David Myers11e

Chapter 9 Prejudice

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Racism / Racist (definition)1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences

among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.

2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

3.hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

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Discrimination (defined)1. an act or instance of discriminating, or of

making a distinction. 2. treatment or consideration of, or making a

distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

3. the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.

4. Archaic. something that serves to differentiate.

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Chapter NinePrejudice: Disliking Others

Defined:1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed

beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.

2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.

3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding an ethnic, racial, social, or religious group

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Defining Prejudice

Discrimination Unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its

membersRacism

Prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race

Sexism Prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior

toward people of a given sex

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice? (an attitude)

Defining PrejudicePreconceived negative judgment of a group and its

individual members Supported by stereotypes

Beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people Could a stereotype be accurate? What are some? Give examples

Some examples of groups that may experience prejudice: Gender, racial, religion/atheists, overweight, sexual

orientation, elderly, immigrants, Occupations? Others?

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Attitude components (3)Prejudice – affect

positive or negativeStereotype – belief

Attributing characteristics of an individual based on their group membership

Positive or negative / accurate or inaccurate What are some positive stereotypes?We need them to negotiate a complex world

Why? “accuracy dominates bias” (90 % correct)

Discrimination – behavior –acting on a belief/affect

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Prejudice: Implicit and Explicit

Dual attitude system Explicit

Conscious (central channel) Implicit

Automatic (peripheral channel) Implicit Associations Test (IAT) Try it out – (click here)

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Racial Prejudice

Is racial prejudice disappearing?

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Racial prejudiceIs there a difference between?

A preference for Will always vote for

A preference not for Will always vote against

What percent of Blacks voted for Obama in 2012? 95% - report most exit polls

What percent of women will vote for Hillary?

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Racial Prejudice and discrimination

Subtle forms of prejudice Labor market discrimination Patronization

Avoiding criticisms Overpraising accomplishments

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Racial Prejudice

Automatic prejudice Involves primitive regions of the brain associated

with fear (amygdala) Critics note that unconscious associations may only

indicate cultural assumptions, perhaps without prejudice

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Gender Prejudice

Gender stereotypes Strong gender stereotypes exist Members of the stereotyped group accept the

stereotypes Most believe that men and women are different yet

equal Over time prejudice toward women has decreased

as much as with blacks A favorable stereotype (most people like women

more) Women’s work is not devalued

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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Gender Prejudice

Sexism: Benevolent and hostile Attitudes toward women have changed rapidly Most see women as understanding, kind, and

helpful Gender discrimination

Disappearing in democratic Western countries Non-Western countries gender bias is still strong

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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Social Inequalities: Unequal Status and

PrejudiceSocial dominance orientation

Motivation to have one’s group dominate other social groups

Being in a dominant high-status position tends to promote this orientation and justification

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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Socialization

Authoritarian personality Personality that is disposed to favor obedience to

authority and intolerance of outgroups and those lower in status Ethnocentricity

Believing in the superiority of one’s own ethnic and cultural group, and having a corresponding disdain for all other groups

Dogmatic authoritarianism – on the left See “Vision of the Anointed” – by T. Sowell

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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Socialization

Religion and prejudice In almost every country, leaders invoke religion to

sanctify the present order Use of religion to support injustice helps explain a

pair of findings concerning North American Christianity White church members express more racial

prejudice than nonmembers Those professing traditional or fundamentalist

Christian beliefs express more prejudice than those professing more progressive beliefs

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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Socialization

Conformity If prejudice is socially accepted, many people will

follow the path of least resistance and conform to the fashion

If prejudice is not deeply ingrained in personality, then as fashions change and new norms evolve, prejudice can diminish

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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Institutional Supports

Government SchoolsMagazines and newspapers

Face-ismFilms and television

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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice?Frustration and Aggression: The Scapegoat

TheoryDisplaced aggression

Hate crimesRealistic group conflict theory

Prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources

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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Social Identity Theory: Feeling Superior to

OthersThe “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of

our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships We categorize We identify We compare

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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Social Identity Theory: Feeling Superior to

OthersIngroup bias

Tendency to favor one’s own group Because of our social identifications, we conform to

our group norms When our group succeeds, we feel better by

identifying strongly with it More ingroup bias if part of a small group

What does this say about school integration Racial mix levels?

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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Social Identity Theory: Feeling Superior to

OthersNeed for status, self-regard, and belonging

Terror management People’s self-protective emotional and cognitive

responses when confronted with reminders of their mortality

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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Motivation to Avoid Prejudice

Motivation to avoid prejudice can lead people to modify their thoughts an actions Self-conscious people will feel guilt and try to

inhibit their prejudicial response

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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Categorization: Classifying People into

GroupsSpontaneous categorization

Social identity theory implies that those who feel their social identity keenly will concern themselves with correctly categorizing people as us or them

Necessary for prejudice

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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Categorization: Classifying People into

GroupsPerceived similarities and differences

Outgroup homogeneity effect Perception of outgroup members as more similar to

one another than are ingroup members Own-race bias

Tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race

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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice?Distinctiveness: Perceiving People Who Stand Out

Distinctive people Feeds on self-consciousness Dartmouth women with “disfigured faces” - (Kleck & Strenta, ‘80) - What did they believe about others

reactions? Majority beliefs about what minorities stereotypes of

them are “meta stereotypes” Stigma consciousness

Person’s expectation of being victimized by prejudice or discrimination Double edged sword Live with the stress but use it as a buffer (don’t take it

personally

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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Distinctiveness: Perceiving People Who Stand

OutVivid cases

Given limited experience with a particular social group, we recall examples of it and generalize Can prime the stereotype

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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Distinctiveness: Perceiving People Who Stand

OutDistinctive events foster illusory correlations

Stereotypes assume a correlation between group membership and individuals’ presumed characteristics

Attentiveness to unusual occurrences can create illusory correlations

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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Attribution: Is It a Just World?

Group-serving bias Explaining away outgroup members’ positive

behaviors; also attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions

Just-world phenomenon Tendency of people to believe that the world is just

and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get

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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Self-Perpetuating Prejudgments

Whenever a member of a group behaves as expected, we duly note the fact; our prior belief is confirmed

When a member of a group behaves inconsistently with our expectation, we may interpret or explain away the behavior as due to special circumstances

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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Self-Perpetuating Prejudgments

Subtyping Accommodating individuals who deviate from one’s

stereotype by thinking of them as “exceptions to the rule”

Subgrouping Accommodating individuals who deviate from one's

stereotype by forming a new stereotype about this subset of the group

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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Discrimination’s Impact: The Self-Fulfilling

ProphecySocial beliefs can be self-confirmingPrejudice affects its targets

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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Stereotype Threat

Disruptive concern, when facing a negative stereotype, that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Do Stereotypes Bias Judgments of

Individuals?Yes, but people often evaluate individuals more

positively than the groups they composeStrong Stereotypes MatterStereotypes Bias Interpretations

Affect how events are interpreted We evaluate people more extremely when their

behavior violates our stereotypes

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