Outline. Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination. Quotes. PSY 750 Advanced Social Psychology

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1 Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination PSY 750 Advanced Social Psychology Outline Common Prejudices and Targets Why Prejudice Exists Content of Prejudice and Stereotypes Inner Processes Overcoming Stereotypes, Reducing Prejudice Impact of Prejudice on Targets I don't see color but people say I'm White and I believe them because police call me sir. --Stephen Colbert Quotes If I see someone that comes in (an airport) that s got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over. -U.S. Congressman John Cooksey (R-LA) who was defeated in 2002 I mean, you got the first mainstream African- American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that s a storybook, man. -Senator Joe Biden about Barack Obama You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don t like gay people and I don t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don t like it. It shouldn t be in the world or in the United States. -Tim Hardaway (retired Miami Heat player) about John Amaechi (retired Utah Jazz player) following his announcement that he is gay 1

2 Definitions Prejudice: A negative feeling toward an individual based solely on his or her membership in a particular group (Affect) Discrimination: Unequal treatment based on group membership (Behavior) Stereotype: Beliefs that associate groups with traits (Cognition) Subtypes: Categories for people who don t fit a general stereotype Racism: Prejudiced attitudes toward a particular race Aversive racism: Simultaneously holding egalitarian values and negative feelings toward minorities Stereotypes and Categorization Why were people disturbed by Pat? Categorization Natural human tendency to group objects Categorization is a way for the human mind to think about something without much effort e.g., tables and chairs are both types of furniture Social categorization Sorting people into groups on common characteristics e.g. race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation Western culture We frown on stereotypes and prejudice Even if there is a kernel of truth in the stereotype or prejudice Ingroup vs. Outgroup Outgroup members (Them) People who belong to a different group or category than we do Ingroup members (Us) People who belong to the same group or category as we do Outgroup homogeneity bias Assumption that outgroup members are more similar to one another than ingroup members are to one another People have less exposure to outgroup members than to ingroup members Are able to distinguish differences in ingroup members more quickly than outgroup members 2

3 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 Accuracy of Stereotypes Many stereotypes may be based on genuine differences but are then overgeneralized e.g., Men are more aggressive than women This stereotype is true most of the time but there are situations where this is not true Accuracy depends on how the stereotype is used As heuristics, may be fairly accurate Not when used to boost self-esteem or rationalize status quo Exaggerated with little factual basis The Reality The Stereotype Females Males Females Males Less More Less More Aggressiveness Aggressiveness To save us time and cognitive effort, we often sharpen the distinctions between groups and soften the differences within groups 3

4 Inner Processes Stereotypes can form on the basis of salience Being obvious or standing out Scapegoat theory Blame problems on outgroup, contributing to negative feelings Difficult times cause people to behave aggressively toward outgroups Conflict and stress bring out stereotypes Anti-immigrant backlash in the US during bad economic times Stereotypes Guide Attention Perceivers are generally more sensitive to information that confirms our stereotypes Bodenhausen (1988) gave participants ambiguous evidence about a criminal assault case When the defendant was Carlos Ramirez from Albuquerque, New Mexico, participants remembered more evidence indicating his guilt, were more likely to declare him guilty, and were more likely to recommend a harsh sentence than if he was Robert Johnson of Dayton, Ohio Robert Johnson or Carlos Ramirez Stereotypes Guide Interpretation Stereotypes also distort information processing by affecting how perceivers interpret the behavior of other individuals Ambiguous behavior is seen as confirming the stereotype Sagar & Schofield (1980) found that potentially aggressive behaviors (e.g., one child taking a pencil from another child without asking permission) were viewed as more aggressive when committed by a Black target in comparison with a White target Unexpectedly, their finding was as strong for Black participants as it was for White participants 4

5 Payne (2001) Do racial cues influence the identification of weapons? Participants were asked to identify whether an object was a gun or a tool after being primed with either a Black or White male face GUN OR TOOL? 5

6 GUN OR TOOL? Results of Payne (2001) Experiment 1: Participants identified guns faster when primed with Black faces than when primed with White faces Experiment 2: Participants were required to respond quickly, causing the racial bias to shift from reaction time to accuracy Participants misidentified tools as guns more often when primed with a Black face than with a White face 6

7 Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink (2002) White participants were shown a series of photos of White or Black targets Targets were either holding guns or other objects (e.g., wallet) Participants were told to identify whether the target was armed or not as quickly as possible and to respond by shooting armed targets and not shooting unarmed targets 7

8 Results of Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink (2002) Study 1: White participants made the correct decision to shoot an armed target more quickly if the target was Black than if he was White, but decided to not shoot an unarmed target more quickly if he was White. Study 2: Under time pressure (630 ms), this effect emerged in error rates. Study 3: Replicated the effects of Study 1 and showed that the magnitude of bias varied with perceptions of the cultural stereotype and with levels of contact, but not with self-reported racial prejudice. More contact was associated with greater bias! Study 4: Revealed equivalent levels of bias among both Black and White participants in a community sample. 8

