stereotype

1. beliefs and opinions about the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of various groups
2. accompanying group-based attitude
3. accurate or innaccurate
4. descriptive and prescriptive (sometimes describe what they are like, other times say what they should be like)
5. positive or negative

prejudice

1. attitude directed toward people because they are members of a certain social group
2. having more to do with how people treat that group than their beliefs
3. negative or positive
4. originate from several sources, but all having to do with feeling threatened (interfere with goals, to do harm, etc)
5. sometimes stem from a gut reaction

discrimination

treating people differently due to group membership

again, can be positive or negative

interpersonal discrimination

when one person treats another differently because of that person's group membership

this perspective assumes individuals have control over their beliefs and actions

institutional discrimination

institutions or governing bodies sanction beliefs about group superiority

ex-segragation

cultural discrimination

when, within a culture, one group retains the power to define cultural values

ex-gay men can't be scout leaders

legislative policy may endorse cultural discrimination

racism and other isms

biological superiority

group privelege

unearned favored state conferred simply because of one's race, gender, or sexual orientation

favored group is unaware

"death by a thousand nicks"

*white privelege - abundant*

scientific racism

1920's

to demonstrate that whites were more intelligent than blacks

psychodynamic theory

of prejudice

20's and 30's

prejudice is a social problem stemming from irrational and unjustifiable beliefs and behaviors

defense mechanism?

personality based? - Nazis

*prejudice is motivationally based to make people feel good about themselves or to protect themselves

sociocultural theory

of prejudice

and 2 models

mid 50s - mid 60s (civil rights)

racism is a cultural norm and is not easily eradicated

structural-functionalist view - people seek conformity (de-emphasizes individual differences in prejudice)

conflict perspective - groups have different values and interests and individuals adopt the values of their group (attitudes toward social groups may vary considerbaly)

intergroup relations theory

70s

prejudice derives from perception of competition with other groups

british researchers:

social identity theory-we want to feel good about ourselves, so we have to feel good about the group we're in

cognitive theory of prejudice

mid 80's

3 factors:

1. prejudice is universal and inevitable
2. social structural explanations can't account for everything
3. emphasis on role of thought processes in directing behavior

stereotyping is a normal process for reducing a complex stimulus world to a manageable level

4 important allport ideas about prejudice

1. prejudice in children: where does it come from?
2. ingroups and outgroups
3. contact hypothesis: when ingroup members have frequent contact with outgroup members, prejudice is reduced
4. re-fencing: when outgroup members don't fit stereotypes, so they make an exception

evolutionary theory of prejudice

based on kin favoritism: people favor kin, and therefore also people who look like kin

problems:

-sometimes people kill family if they think they're tainted with another race

-provides little explanation for when prejudice does not occur (ex-grecians liked africans)

Allport's discrimination spectrum

1. antilocution (no talking)
2. avoidance
3. exclusion
4. physical attack
5. extermination

2 aspects of categorization

• content: what characteristics are associated with a particular group?
• process: how are these categories represented in memory? do individuals differ in their readiness to rely on categorization?

basic social categories

gender, race, age

for which we have a wealth of information in our memory

have a "priveleged" status: info about them is readily available to perceivers

think: Pat

subtypes

when more than 1 social categories are combined to provide more specific information about the individual

ex: black female

ex: impaired old person

minimal group paradigm

ingroup and outgroups can be created from the most minimal conditions

3 origins of stereotypes

1. Outgroup Homogeneity Effect
2. Social Role Theory
3. Illusory Correlations

reasons for outgroup homogeneity effect

1. Spend more time with ingroup, so have more information
2. Nature of interactions with outgroup are less familiar and more affected by social norms
3. People are motivated to see themselves as uniqe, so they look for ways they differ from ingroup
4. Ingroup/outgroup comparisons are made at the group level

ultimate attribution error

ingroup flaws are situational, outgroup flaw are stable

only emerges for negative behaviors

social role theory

when people observe others, they pay attention to the social roles they occupy. in doing so they associate the characteristics of the orle with the individuals who occupy it.

ex-aliens

illusory correlations

beliefs that incorrectly link 2 characteristics, such as race and personality traits. these beliefs are held as accurate associations, but nevertheless are based on inaccurate info.

social learning theory

we observe others and take on beliefs and actions that receive positive responses, and dismiss those that get negative responses

media enhances...

