Ch 8: Prejudice Part 2: Oct. 17, 2012
What causes prejudice? Social, Cognitive, & Cultural factors… 1) Social Factors: A) Optimal distinctiveness What is the motivation here?
B) Intergroup conflict – Sherif’s “Robber’s Cave” experiment – 2 groups of boys randomly divided into groups Effect of competition? What solutions failed in Robber’s Cave? Which solution worked best?
What causes prejudice? (cont.) 2) Cognitive factors – A) Categorization – importance of heuristics i) Outgroup homogeneity effect – what is it? Why does it happen? 1) 2)
B) Illusory correlations – cognitive error Stereotyped groups & stereotypic behaviors C) Attributions –explanations for behaviors What is the Ultimate Attribution Error?
D) Subtyping – reinforcement of existing stereotype How does it work? E) Confirmation Bias: Stone’s (1997) experiment –“Mark Flick” audio tape What was the experiment? How were evaluations consistent with racial stereotypes?