Stereotypes

1. Stereotypes What they are and what they do

2. Class Exercise: • Write a definition of “stereotype” • List some racial stereotypes of an out-group • List some racial stereotypes of your in-group • Underline (mentally, if you wish) stereotypes that you endorse

3. Stereotypes are often (inaccurately) stereotyped • Typical “mainstream” definitions • “a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image” (dictionary.com) • “a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment” (webster.com) • “a generalized image of a person or group, which does not acknowledge individual differences and which is often prejudicial to that person or group.” (remember.org)

4. An activity from Remember.org • a) All athletes are • b) People on welfare are all • c) He's a cheap • d) Drugs are used by virtually • e) All homosexuals are • f) All politicians are • g) All people with AIDS are • h) All people who sleep on grates are • i) All Christian Fundamentalists are • j) All male hairdressers are • k) All male ballet dancers are • l) All Jewish mothers are • m) All Harvard graduates are • n) All construction workers are • o) He's so dumb, he must be • p) He's so smart, he must be • q) He's quick-tempered, so he must be • r) He drinks like a fish, so he must be • s) He likes watermelon, and so does every Have students complete the following sentences, then break up into small groups to compare their answers and discuss if there is any prejudice and bigotry in their answers or in those of their classmates, as well as what factors (e.g., television, newspapers, friendships, attitudes of their parents) may have contributed to such prejudice:

5. Why the definitions are misleading • Stereotypes are not necessarily overgeneralizations or over-simplifications. To the contrary, they are often contextually based (Brown, 2000). • Stereotypes are not necessarily false or erroneous beliefs. They can be accurate statements about base rates (McCauley) that represent real group differences (i.e., many stereotypes are prototypes). • Stereotypes have many useful functions

6. So…what are stereotypes? • Stereotypes are • Automatic and sometimes unconscious cognitive processes shared by many people and used by individuals to perceive and make sense of their environment • Shared group beliefs regarding specific traits that are attributed to people based on group membership • may be accurate or false • may be positive or negative • may be conscious or implicit (unconscious) • may be (consciously) endorsed or rejected • may or may not have an impact on behavior • have both positive and negative functions • may have either positive or negative outcomes

7. Related definitions • Prejudice (affect) An attitude (usually negative) toward a distinguishable group or an individual member of that group based on group membership and without just ground (i.e., pre-judging). • Discrimination Negative or harmful action (behavior) directed toward a distinguishable group or an individual member of that group based on group membership. Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life (UN International Convention)

8. Why are stereotypes shared? • Two possible explanations • Stereotypes as individual beliefs (social cognition): A common environment provides similar stimulus experience to different people and therefore similar stereotypes emerge. • Stereotypes as collective belief systems (cultural perspective): A shared cultural pool of knowledge, social representations, ideology or culture from which different people sample and it is this which produces the commonality of views. • Conclusion: Stereotypes are shared by members of groups not just through the coincidence of common experience or the existence of shared knowledge within society, but because the members of groups act to coordinate their behavior.

9. The benefits of stereotypes • Helps one deal with the social world more efficiently by simplifying the environment (cognitive miser hypothesis). This is useful as long as our understanding of base rates is relatively accurate. • Helps people fit in and identify with social group by underscoring the positive features of the in-group, relative to out-groups (social identity theory). • May serve a defensive function: stereotyping others may make us feel better about ourselves (self-serving bias) • In drama, allows quick introduction of characters that the audience understands and relates to (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heroic_stock_characters)

10. The problem with stereotypes • Stereotypes get in the way of critical and complex thinking and can prevent us from more complex understanding • Unexamined stereotypes may not represent all, or perhaps even most individuals within a group and, therefore, lead to misunderstanding • Some stereotypes enhance our own self-identity by devaluing others and, in so doing, serve as the foundation for prejudice and discrimination • Stereotypes can be obstacles in getting to know others as they really are versus how we think they might be • Stereotypes can Stereotypes can serve to maintain systems of privilege and injustice

