What are Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination? Prejudice – pre-judgment a negative learned attitude toward a group of people Discrimination – negative behaviors directed at a specific group of people A Class Divided

What are Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination? Stereotype – a general belief about a group of people Differs from prejudice in that it can have positive or negative connotations Representative Heuristic

What are Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination? (continued) Racism – discrimination directed at a specific racial group Sexism – discrimination directed at a specific gender Ageism – discrimination directed at various age groups

Sexism Gender Roles - set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship. Gender stereotypes – people’s ideas about how men and women should behave What messages do children get about "boy" and "girl" activities?

Studies suggest that children learn traditional gender roles from a young age.

Sexism (continued) Hostile sexism – feeling resentful and openly derogatory toward the abilities of women Benevolent sexism – when men behave in ways that appear chivalrous, but can also communicate to negative female stereotypes

Covert Measures The Implicit Association Test (IAT) Students are shown pictures of different faces Positive or negative words are presented The time it takes to pair word with faces is measured Findings – people tend to have implicit negative stereotypes about those who are different than themselves

Ingroup Bias The "we/us versus they/them" mentality Social dominance orientation – group should be ordered according to worth

Attributional Biases (continued) Just-world hypothesis The belief that victims of misfortune deserve what they got Allows us to see the world as predictable and fair “Blame the victim" mentality 10-20% believe rape victims are at least partially responsible for being attacked

Stereotype Threat The risk of confirming a negative stereotype about oneself Similar to the self-fulfilling prophecy When we are aware of stereotypes, we might live down to them