What is prejudice?
Hostile attitude toward a group of people, based solely on their membership in that group
Cognitive, affective and behavioural components of prejudice
o Cognitive component: stereotyping
o Affective component: anger, disgust (feelings experienced when think, interact with member of that group)
o Behavioural component: discrimination
Jim Crow Laws
o Racial caste system operating primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states b/w 1877 and mid 1960’s
o Jim crow represented the legitimization of anti-black racism
o Overruled by civil right act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965
Causes of Prejudice - Biological?
- Evolutionary psychologists claim that there may be an innate tendency to favor those who are genetically similar to us, and to loathe those who are not.
- Inconclusive – but specifics of prejudice appear to be learned.
Causes of Prejudice - Social Categorization
- We have the tendency to see people as belonging to either our group or another group
- In-group vs. out-group
In-group Bias
- Tendency to evaluate in-group members more favorably than out-group
- The stronger one’s group identity, the stronger the denigration of the out-group – boosts self-esteem (only when identity is threatened and self-esteem is low
Out-group Homogeneity Bias
- Tendency to believe those in the out-group are very similar to one-another, while in-group members are very heterogeneous
Prejudice Reduction - Social Identity
- Make salient the superordinate group to which both the in- and the out-group members belong
- Causes a shift in focus from specific group to broader group that includes members of out-group
Prejudice Reduction - Self-Esteem
- Provide alternate routes to self-esteem
- Engaging in self-affirmation reduces the need to derogate members of the out-group
Prejudice Causes - Stereotype
- Stereotyping is at the root of prejudice; and whether negative stereotypes are activated depends on two factors:
1) the motivation to control prejudice
2) the need for self-enhancement
Motivation to control prejudice
- Stereotyping is an automatic process
- To counteract the stereotype that is activated, you must engage in controlled processing
- This requires effort and attention, therefore you must be motivated to want to avoid being prejudiced
Need for self-enhancement
- Factor affecting whether a negative stereotype will be activated is if doing so boosts self-esteem
- Good evaluation = stereotype inhibition
- Bad evaluation = stereotype activation
Example:
- Positive interaction with black doctor will activate positive stereotype of Dr.
- Negative interaction with black doctor will activate negative stereotype of black people
Prejudice Causes: Meta-Stereotypes
- The stereotypes we believe others hold towards our group
- The more we believe an outgroup holds stereotypes about us, the higher our prejudice towards that group
Prejudice causes - Mood
- Evaluate out-group members more favourably when in a good mood than when in a bad mood
Prejudice causes - ultimate attribution error
- negative behaviours of out-group = internal
- positive behaviours of out-group = external
STUDY: Gender and success
- When women succeed b/c of hard work, when fail b/c not capable
- When men succeed b/c capable, when fail b/c didn’t try hard enough, bad luck
STUDY: Kids gender and IQ tests
- when boys did good because ability when bad; bad luck
- when girls did good because good luck, fluke; when bad because lack of ability
STUDY: Native and White children’s perspectives on success
- White kids said successes were internal and failures external
- Native kids said successes were external and failures internal
Prejudice Causes - Realistic Conflict Theory:
- Limited resources leads to conflict between groups = increased prejudice and discrimination
- US: (-) correlation: price of cotton during 1882-1930, and lynchings of blacks in southern US
- Canada: 1975-1995 unemployment increased, negative attitudes toward immigration increased
- STUDY: Esses (1998) – Sandirian study
- Two versions of editorial – varied in terms of whether the scarcity of jobs was mentioned
- Results: more negative attitudes in competition condition
Prejudice Cause - Normative Conformity
- Many people hold prejudiced views and engage in discriminatory behaviour in order to conform or fit in with prevailing majority view
- Crandall et al. (2002): social norms – asked participants asked how acceptable it is to have negative feelings toward X and then asked feelings toward X (positive or negative)
• Correlation between social norm and their feels: 0.96 - Other study: told participates either their attitude was more positive than the average or more negative than the average; then later when asked them again they went more toward what they thought average was
o Injunctification: things are the way they are right now because they’re the way they ought to be…way to justify unjust system
Types of Prejudice
- Modern prejudice: outwardly act unprejudiced (to avoid social disapproval), but inwardly maintain prejudiced views
- Aversive racism: believe you are not prejudiced but subconsciously hold prejudiced views
Reducing Prejudice
o Hypocrisy induction: emphasize importance of treating minorities fairly and recall event in which you treated minority group member unfairly
o Creates dissonance = people change their discriminatory behaviour in a positive direction
Who is more likely to be prejudice
1) Subscribe to just world beliefs
• The world is a fair and just place where people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
• Engage in more blaming of the victim – hold more negative attitudes toward the poor and homeless
2) High in right-wing authoritarianism
• High degree of submission to authority and conformity to rules established by authority figure
• Non-egalitarian attitudes toward women and high levels of prejudice against homosexuals
3) High in religious fundamentalism
• A strong belief in the absolute and literal truth of one’s religious beliefs
• Blame homosexuals and single mothers (morally bereft) for unfortunate situations (Ex: unemployment)
4) High in social dominance
• Belief that groups of people are inherently unequal; it is acceptable for some groups in society to be benefitted more than others
Reducing Prejudice
- Creating a sense of shared identity b/w the high dominant people and the target of prejudice
- Create awareness that attitudes toward the target group are much more negative than those of others (try and create dissonance)
- Encourage interaction with member of the out-group
Prejudice - Victims
o Stereotypic threat
- Apprehension over behaving in a manner that confirms an existing stereotype
- Mistreatment can lead to poor performance, confirming the negative stereotype and perpetuating the discrimination
- Victims of discrimination may blame themselves for their poor performance
STUDY: black/white students do IQ test; one condition told it’s IQ and other condition told it’s just a random thing
• Results: blacks did bad when told it was for their IQ – self-fulfilling prophecy
4 ways to reduce prejudice
1) Have people experience what it’s like to be the victim of discrimination
2) Encourage contact between in-group and out-group members
3) Jigsaw classroom: small desegregated groups where individuals are dependent on one another to succeed 4) Extended contact: a member of one’s own group has a close relationship with a member of the out-group (not necessarily direct, could be just exposure)
The contact hypothesis
- Mutual interdependence
- Common goal
- Equal status
- Friendly, informal setting
- Multiple contacts with several members of the out-group
- Social norms that promote equality
