1. Social Psychology PSY450 Instructor: Briana Harvey
Welcome!
Social Psychology
PSY450
Instructor: Briana Harvey

3. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Common Prejudices and Targets

4. Affect, Behavior, & Cognition
Social Psychologists seek to understand how human beings think, act, and feel
ABC Triad
Affect (How people feel inside)
Behavior (What people do)
Cognition (What people think about)

5. ABC’s of Intergroup Relationships
Affective component
Prejudice (Racism)
Behavioral component
Discrimination
Cognitive component
Stereotyping

6. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Prejudice: a negative feeling toward an individual based solely on his or her membership in a particular group

7. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Racism: prejudiced attitudes toward a particular race
Aversive racism: simultaneously believe in equality and yet still hold negative feelings toward a race

8. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Discrimination
Unequal treatment based on group membership
Prejudice and Racism = attitude
Discrimination = behavior

9. Sexual Harassment as Gender Discrimination
Fitzgerald (1993)
As many as 50% of women are sexually harassed during their academic or working lives
Faley et al. (1999)
U.S. Army spent $250 million in one year to deal with problems related to sexual harassment

10. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Stereotype
Beliefs that associate groups with certain traits
Subtypes
Categories for people who don’t fit a general stereotype

11. Stereotypes What are the characteristics of: A typical New Yorker?
A typical Californian?
A typical white male?
A typical “career woman”
A typical “stay-at-home” mom

12. Stereotypes
Stereotypes about racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual orientation groups are schemas. 
Generalized belief about members of a group
May or may not be accurate
Most researchers believe it is even possible to have a schema that you don't personally believe
(OTHER PEOPLE think that Group x has qualities y... but I don't)…

13. Three Levels of Stereotypes
Public
What we say to others about a group
Private
What we consciously think about a group, but don’t say to others
Implicit (Implicit association test!)
Unconscious mental associations guiding our judgments and actions without our conscious awareness
Public stereotypes have decreased in North America recently (“political correctness”)

14. Race of Atheletes Stone et al. (1997)
Radio broadcast played to participants
They are shown a “photograph” of the player to be analyzed
Participants rated the player better if they thought he was black

15. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Categorization
Natural human tendency to group objects
Social categorization
Sorting people into groups on common characteristics

16. How Stereotypes Form: Social Categorization
The classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes.
Helps us form impressions quickly and use past experiences to guide new interactions.
Serious drawback
By categorizing people, we often:
Overestimate the differences between groups
Underestimate the differences within groups
Can bias our perceptions

17. Groups
Outgroup members (“them”)- people who belong to a different category than we do
Ingroup members (“us”)- people who belong to the same group as we do
Outgroup homogeneity bias is “the assumption that outgroup members are more similar to one another than ingroup members are to one another”.
“They are all alike!” “If you have seen one, you have seen all!”

18. Common Prejudices and Targets
Most prejudice arise from external characteristics
Racial prejudice (Racism)
Gender prejudice (Sexism)
Most people claim not to be prejudiced
Behavior sometimes differs from expressed attitudes
Online dating based on photo…often choose own race
Assume that same race means same interests/opinions/personalities

19. Common Prejudices and Targets
Arabs and Muslims
Prejudice and discrimination increased tremendously in U.S. after September 11, 2001
EX: profiling at security gates, “No-Fly” list

21. History Repeats Itself
Who is more likely to get harassed at the airport security check?

22. Common Prejudices: Homophobia

23. Percentage Saying “Should”*
07/16/96
Do you think homosexuals should be hired for the following occupations?
100
Salespersons
Percentage Saying “Should”
Doctors 50
Many still believe homosexuals should be excluded from some jobs.
Elementary School Teachers
1977
1982
1989
1992
1996
YEAR *

24. Social Side of Sex- Roots of Anti-Gay Prejudice
Both men and women are intolerant of homosexuality in their own gender
Perhaps people fear being the target of sexual advances from a homosexual
May fear a positive response to homosexual advances

25. Prejudice based on your Friends
Stigma
Individual’s characteristics considered socially unappealing
Stigma by association
Discrimination toward people associated with a stigmatized person

26. Why Prejudice Exists
Tendency to hold stereotypes and prejudices maybe innate
Predisposition to categorize by steroetypes may be natural
Content of stereotypes is learned through socialization
What type/strength of prejudice is based on your environment