11. Development of stereotypes:Psychodynamic approach (1940s-1950s) • The authoritarian personality – ethnocentrism, fascism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism part of authoritarian syndrome • Raised in a family highly structured and focused around the traditional authority of the father (usually) • Climate of repression prevents expression of hostility; in order not to explode, hostility and aggression must be projected • Due to family background, thinking is rigid, dichotomous, and stereotyped (i.e., the “closed mind”; )

12. Development of stereotypes:Validity of psychodynamic approach • Original studies promising, but... • 1958 southern state study: • White subjects showed high levels of anti-Black prejudice, regardless of whether or not personality was authoritarian. • 1952 Virginia mine study: • 80% of white miners exhibited friendship and solidarity toward Black co-workers at work • Out of the mines, < 20% of the white miners maintained friendly relations with Black colleagues • Individual personality differences cannot explain why prejudice is almost uniform in some cultures or predict which target will be chosen and when.

13. Development of stereotypes:Socio-cultural approach • Social Learning Theory – stereotypes are learned through direct observation of group differences or from exposure to media and other information (remember the Bobo doll studies?) • Illusory Correlations—tendency to see relationships between events that are unrelated (e.g., Jane Elliot’s exercise—we will watch this in class Thursday) • Most likely to happen when an event stands out • Woman who is a very aggressive CEO • You may then notice women who are in positions of power and who are aggressive • Leads to illusory correlation between women leaders and aggressiveness

14. Development of stereotypes:Socio-cultural approach (cont.) • Kernel of Truth Hypothesis – considers whether stereotypes that people commonly hold may in fact be partially accurate • Racial stereotypes are formed in part due to group SES differences; In the U.S., Blacks can be observed more often than whites in roles that imply less competence and less power. Due to conflation of race and class, class differences are attributed to race • Stereotypes of Jews as “cheap” and as “trying to make money” • What’s the kernel of truth? • Where does the kernel come from? • What’s the rest of the truth?

15. Development of stereotypes:Socio-cultural approach (cont.) • Cognitive dissonance theory – tendency for individuals to seek consistency between behaviors and beliefs as well as among their different beliefs and opinions. • Information in conflict with belief system is unpleasant; something must change to relieve dissonance • Information in contrast to belief is avoided, actively refuted, or seen as an “exception” • Stereotypes are reinforced

16. Development of stereotypes: Socio-cultural approach • Mass media • “Man bites dog” standard of what is newsworthy leads to illusory correlations even in politically unbiased media • Black on white crime • Palestinians throwing rocks at armed Israelis • Most media outlets are not politically neutral

17. Support for the Sociocultural theory • Large numbers of observers share similar stereotypes of a given target group and these stereotypes are relatively stable over time but also somewhat adaptive • Example: Katz & Braly (1952/1933)--Princeton students’ stereotypes of the Japanese • In 1933: intelligent, industrious, progressive • In 1951: sly, shrewd • In 1969: same as in 1933

18. The Role of Social Cognition:

19. Categorization • Categorization is the classification of persons into groups, often on the basis of common attributes. • Unintentional, effortless, automatic activity of the mind • Culturally shared • Assimilation vs. differentiation • Key Points • We create the categories; categories are not an essential part of the natural world • How we categorize tends to be culturally influenced and shared and has social and political implications • Items grouped together tend to be viewed more alike than actuality; items in different categories may have their differences exaggerated. • Once person is categorized into a group (e.g., gender, race), we bring into play knowledge contained in the category (our schemas, our stereotypes) • Leads to ingroup/outgroup dynamics.

20. In-group & Out-group Dynamics • In-group: group with which an individual identifies and feels a member of (ILL-INI) • Out-group: group with which an individual does not identify (“Muck Fichigan”) • In-group bias: Positive feelings and special treatment for people defined as part of our in-group

21. Class Demonstration • Distribute $1000 • Rate how much you like group members • Rate group members: personality, academic performance • Distribute unpleasant task (e.g., transcribing video)

22. Tajfel (1982) Minimal Group Experiment • Placed complete strangers in groups based on trivial criteria (e.g., a coin toss). Results indicated: • More liking for members of own group • Rated ingroup members more positively (on personality and work performance) • Gave more money and rewards to ingroup members • Why?

