Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination

1. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Group Privilege • People live in cultures • Cultures influence people’s behavior, attitudes, beliefs, and other psychological characteristics—including those related to prejudice and discrimination. • Unaware of cultural influences as they grow up until something that draws attention to aspect of their culture. • Prejudice and discrimination is expressed in through group privilege. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

2. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Group Privilege • White privilege—researchers have captured this fact of life. • Members of ethnic minority groups are well aware that even the smallest everyday action can be affected by their race. • When individuals are part of the majority their membership in the dominant group seems normal and natural and is often taken for granted. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

3. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Group Privilege • Unearned favored state conferred simply because of ones’ race, gender, or sexual orientation. • Concept of group privilege is that there is a corollary (consequence) to discrimination or undeserved negative treatment based on one’s group membership. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

4. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Group Privilege • Examples— • Advantages granted to people simply because they belong to a particular group—and that these advantages are unearned • Advantages are based not on ability, effort, or past success but rather on membership in the privileged group Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

5. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Group Privilege • Alvin Poussaint, a noted Harvard psychiatrist, refers to the impact of privilege on the unprivileged as “Death by a thousand nick” • Privilege associated with group membership are not limited to race, for example they can be sex and age related. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

6. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Group Privilege • These kinds of privileges make it easy for whites to see racism as a problem that belongs to • --people of color, • --for heterosexuals to see anti-gay prejudice as a problem that belongs to lesbians and gay men, or • --for men to see sexism as a “women’s problem”. • Attitude developed is that prejudice and discrimination are someone else’s problem, so members of the privileged groups do not have to do anything about them. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

7. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Group Privilege • Privilege perspective— • Two sides of the coin: the disadvantages of experiencing prejudice and discrimination and the advantages of unearned privileges. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

8. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination Understand why humans behave in biased ways Social scientist have not yet developed a theory that pulls it all together to explain the phenomenon Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

9. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination • Scientific Racism • Psychodynamic Theory • Authoritarian-personality • Cognitive Theory • Evolutionary Theory Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

10. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination Scientific Racism—Prior to the 1920’s North American and European social scientist agreed that Whites were superior to people of color. (e.i. is the researcher that demonstrate that whites were more intelligent than blacks.) This is now known as scientific racism Prejudice was viewed as a natural response to backward peoples-- a social problem Slavery – justified notion slaves were a lesser class of human beings Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

11. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination Psychodynamic Theory—After 1920-30 a political change occurred due to the influx of immigration into the U.S and a Black civil rights movement that challenged White social dominance. Social scientist began to question prejudice notions a natural and normal, moving instead to a perspective that prejudice is a social problem stemming from irrational and unjustifiable beliefs and behaviors. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

12. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination Psychodynamic Theory Measures of prejudicial attitudes and beliefs were employed—Thurstsone and Likert attitude scales; Katz and Braly stereotype checklist, and public opinion polls Defense mechanism-people acted out their frustrations in the form of hostility and aggression directed towards ethnic minority groups Scapegoating—symbolically transferring negative behaviors onto others, resulted when chronic social frustration was displaced onto ethnic minorities. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

13. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination Theories of Prejudice and Discrimination Authoritarian-personality—people with authoritarian personality prone to believe and do whatever authority figures told them, including treating members of derogated groups with contempt. Right-wing authoritarianism Prejudice is motivationally based and serves to strengthen one’s personal identity and self-esteem Sociocultural Theory-raised point of view from the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, racism came to be seen as a cultural norm and one that was not easily eradicated. Culture provides stereotypes and that the patterns of these stereotypes are consistently linked to prejudice across time and region of the country. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

14. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination Two major models underlying Authoritarian-personality perspective Structural-functionalist view—society is characterized as seeking conformity to social norms including the proper attitudes and beliefs people should hold with little individual deviation in the pattern accepted within the society. Conflict perspective—puts forth the notion that society is comprised of groups with different values and interest and that individuals adopt the viewpoint of their particular subgroups—Social role theory Intergroup Relations Theory—1960 evolved into an intergroup relations Prejudice derives from perceptions of competition with other group’s perspective Relative deprivation theory holds that prejudice results from the resentment people feel when they believe that their group has been deprived of some resource that another group receives Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

15. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Evolutionary Theory—isa ways of explaining universal process underlying prejudice and discrimination • People evolved a suspicion and fear of strangers as a way to protect themselves and their communities from possible harm by out-siders • Kin favoritism • Ethnocentrism- seeing one’s group as better than the other—favoritism towards one own groups Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

16. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination • Targets of Prejudice • Race and Ethnicity • Religion • Gender and Sexual Orientation • Age, Ability, and Appearance Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106

17. Prof. Saterfield Psychology 106