28. Why Prejudice Exists
Ingroup favoritism
Preferential treatment or favorable attitudes toward one’s own group members
Minimal group effect
Ingroup favoritism occurs even when group membership was random
EX: School district, branch of retail store, etc…

29. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Outgroup members: people who belong to a different group or category than we do.
THEM
Ingroup members: people who belong to the same group or category as we do US

30. Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
Out-group homogeneity bias: the assumption that outgroup members are more similar to one another than ingroup members are to one another
“They are all alike….”
“We are so unique...”
Eyewitnesses are more accurate identifying people of their own racial group

31. Who has the Weapon? A B

33. Us Versus Them: Groups in Competition
Intergroup relations at Robber’s Cave (Sherif & Sherif, 1954)
Children’s camp, random camp assignment
All white, middle class, 11 year old boys
Rattlers VS Eagles
After one week of group competition the two groups were intensely hostile

34. Robber’s Cave Experiment
Realistic conflict theory
Competition over scarce resources leads to intergroup hostility and conflict
trophies
To induce cooperation, researchers introduced superordinate goals:
Goals that can only be achieved through cooperation

36. Us Versus Them: Groups in Competition
Discontinuity Effect
Groups are more influenced by competition than individuals are
Motivated by fear and greed

37. Reducing group competition
Can reduce by
Making group members identifiable
Having people think about the long-term effects of their actions

38. Ignorance? The contact hypothesis
Prejudice stems from ignorance
Contact Hypothesis: idea that regular interaction between members of different groups reduces prejudice, providing that it occurs under favorable conditions
Video: 30 days
Robbers gave state park

39. Rationalizations for Oppression
Stereotypes used to justify social inequality between races or sexes
People in positions of relative power and wealth use stereotypes to explain their superiority

40. Stereotypes as Heuristics
Stereotypes as mental shortcuts
Law of least effort (Allport, 1954)
Stereotypes simplify the process of thinking about other people
We conserve energy and effort by using stereotypes
Use information from other people versus direct experience

41. Why Prejudice Exists
Prejudice and self-esteem
My group (“I”) must be superior, therefore other groups are inferior.

42. Explanations of why prejudice exists
Competition
Ignorance
Rationalizations for oppression
Stereotypes as heuristics
Prejudice boosts self esteem

43. Are stereotypes always wrong, mostly wrong, or mostly right?
Swim (1994)
Found that gender stereotypes were mostly accurate about the traits and the degree of difference
Jussim et al (in press)
Racial and ethnic differences mostly accurate
Gender differences mostly accurate
Judd & Park (1993)
Political stereotypes were consistently inaccurate!

44. Are stereotypes always negative?
NO!
Asians are good at math and schoolwork
African Americans have superior talent in sports and music
Heavy men are jolly

45. Stereotyping for Blame
Scapegoat theory
Scapegoating is the practice of blaming an individual or group for a real or perceived failure of others
Blame problems on outgroup, contributing to negative feelings
Self-serving bias: take credit for good, blame for bad
Unemployment, inflation, food shortages, the plague, and crime in the streets are all examples of ills which have been blamed on minority groups.

46. Motives for Overcoming Prejudice
Plant & Devine’s (1998) measure
Internal Motivation
Based on strong inner belief that prejudice is wrong
External Motivation
Socially unwise to express politically incorrect opinions
Dutton (1971) study of formal wear at restaurant

47. Impact of Prejudice on Targets
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Prediction that ensures, by the behavior it generates, that it will come true
People would come to act like the stereotypes others hold of them
EX: “babyface” people tend to be more honest

48. Impact of Prejudice on Targets
Self-defeating prophecy
Prediction that ensures, by the behavior it generates, that it will not come true
EX: “babyface” young, low-social class boys tend to commit more crimes
Trying to go against their stereotype
Prove they are not babies or weak!!!

49. Fear that one’s behavior may confirm a stereotype that others hold
Stereotype Threat
Fear that one’s behavior may confirm a stereotype that others hold
Spencer, Steele & Quinn (1999)
Told women either: a) this test tends to have gender difference OR b) nothing
Group a) women performed poorly
Group b) women performed better than males
Woman do worse on math tests, WHY WOULD WOMAN IN GROUP A PERFORM WORSE