9 Word, Zanna, & Cooper (1974) White participants were asked to interview job applicants Given a list of standard questions Ask as many or as few as you wish Applicants were confederates trained to respond in a standard fashion to these questions Interviews were videotaped White interviewers were found to treat Black and White applicants differently Interviews with White applicants lasted longer Interviewers used more immediacy behaviors with White applicants (e.g., more eye contact, forward body lean) In a follow-up study, these differences were found to have a significant impact on the performance of participants in the applicant role Overcoming Stereotypes and Reducing Prejudice People exert themselves consciously to overcome and hide prejudices Internal and external motivations to overcome prejudice are not mutually exclusive Internal Motivation Prejudices are morally wrong External Motivation Avoidance of social disapproval Do Stereotypes Influence Our Perceptions If We Disagree With Them? What happens when someone knows a stereotype but does not endorse it? The work of Devine and her colleagues (1989; Devine, Plant, Amodio, Harmon-Jones, & Vance, 2002) addresses this question Implicit intergroup bias refers to distorted judgments about members of a group based on a stereotype, which can occur without a person s awareness (Blair, 2001) Although the stereotype of a group may be automatically activated, many behaviors remain primarily under conscious control (which allows us to behave in a nondiscriminatory manner if we exercise control) Further, implicit intergroup bias may not be unavoidable (e.g., Blair, 2002; Lowery, Hardin, & Sinclair, 2001) 9

10 Overcoming Stereotypes and Reducing Prejudice Contact Hypothesis: Under favorable conditions, regular interaction between members of different groups reduces prejudice Negative stereotypes arise because groups don t have contact with each other However, people of different groups often do not interact This hypothesis only holds true under these conditions People are of equal status Contact is positive Outgroup members are perceived as typical members of their group Common Prejudices and Targets Most prejudice arise from external characteristics Racial prejudice (Racism) e.g., Kenneth and Mamie Clark s Doll Study (1940s) Gender prejudice (Sexism) Most people claim not to be prejudiced Behavior sometimes differs from expressed attitudes Common Prejudices and Targets Individuals of Middle-Eastern Descent Prejudice and discrimination increased in US after September 11, 2001 Studies have shown that people are less responsive to persons with an Arabic name than a European name Gay Men and Lesbians Homophobia Discrimination is often violent, as evidenced in the case of Matthew Shepard, beaten to death by two men because he was gay People who are overweight People often respond in a visibly and verbally discriminatory way toward people who are overweight 10

11 Prejudice Against the Obese Anti-fat attitudes begin as early as preschool Stigma of being overweight is strong across genders and ages People who are overweight are viewed as less intelligent, less athletic, unpopular, unsuccessful, etc. Stigma Individual s characteristics considered socially unappealing Example: being overweight, mentally ill, sick, poor, or physically scarred Stigma by association Discrimination toward people associated with a stigmatized person Why Does Prejudice Exist? Tendency to hold stereotypes and prejudices may be innate They are found all over the world, across genders, and in different cultures Content of stereotypes is learned through socialization People automatically know stereotypes and have to work to override them Why Does Prejudice Exist? Ingroup favoritism Preferential treatment or favorable attitudes toward one s own group members e.g., A male business owner gives preferential treatment to his male customers but not his female customers Minimal group effect Ingroup favoritism occurs even when group membership was random e.g., When students are placed in dorms at random the members still show favoritism toward their own dorm mates 11

12 Us Versus Them: Groups in Competition Intergroup relations at Robber s Cave (Sherif & Sherif, 1954) After one week of group competition the two groups were intensely hostile To induce cooperation, they introduced superordinate goals Goals that could only be achieved by cooperating and working with each other e.g., Only by working together can a small town build a playground for the town children e.g., Environmental improvement Us Versus Them: Groups in Competition Realistic conflict theory Competition over scarce resources leads to intergroup hostility and conflict Two gangs fight over the drug proceeds from an area of their territory Competition People can attain their goals only if others do not At sporting events, the goal is for one team to win. In order for this to happen, then the other team must lose Cooperation People must work together with others to help all achieve their goals A team at an ad agency must work together to put together a campaign for a client Why Does Prejudice Exist? Rationalization for Oppression Powerful group retains power through use of stereotypes and prejudices Prejudice and self-esteem Can be self-affirming If other groups are inferior, my group ( I ) must be superior 12

13 Impact of Prejudice on Targets Self-fulfilling prophecy: A prediction that ensures by the behavior it generates that it will come true Example: Theo believes that he was pulled over because he is Black. When the police officer asks for his license, Theo is angry. This may affirm the officer s stereotype that young Black men are hostile and aggressive People sometimes come to act like the stereotypes others hold of them Self-defeating prophecy: A prediction that ensures by the behavior it generates that it will not come true Example: Man who looks like Santa Claus refuses to act jolly People will rebel against the stereotypes for their group and refuse to let them be true Stereotype Threat Fear that one s behavior may confirm a stereotype that others hold and often leads individuals to confirm these stereotypes Most powerful when it is difficult to contradict Black students perform better on IQ tests when they are not asked about their racial/ethnic background (Steele, 1988) Black men do better on a golf putting task when it is called athletic ability but White men do better when the same task is called athletic intelligence (Stone, Lynch, Sjomeling, & Darley, 1999) Gay men are more anxious around children after disclosing their sexual orientation to an interviewer (Bosson, Haymowitz, & Pinel, 2004) Attorney General Eric Holder ( ) Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards. Though race related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race. It is an issue we have never been at ease with and given our nation s history this is in some ways understandable. And yet, if we are to make progress in this area we must feel comfortable enough with one another, and tolerant enough of each other, to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us. 13