Prejudice Disliking Others

I. What is prejudice? A negative prejudgment of a group & its individual members. Prejudice is an attitude (affect, beliefs, & cognitions)

Is discrimination different from prejudice? Yes!!! Why? Discrimination refers to unjustifiable negative behaviors expressed toward others. These are meant to harm, humiliate, or degrade members towards the hated group.

What are stereotypes? Beliefs about the personal characteristics of a group of individuals. Often these have some basis in reality--but become over-generalized & distorted. Why do we stereotype? It may be efficient to categorize people to reduce our mental load.

Stereotypes: Examples *The British are stuffy *Americans are lazy *The French are obnoxious & rude *Californians are flaky *Professors are absentminded *Germans make great cars

What is racism? prejudicial attitudes & discriminatory behavior aimed toward people of a given race.

What is sexism? Prejudicial attitudes & discriminatory behavior toward people of a given sex.  

How pervasive is racial prejudice? Good news: racial prejudice is on the decline (since 1940s). In 1942 fewer than 1/3rd of European Americans supported school integration, whereas by 1980 it was 90%.

Does this hold up to the bogus pipeline? No!!! White students report their prejudicial attitudes while they are hooked up to a “supposed lie detector.” Its unknown if this works with African Americans.

What is “modern” racism? Subtle racism that shows up in our preferences for what is familiar, similar, & comfortable. May appear as: race sensitivity-- exaggerated reactions to minorities overpraising their accomplishments overcriticizing their mistakes. (E.g., “Some of my best friends are …..”)

Harber (1998): Modern Racism Study Gave white Stanford students a poorly written essay to evaluate. When students thought the writer was African American, they rated it higher than when led to think the author was white & rarely offered harsh criticisms. The students patronized the African American essayists with less critical remarks. This could hinder minority student achievement.

Can we suppress prejudicial thoughts? No!!! Devine (2000) found that people low & high in prejudice sometimes have similar automatic emotional reactions. Low-prejudiced people “consciously” act to suppress prejudicial thoughts and feelings.

Dan Wegner & colleagues (1987) Had Ss “actively” avoid thinking about white bears. Ss reported thinking about white bears significantly more than a control group.

We may have a “dual-attitude system” We may have 2 sets of attitudes toward target: Explicit (conscious) Implicit (unconscious) Explicit can be changed easily via education & the media, whereas the implicit takes longer.

Implicit prejudice!! Words or faces may be briefly flashed on screen to “prime” (activate) stereotypes & prejudice. Greenwald (2000)- 9 in 10 caucasian Ss took longer to identify pleasant words as “good” when associated with African American faces rather than white faces. Interestingly Ss expressed little or no prejudice, so responses were largely unconscious.

B. Are gender stereotypes pervasive? Yes!!! a)     Strong gender stereotypes exist b)    Members of the stereotyped group accept the stereotypes!!!

Porter, Geis, & Jennings (1983) Ss shown photos of “a group of grad students working on a team project.” Ss had to guess who contributed most to group. When group was all male or all female, the person at the center of the table was chosen as the leader. When group was mixed, if a woman was sitting at center of table, she was ignored & a male was chosen.

Porter et al. study The stereotype of men as leaders & women as followers was true not only of male Ss, but female Ss also. Recent research shows the same leadership behaviors men are exalted for, women are criticized for. (Eagly & Karau, 2000).

Is gender prejudice pervasive? Gender attitudes have changed as rapidly as racial attitudes. Most agree women are capable of doing most jobs that men do & should be active members in the workplace.

Is Gender bias a thing of the past? Obvious gender bias is, but subtler forms of bias still operate. Bias is exposed with the bogus pipeline. Most women believe gender discrimination occurs, but don’t believe it happens to them.

Gender Bias: Ayres (1991) Confederates visited over 90 Chicago-area car dealers, with strategy to get the lowest new car price on a car that cost the dealer $11,000. Who paid the most? White males -$11,362 White females- $11,504 African American males- $11,783 African American females- $12,237

II. Social Sources of Prejudice Social inequalities work to keep prejudice alive!!!!

1. Unequal status breeds prejudice!!! Those of lower status tend to be the targets for prejudice (Jews in Nazi Germany were viewed as mentally inferior.) People in power use stereotypes to rationalize poor treatment of those in low status positions. We tend to like those of lower status (“the underdog”), but we don’t respect them.

2. Religion and prejudice Two findings show that religion is used to support prejudice: 1.) Church members express more racial prejudice than nonmembers. 2.) Those professing traditional or fundamentalist Christian beliefs express more prejudice than those professing less traditional beliefs.

Does religion cause prejudice? Not likely!!! 1. Faithful church goers appear less prejudiced than occasional goers. 2. For those whom religion is an end (in itself), prejudice is less. 3. Ministers & priests gave more support to Civil rights movement than laypeople.

3. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy If we are the targets of prejudice, will we change our behavior to fit the stereotype? Yes, prejudice affects its targets!!!

Spencer, Steele, & Quinn (1999): Gave males & females with similar math backgrounds a very difficult math test. If told there were no gender differences on the test & no evaluation of a group stereotype, women performed equally with men. Told of a gender difference, female performance declined significantly confirming the stereotype.

If negative stereotype threats hinder performance, can positive ones enhance it? Yes!!! Asian American females reminded of their Asian identity, increased their math test performance compared to a control group.

Social Identity Theory (Turner & Tajfel) We categorize & label people: Scots, Jews, Americans, bus drivers, etc.   We identify-ourselves with certain groups (our in-groups). We compare- our groups with other groups (out-groups). We have a favorable bias toward our own group.

Factors strengthening in-group bias: Individualistic societies Smaller groups that are lower in status (Jews in Polish ghettos during WWII).

How does in-group bias influence us? We conform to group norms. We sacrifice ourselves for team, family, & nation. We dislike out-groups (Stomp the Gators!!)

III. Emotional Sources of Prejudice 1. Scapegoat theory: we displace our aggression to a lower status target. (Jews in Nazi Germany blamed for economic problems). If people are intentionally annoyed, they think & act more negatively toward out-groups.

What is the source of the frustration that leads to scapegoating? Competition!! When different groups compete for the same scarce resources (jobs, housing, status), frustration fuels scapegoating.

2. Personality Dynamics (e.g., Archie Bunker) Need for status & belonging – We feel superior if we are above others. The authoritarian personality – a punitive style characterized by an intolerance of others’ differences & a focus on obedience. (e.g., Archie Bunker)

People with authoritarian personalities: Were often harshly disciplined as children. Were led to repress their hostilities & impulses & to “project” them onto out-groups. Often possess narrow-minded views Tend to be submissive to those with power & punitive toward those beneath them.

IV. Cognitive sources of prejudice Categorization We organize information from our environment to simplify our “complex” world. Knowing the characteristics of a group of people (belief systems, social skills, etc.), allows us to plan our interaction with these individuals with little effort.

Stereotypes are efficient, we rely on them when: pressed for time preoccupied tired emotionally aroused too young to appreciate diversity

Categorization is necessary for prejudice Blascovich, Wyer, Swart, & Kibler (1997) compared racially prejudiced people with non-prejudicial people. Had to look at people’s faces & categorize by race. Prejudiced people took longer to categorize by race (especially when shown racially ambiguous faces) than non-prejudiced people.

Perceived similarities & differences When categorizing items we see them as being uniform (all apples are red). We do this with people. “They all look alike.” We pick up on differences in features when with members of our own group (in-group).