prejudice

1. Prejudice Do we dislike each other? Why? �Trying to educate a bigot is like shining a light into the pupil of an eye � it constricts.� (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.)

3. Key Terms Prejudice A negative prejudgment of a group and its members. An attitudinal bias. A hostile or negative attitude toward a distinguishable group based on generalizations derived from faulty or incomplete information. Discrimination Negative behaviors aimed toward a group and its members. Institutional forms of discrimination may not be motivated by prejudice (e.g., hiring through word of mouth practices).

4. Is Racial Prejudice Still an Issue? Stunning reduction in blatant discrimination in last 50 years. African-American attitudes toward blacks have also become more positive. Clark and Clark (1947) demonstrated anti-black attitudes among blacks. This was the basis of the 1954 Brown vs. The Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

5. Modern Prejudice Although blatant prejudice is greatly reduced, subtle forms of prejudice still exist. Prejudice and discrimination seem to manifest when motives can be �hidden.� For example, not hating Africans, but hating immigrants. Modern prejudice also demonstrated with exaggerated race sensitivity (e.g., over praise or criticism of a minority).

6. Subtlety of Bias Darley and Gross (1983) Show a picture of young Hannah dressed as an upper or lower class citizen. Subjects refuse to use her class background to prejudge her academic ability. However, if subsequently shown taking an oral achievement test, subjects view upper class Hannah as rating above grade level and remember her getting more correct answers than she did.

7. Modern Prejudice Harber (1998) provide participants with poorly written essays. White students rated these essays higher if led to believe that black students wrote them. Also, provided much less criticism. Thus, creates a combination of inflated praise and lower standards. What are the potential academic effects of such behavior for minority students?

8. Automatic Prejudice Dual attitude system: implicit vs. explicit attitudes. Banaji, Fazio, Greenwald, Bargh have all demonstrated that non-prejudiced people demonstrate prejudicial thought at an unconscious or �automatic� level. For instance, when primed with an image of an African American it takes whites longer to identify words like peace and paradise as �good.�

9. Gender Prejudice Gender stereotypes are pervasive and generally embraced by the stereotyped group! Janet Swim�s research suggests that gender stereotypes are generally accurate (kernel of truth). However� Stereotypes can still be misapplied. Tend to exaggerate small differences between the groups.

10. Gender Prejudice and Discrimination Eagly has demonstrated that attitudes toward women are generally positive. Yet, Glick and Fiske point out the ambivalent nature of gender stereotypes Benevolent sexism vs. hostile sexism. Undeniable differences exist however in starting salary, likelihood of promotion, and attributions of success.

11. Sources of Prejudice (1) Economic and Political Competition/Unequal Status/Realistic Group Conflict Theory Prejudice increases during economic difficulties In the west in the late 1800�s attitudes toward the Chinese varied greatly depending upon the amount of employment opportunities. After Civil War the Chinese were hated due to competition for jobs Research shows that the most anti-black prejudice is found in groups that are one rung higher on the SES ladder This variable is confounded w/ educational level

12. Stereotype Threat Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson Tried to explain gap in test scores between whites and blacks Argued that blacks in test situations may feel apprehension about confirming existing negative stereotypes of intellectual inferiority They labeled this Stereotype Threat Demonstrated that black students did as well as whites on the GRE verbal when led to believe that the test itself, and not the student, was being tested Good news is that positive stereotypes enhance behavior (e.g., Asian students on math tests)

13. Competition for Resources Muzafer Sherif � Boy Scout Research Created competition between the Eagles and the Rattlers and conflict over scarce resources. Even after competition ended animosity remained and even continued to escalate.

14. Self-fulfilling Prophecy Social beliefs can be self-confirming. Word, Zanna, and Cooper (1974): Observed whites interviewing black and white �confederates�. Whites were provided with more positive cues (e.g., distance, eye contact). In second study, trained interviewers treated new interviewees as either �black� or �white� (all participants were white). Quality of interviews of subjects treated as �black� were rated lower by a group of observers who were unaware of the manipulation or hypothesis.

15. Sources of Prejudice (2) Social Identity Theory: Proposed by Tajfel and Turner Key concept is that self-esteem can be increased through our group identifications. Assumptions of the theory We categorize We identify (associate self with in-group) We compare (evaluate group against outgroup).

16. Social Identity Theory Ingroup biases tend to increase when our group is small, easily identifiable, and lower in status relative to the outgroup. Outgroup homogeneity: tendency to view everyone in the other group as being the same.

17. Sources of Prejudice

18. Sources of Prejudice (4) Misplaced Aggression/Scapegoating Blaming a relatively powerless innocent person for something that is not his or her fault Similar to Freud�s concept of displacement Term is based on ancient Hebrew practice Long history � Holocaust, southern Blacks Between 1882-1930 the number of lynchings in the south in any give year could be predicted by the price of cotton

19. Sources of Prejudice (5) Personality Factors Are there individual differences in the tendency to hate? Adorno and his research on the Authoritarian Personality suggests yes Authoritarian Personality has these characteristics Adherence to conventional values (e.g., government, church, parents, middle-class) Contempt toward outgroups Superstition

20. Authoritarian Personality Further characteristics: Resistance to change Belief in censorship and strict laws (people need to be controlled) Intolerant of weakness Highly punitive Extremely respectful of authority Appears to stem from harsh and threatening parental discipline

21. Sources of Prejudice (6) Cognitive Factors Solo or minority figure in a group appears more prominent and influential. We view them as causing whatever happens. Leads to availability heuristic. Vivid cases are more memorable. We tend to base our assumptions off of vivid memories � not �reality.� For example, common belief is that �welfare is the greatest scam going.�

22. Sources of Prejudice (7) Attribution errors Group-serving bias (Pettigrew, 1979). Much like self-serving bias. In-group successes are dispositional, outgroup are situational. Just World Phenomenon. The belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. For example, the tendency to blame rape victims is stronger in those with a Just World perspective.