Prejudice: Disliking Other Chapter 9 David G. Myers

Overview Nature and Power of Prejudice Social Sources of Prejudice Motivational Sources of Prejudice Cognitive Sources of Prejudice Consequences of Prejudice Reducing Prejudice

The Nature and Power of Prejudice Prejudice – a negative prejudgment of a group and its individual members Stereotype – beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people Typically overgeneralized and inaccurate Discrimination – unjustifiable negative behavior towards a group or its members Racism Sexism Heterosexism Ageism Weight Bias

Is Prejudice Disappearing? Changing Prejudice – most American’s racial and gender attitudes have changed in the last 30 years 90% say people should be treated fairly w/out discrimination Only 14% say they are highly prejudiced http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/28/jon-stewart-takes-on-race_n_593527.html

Is Prejudice Disappearing? Publicly people may not admit to prejudice, but stats. show it still exists 53% of African-Americans feel excluded on college campuses 61% of people would not see a homosexual doctor Profiling - In NJ 35% of all stopped drivers are Black (15% of speeders) Interracial Acquaintances vs. Interracial Intimacy Race in America

Gender Prejudice Gender Stereotypes – typically are stronger than racial stereotypes (Feminism?) Ambivalent Sexism – mix of hostile and benevolent attitudes Sexism is even more severe in other countries

Modern vs. Overt Prejudice Dual Attitudes - automatic reactions (implicit) still occur regardless of one’s conscious (explicit) level of prejudice Automatic reactions are affected by stereotype activation (priming) "Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.“ (Fyodor Dostoyevsky )

Modern Vs. Overt Prejudice Modern Prejudice – subtle, even unconscious forms of discrimination, revealed through preferences and associations, and judgments Modern Sexism & Racism - discrimination that occurs when it’s able to hide behind other motives http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2006/May06/name.html

Modern Prejudice and Behavior Prentice-Dunn “Shocking Study”

Modern Prejudice and Behavior Hart et al (2000). Impression Study

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ Automatic Prejudice Implicit Association Test (IAT) – measures conscious and unconscious associations Predicts hiring decisions, medical decisions, interpersonal interactions, biased judgments https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Implicit Association Test (IAT) Round One Left Hand Right Hand African American Name Caucasian Name Round Two Positive Adjective Negative Adjective

Implicit Association Test (IAT) Round Three Left Hand Right Hand African American name Caucasian name Negative Adjective Positive Adjective Round Four African American name Caucasian name Positive Adjective Negative Adjective

Social Sources of Prejudice Social Inequalities – stereotypes are used to rationalize unequal status Social Dominance/Authoritarian Orientation – motivation to have your group be dominant over others Religion and Prejudice – religion is used an excuse for social injustice Religion does not cause prejudice

Conformity Conformity - prejudice is often maintained by public apathy and inertia Institutional Supports – political leaders, organizations, and education reflect and reinforce attitudes Face-ism – male ads focus more on faces and females focus more on the body

Television and film propagate cultural attitudes and biases

Television and film propagate cultural attitudes and biases

Television and film propagate cultural attitudes and biases Comparing how Blacks and White women are portrayed in the top movies of 1996. White female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 17% Black female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 89% White female movie characters shown being physically violent: 11% Black female movie characters shown being physically violent: 56% Times more likely that a mug shot of the accused will appear in a local TV news report when the defendant is Black rather than White: 4X

Emotional Sources of Prejudice Frustration & Aggression Hypothesis –frustrations can lead to displaced aggressions Realistic Group Conflict Theory – prejudice arises when groups are competing for scarce resources

Cognitive Sources of Prejudice Social Identity Theory – our self-esteem is influenced by our membership in groups Categorization – we simplify & organize our world by categorizing people into groups Rely on stereotypes when pressed for time, preoccupied, tired, emotionally aroused, and lacking experience Ingroup/Outgroup Bias – the tendency to view ingroup members more favorably that outgroup members Outgroup Homogeneity Bias – outgroup members are seen as more similar to one another

Distinctiveness: Standing Out Stereotypes can bias attention, interpretation and memory (Illusory Correlations) Distinct People – draw our attention and have exaggerated bad and good traits Stigma Consciousness - Distinctive individuals sometimes imagine attention when there is none Vivid Stimuli - extreme events are remembered better and can distort judgments (e.g. Black athletes, Muslim extremists, Homosexual criminals, etc.)

Attribution and a “Just World” Attributions - we commit the FAE when explaining outgroup members’ behaviors Group-Serving Bias – we are lenient with ingroup members and quick to condemn outgroups Just-World Phenomenon – false belief that the world is fair and people get what they deserve

Consequences of Prejudice Self-fulfilling Prophecy – negative expectations and behaviors cause others to confirm stereotypes Stereotype Threat – self-confirming concern where one’s behavior will verify a negative stereotype

Stereotype Threat

Breaking the Prejudice Habit Knowledge and Awareness Motivation to Avoid prejudice Internal vs. External Motivation Seeking out diverse experiences Monitoring and Controlling the prejudice habit