23. Drawbacks to Social Categorization • Outgroup homogeneity: the perception that individuals in the outgroup are more similar to each other than they really are • Leads us to overestimate the difference between groups and underestimate the differences within groups • Reinforces stereotypes • Reinforces: “Us versus Them” mentality

24. The Cognitive Miser Hypothesis • Bodenhausen (1990) • 189 students: Considering only your own “feeling best” rhythm, at what time would you get up if you were entirely free to plan your day? (6 AM, 8 AM, 11 AM) • Students divided into two groups: Morning-type person or evening-type person • Morning types: High attention early in day; Low attention later in day • Evening types: Low attention early in day; High attention later in day

25. Cognitive Miser Hypothesis (cont.) • Students asked to read about a campus crime in which the evidence was mixed and then rate the guilt of the suspect who was either White or Latino. Ratings occurred either early in the day or late in the day. • What would we expect based on the cognitive miser hypothesis in terms of when stereotyping would occur?

26. Who should stereotype more late in the day?

27. Who should stereotype more early in the day?

28. Are stereotypes automatic? • Groups can prime stereotypical thoughts and thoughts can prime stereotypical groups • Automatic processing: occurs when stimulus is encountered causing the stereotype to be accessed. Happens without conscious awareness • Controlled processing: occurs with awareness; conscious choice to disregard or ignore the stereotyped information • “Hard choice” (Fiske, 1989)

29. 2002 Institute of Medicine Report • When Latinos and African Americans were treated by physicians for a broken bone in their leg, they received pain medication significantly less often than white patients with the same injury. … Minorities are less likely to be given appropriate cardiac medications or to undergo bypass surgery, and are less likely to receive kidney dialysis or transplants. By contrast, they are more likely to receive certain less-desirable procedures, such as lower limb amputations for diabetes and other conditions.

30. The Implicit Association Test • Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind (Dostoyevsky) Take the IAT at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ • Demonstration video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RSVz6VEybk

31. IAT results

32. IAT over the lifespan Replicated with preferences for flowers vs. insects

33. Stereotypes and Biased Processing • Stereotypes impacts processing of new information • Biased information seeking • Biased attention to information • Biased memory for information • Biased attributions for behavior • Confirmatory biases • Stereotypes resistant to change

34. Stereotype Suppression • Stereotype suppression: trying to consciously avoid using a stereotype. • Suppression can be counter-productive • Macrae et al. (1994) – Participants wrote 5-minute stories • Phase 1: write a story about a day in the life of a skinhead • Group 1 told to suppress stereotypes  wrote less stereotypic passages • Group 2 no instructions about stereotypes (control group) • Phase 2: Tell another story about a day in the life of a skinhead • Participants who had suppressed wrote more stereotypic second passages  A rebound effect

35. Review • Stereotypes are often inaccurately stereotyped • Stereotypes have negative and positive features • No single pathway to stereotype development • Psychodynamic theory (authoritarian personality) • Social learning theory (illusory correlations) • Sociocultural theory (kernel of truth) • Social categ./identity theories (minimal groups) • Cognitive miser (early birds vs night owls) • Stereotypes are automatic…but can be rejected • Stereotypes are self-reinforcing (cog. dissonance) • Stereotype-suppression can lead to rebounding

36. The issue of “internalization” The big issue: Do targets of prejudice and stereotyping accept the negative evaluations and beliefs directed toward them? 1. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs interfere with individual achievement and lower self-esteem? 2. Can being a target of racial stereotypes elicit actual “stereotypical” behavior from targets? 3. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs lead members of subordinate groups to “accept” their subordinate position?