• children's gender role steretypes
• adults' implicit prejudice toward muslims

2 ways to define accuracy

1. Percentage estimates: percentage of people in a group showing a trait compared to people in general
2. Measures of dispersion: diversity of trait in population

shifting standards model

judgements are influenced by relative comparisons

3 functions of stereotypes

1. Cognitive
2. Ego-defensive
3. Social Adjustment

people remember expected info better when:

• have strong expectancies
• engaged in a complex judgment
• when asked to describe traits rather than behaviors
• goal is to remember specific info, rather than a general picture

entity vs. incremental theorists

linguistic intergroup bias

positive ingroup: abstract

positive outgroup: concrete

negative ingroup: concrete

negative outgroup: abstract

abstract is hard to disprove than concrete, so it sticks around

3 approaches to stereotype change

1. Bookkeeping model: change happens slowly in small increments
2. Converstion Model: "see the light"
3. Subtyping model: as more people begin to fit a subtype, the exception eventually becomes a norm (ex-female athletes)

concentrated vs. dispersed disconfirmation

Concentrated: when exceptions are few

Dispersed: when exceptions are many

3 consequences of categorization

1. stereotyping
2. ingroups and outgroups
3. outgroup homogeneity effect

perceptual confirmation

because of stereotypes, people change the "facts"

ex-shoving study

behavioral confirmation

6 month infants categorize on the terms of...

gender

age

physical attractiveness

*Implicit Awareness*

method: habituation paradigm

a child's awareness of other ethnicities...

• occurs around 4-5 years of age
• is in line with awareness of one's own ethnicity
• probably is brought on by parents' differentiation of different races
• is based on more than skin color

*how children feel about race depends on context*

forced choice methods for preschoolers

• Color Meaning Test (CMT): pictures of black and white animals, who is good and who is bad? based on story
• Preschool Racial Attitue Measure (PRAMII): pictures of light and dark skinned, same as above.

continuous measure

in preschoolers

Social Distance Scale: answer questions on continuous scale about feelings toward other groups

How much children interact with other races and genders, and what they report about it

sociometric ratings

in young kids

class list:

• who is your best friend?
• rate each person as to how much you like them

white children's racial attitudes

prejudice declines between 4 and 9 years of age

decrease continues after age 12

black childrens' racial attitudes

*more complicated and diverse than white kids'

mix of neutral, problack and prowhite before age 7

7-10: more pro-black and neutral (this is when more racial segregation is going on in school for all races)

gender constancy

the understanding that gender is permanent despite superficial changes in hairstyle, clothing, etc.

2-5 year olds undestand basic gender concepts, but struggle with the idea of gender constancy

homosociality

tendency to interact with members of one's own sex occurs later in development

*Rural Kenya: not unitl 6-9 years (compared to US, which is 3-4 years)

*show's cultural power

gender preferances in kids/adolescents

youngsters like male characteristics more

friend groups become more homogenious with time (except in high school) - increase drastically from preschool to kindergarten

boys more homophobic than girls. antigay prejudice does not decrease with age

3 theories for how prejudice develops

1. Social Learning Theory - reinforcement and punishment. direct and indirect.
2. Inner state theories - prejudice is caused by personality traits, esp authoritarianism and social dominance orientation
3. cognitive-developmental theories: development of prejudice involves discontinous stages

-Piaget: egocentrism and centration, to socioconcentric: prejudice before 7 is random

-Aboud: Process sequence:emotion to perception. attention sequence: shift of attention from self to other; prejudice increases. nature of prejudice: based on fear and assumption that others feel the same way. prejudice devlines

Piaget

1. Sensorimotor: birth-2: nothing
2. Preoperational: 2-7: prejudice is egocentric
3. Concrete operational: 7-12: prejudice is sociocentric - ingroups and outgroups
4. Formal operational: 12+: prejudice is reciprocal - children distinguish among groups, sometimes prej declines, sometimes not

Aboud

1. Process Sequence: emotions to perceptions - realize similarity and dissimilarity between self and others. cognitive understanding of ethnicity
2. Attention sequence: the self - differences between ingroup and outgroup. realize people are individuals.
3. Nature of prejudice: fear. exaggerated differences between groups makes prej peak. but later conceptual understanding of people as individuals makes prej decline