Key Concepts and Terms

1. Key Concepts and Terms Professor Y-T. Lee, Ph.D.

2. Concepts and Terms • Group (N>1) • Culture: Shared beliefs/values etc; we will discuss it in more detail • Race: Physical/bio group • Ethnicity: culturally/nationally related (land, language, leadership, life style/religion)

3. What is culture? • 150 definitions: shared, learned knowledge in society—like individual memory

4. Cultural Relativism vs. Ethnocentrism • Cultural relativism (i.e., there is no culture better than or superior to another; every culture has its strengths and weaknesses), ethnocentrism ( i.e., one tending to perceive one’s culture superior to other cultures—e.g., White Americans or European colonialists tend to see European culture better than other culture)

5. Racism • Racism is the belief that humans are subdivided into distinct hereditary groups that are innately different in their social behavioral and mental capacities and that can therefore be ranked as superior or inferior----??? • Any social meaning of race?

6. Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination • Does everyone have stereotypes? • Does everyone have prejudice? • Does everyone discriminate between people and things?

7. Brown University’s Experience • Are stereotypes accurate? • Stereotype accuracy? Are you crazy?

8. What do they share in common? • Group (vs Individual) • Culture (vs. social/ethnic mbrs) • Stereotype (vs. personality)

9. What are Stereotypes?Do you have stereotypes? • Yes, everyone has stereotypes. • Perceptions of people or things in group or category • Why, everyone? Complex world • Stereotypes as mental or cogntive images: Lippmann’s pictures in mind

10. Why Study Stereotype Accuracy or Inaccuracy?

11. TwoDimensions of Stereotypes

12. EPA as 3 Dimensions of Stereotypes Ashmore & Longo, 1995; Jussim, McCauley & Lee, 1995; Osgood, Suci & Tannenbaum, 1957 • Stereotypes have at least three dimensions • E=evaluation (+, -), P=potential(activated vs not activated) , A=accuracy(inaccurate, inaccurate) • image of 9-11 (negative, easy to activate, accurate) American Perception of Arabs (negative, activated, in/accurate??)

13. Clarification 1: Individual Entities vs. Groups (Categories) • Because human beings are not separate individual entities and must be in relation to each other, every individual must be in groups, and groups or categories must have something in common, which may lead people to form stereotypes or identities. • Even certain inanimate entities or things are not in groups or categories, but human beings tend to perceive them in groups or categories psychologically.

14. Clarification 2: Perception vs. Behavior • Stereotypes are perceptions of individuals from certain groups or categories; Stereotyping is a cognitive thinking processing, and every one has stereotypes and stereotyping. • (Unjust) Discrimination is an action against less powerful people from certain groups. Profiling is a behavior or action discriminating against individuals from certain groups. • Hate Crime involves severe and violent behavior against people from certain groups (ethnic minorities, women, gay/lesbian etc).

15. Modern/Current Research is Amazing in Psychology • Every year almost 1000 journal articles on ethnic/gender or other stereotypes/stereotyping or social perception are published as per the PsycInfo database. • In two volumes of The Handbook of Social Psychology (Gilbert, Fiske, & Lindzey, 1998), almost half of the space is devoted to social perception, including self-perception, person (e.g., interpersonal, intrapersonal, personal) perception/behavior, social cognition, intragroup and intergroup perception/behavior, conflict, justice etc.

16. Examples of the Scholarly Books • In recent years, many relevant books or monographs have appeared, including Affect, cognition and stereotyping: Interactive processes in group perception (Mackie & Hamilton, 1993),Stereotyping and Social Reality (Oakes, Haslam, & Turner, 1994), Social cognition: Impact on Social Psychology (Devine, Hamilton, & Ostrom, 1994),Stereotypes, social cognition, and social explanation (Leyens, Yzerbyt, & Schadron, 1994), Stereotype accuracy: Toward appreciating group differences (Lee, Jussim, & McCauley, 1995), Stereotypes and stereotyping (Macrae, Stangor, & Hewstone, 1996), The social psychology of stereotyping and group life (Spears, Oakes, Ellemers, & Haslem, 1997), Personality and person perception across cultures (Lee, McCauley, & Draguns, 1999). Gender and emotion: Social psychological perspectives (Fischer, 2000). Handbook of demonstrations and activities in the teaching of psychology (Ware & Johnson, 2000). The social psychology of stigma (Heatherton & Kleck, et. al, 2000). Stereotypes and prejudice(Stangor, 2000).Cognitive Social Psychology(Moskowitz, 2001); Intergroup relation (Hogg & Abrams, 2001).

17. Scientific Definition • Although no single definition of "stereotype" is unanimously accepted, most researchers agree that stereotypes involve ascribing characteristics to social groups or segments of society (Brauer, 2001; Lee & Ottati, 2001; Mackie & Hamilton, 1993; Oakes, Haslam, & Turner, 1994; Zanna & Olson, 1994). These "characteristics" may include traits (e.g., aggressive), physical attributes, societal role(e.g., occupation), or even specific behaviors. Stereotypic characterizations of a social group are implicitly comparative.

18. Stereotype Accuracy & Inaccuracy • "The stereotypes concerning characteristics of cultural and racial groups are a combination of truth and falsehood." (Gustav Ichheiser, 1970, p.76) • R. Ashmore (1981, 1995), M. Biernat (1995, 2001), V. Esses (1999), D. Funder (1995), C. Judd (1993), L. Jussim (1995), D. Kenny (1994; 2000), Y. Lee & V. Ottati (1993, 1995, 1999; 2001), C. McCauley (1995, 1999), C. Ryan (2001)

19. Stereotypes vs. Prejudice • Everyone has preference and prejudice • Only negative and inaccurate stereotypes are related to prejudice racially or culturally.

20. Discrimination • Everyone has to discriminate but unjust or un-humanistic discriminative behaviors (e.g., racial discrimination or profiling ) are not acceptable

21. Humanism and Differences • Be humanistic or humanitarian • Understand and appreciate human differences peace and harmony