37. The long-term effects of exposure to prejudice and stereotypes • Common Assumption: Negative stereotypes should result in lower self-esteem among members of stigmatized groups. BUT • Crocker and Major (1989) reviewed 20 years of research and found no evidence that members of stigmatized or subordinate groups had lower self-esteem. • Targets of prejudice and stereotyping can defend themselves in three ways… • By making ingroup comparisons only • By attributing negative outcomes to discrimination rather than personal failure • Through “disidentification”

38. Stereotype Threat • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjn6ZSU_zS0

39. Stereotype Threat • Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995): The threat of confirming as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group. • Steele & Aronson (1995): • White and Black students took a brief test based on GRE • Randomly assigned to three conditions: • Diagnostic condition: “The test is diagnostic of intellectual ability” • Non-diagnostic condition: “The test is a tool for studying problem-solving” • Non-diagnostic challenge condition: “The test is problem solving and challenge”

40. Steele and Aronson (study 1)

41. Steele and Aronson (Study 3) 57 items about things you enjoy (e.g., rap, classical music, basketball, tennis) 1. _ _ CE 2. _ _ ACK 3. MI_ _ _ _ _ _ 1. DU_ _ 2. SHA_ _ 3. _ _ _ ERIOR

42. Steele and Aronson (Study 3, cont.)

43. Steele and Aronson (Study 4) Question: Is it sufficient simply to prime “race” in a context in which racial stereotype threat is thought to exist?

44. Ryan and Anthony (2006) Question: Would stereotype threat also emerge on actual IQ tests?

45. Martens, Johns, Greenberg, & Schimel (2006) Question: Is it possible to reduce stereotype threat? Study 1 Study 2

46. Implications of stereotype threat • Racial disparities in IQ and academic achievement may be PARTLY explained by negative racial stereotypes • Programs designed to help disadvantaged groups may also present threats to self • Affirmative action programs imply that its recipients are inferior and can’t get by without special help (Shelby Steele, 1990) • Evidence • Schneider et al. (1996) – Compared to those who didn’t, Blacks who received unsolicited help from a White student reported depressive feelings and lower self-esteem. • Nacoste (1985) – Women who gained access to a group simply because they were women expressed fewer positive emotions and thought the admission procedure was less fair. BUT • Pratkanis and Turner (1996) – Effect of affirmative action on recipients depends on how program is “framed”. If presented as a way of removing or offsetting past discrimination, it doesn’t lower recipient self-esteem.

47. The issue of “internalization” The big issue: Do targets of prejudice and stereotyping accept the negative evaluations and beliefs directed toward them? 1. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs interfere with individual achievement and lower self-esteem? 2. Can being a target of racial stereotypes elicit actual “stereotypical” behavior from targets? 3. Do internalized evaluations and beliefs lead members of subordinate groups to “accept” their subordinate position?

48. Stereotypes & Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • Person X has stereotype of out-group member • Person X interacts with out-group member based on stereotype • Out-group member responds to Person X • Person X interprets out-group member’s behavior as consistent with stereotype • Snyder (1984): Men who anticipated talking with an attractive woman perceived the woman to be more sociable and tended to act in a warm and friendly manner • Men who spoke to an unattractive woman behaved in a more cold and reserved manner

49. Racial stereotypes and the self-fulfilling prophesy • White participants interviewed both Black and White interviewees. • The White interviewers sat farther away, conducted shorter interviews, and made more speech errors when interviewing Blacks. • As a result, Black interviewees were seen as more nervous and less effective. • But in a second study, both Black and White interviewees did worse when interviewers were told to sit farther away, conduct shorter interviews, and so on. Word, Zanna, & Cooper (1974)

50. Limits of the self-fulfilling prophecy • Hilton and Darley (1985) – self-fulfilling prophecy effects go away when the target knows of the perceiver’s stereotypical expectations • Jussim and Fleming (1996)… • Reviewed all published studies of the self-fulfilling prophecy • The effect occurs reliably, but it is weak – accounts for only about 4% of stereotype-confirming behavior.