless of actual individual variance Not necessarily emotional, not necessarily intentional, does not necessarily lead to abuse: can be a way of simplifying the world (remember schemas?) Gender, race, occupation, religion, hair color… Can we ‘undo’ stereotypes? Bookkeeping Model: information inconsistent with a stereotype leads to a modification of that stereotype (accommodation) Conversion Model: information inconsistent with a stereotype leads to a radical change in the stereotype Subtyping Model: information inconsistent with a stereotype leads to the creation of a new stereotype to accommodate the information with out changing the initial stereotype (assimilation) Two Step Model of Cognitive Processing The return of automatic vs. controlled processing as they apply to stereotypes Automatic: pops up with the right stimulus (member of stereotyped group, stereotypical statement, etc.) causing stereotype to be accessed from memory Occurs without awareness…you don’t think stereotypical thoughts on purpose Controlled: aware of the occurrence of stereotypical thought access For example, choosing to ignore stereotypical information Discrimination vs. Reverse Discrimination Discrimination: an unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group solely because of their membership in that group. Reverse discrimination: an unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group solely because of their membership in that group. Ultimate Attribution Error Tendency to make dispositional attributions about an entire group of people Differs from Fundamental Attribution Error in that you make attributions about a GROUP, not an individual Bodenhausen (1988) College students were more likely to find a defendant guilty of a crime if his name was Carlos Ramirez rather than Robert Johnson But flip the coin… Affirmative Action & Quotas Set of laws requiring employers to hire employees from diverse ethnic back-grounds Applies to public university admissions as well Forcible desegregation of work and college environments Heavily criticized in the present day; does it still have a use? Sprit vs. application The Bell Curve Book by Herrnstein & Murray, 1995 Suggested statistically significant differences in academic performance between African, Anglo, and Asian Americans There IS a difference on academic tests w/ considerable overlap Traditionally, Asian outscore Anglo who outscore African Americans So question is not does it occur (yes) but why? Recall the stereotype threat Remember, also applies to gender Blaming the Victim Tendency to blame individuals (dispositional attributions) for their victimization Usually motivated by the “belief in a just world” Aimed at the homeless, traditionally oppressed persons (e.g. Jews), etc. Janoff-Bulman, Timko, & Carli, 1985 Wagstaff, 1982 33% of surveyed Brits believed that victims of rape are “almost always to blame for it.” Realistic Conflict Theory Limited resources lead to conflict between groups and result in increased prejudice and discrimination Italian vs. Irish immigrants Hovland & Sears, 1940 Correlated price of cotton in Southern states from 1882 to 1930 with the number of lynchings of southern African Americans in the same time frame VERY strong negative correlation (r = -.72) Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, & Sherif, 1961 Classic “boy scout” experiment with “eagles” and “rattlers” Institutionalized Racism, Sexism Institutionalized Racism: racist attitudes held by the vast majority of us because we live in a society where stereotypes and discrimination are the norm Institutionalized Sexism: sexist attitudes held by the vast majority of us because we live in a society where stereotypes and discrimination are the norm Normative Conformity: go along with the group to gain acceptance and fulfill the group’s expectations Non-conformity has consequences but can invoke change Rosa Parks, Sydney Poitier “By far the greatest determinant of prejudice is slavish conformity to social norms.” What’s good for the goose… Members of the “in-group” can behave one way but if members of the “out-group” behave in that same way, they are perceived as mocking, insulting, or in violation of a social norm thus furthering the “us vs. them” distinction Speech patterns, behavior, etc. Prejudiced behavior can change with convenience as well as time Alabama Governor George Wallace What reduces prejudice? May be reduced by equal status contact between majority and minority groups in the pursuit of common goals. Helps if sanctioned by institutional support (e.g. laws, customs, norms, etc.) Applications to desegregation (jigsaw classroom) Mutual Interdependence: situation where 2 or more groups need each other and depend on each other to accomplish a goal important to both Education, proper models, intolerance for prejudice on the highest and lowest levels