Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

2. Defining Important Terms • Racism: Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s background • Sexism: Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s gender • Stereotypes: Beliefs that associate a whole group of people with certain traits. • Prejudice: Negative feelings about others because of their connection to a social group. • Discrimination: Negative behaviors directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group.

3. Persistence and Change • In general, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are less acceptable than ever before. • But exceptions do exist.

4. Racism: Current Forms and Challenges • Research reveals that racial prejudice has been on the decline over the last several decades • Re-election of Barack Obama was seen by many as significant sign of racial progress

5. Types of Racism • Modern Racism: A form of racism that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable, and easy to rationalize • Implicit Racism: Racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally

6. Sexism: Ambivalence and Double Standards • Blatant displays of sexism are less socially acceptable than in the past • But do continue to persist today • Gender stereotypes are distinct in that they are not only descriptive, but also prescriptive • They tell people what they should do or be

7. Ambivalent Sexism • Form of sexism characterized by attitudes about women that reflect both negative, resentful beliefs/feelings as well as affectionate and chivalrous but potentially patronizing beliefs/feelings • Hostile sexism • Benevolent sexism • Seems to have diminished over time, but discrimination based on sex is still prevalent today

8. Being Stigmatized • Being persistently stereotyped, perceived as deviant, and devalued in society because of membership in a particular social group or because of a particular characteristic.

9. Stereotype Threat • Stereotype threat is the fear that one will be reduced to a stereotype in the eyes of others. • How can stereotype threat hamper academic achievement? • The reactions to the threat can directly interfere with performance. • The threat can cause individuals to dismiss the domain as no longer relevant to their self-esteem and identity.

10. Social Categorization and Intergroup Conflict • The classification of persons into groups on the basis of attributes • In some ways, is natural and adaptive • Saves time and energy • But can lead to overestimation of differences between groups and underestimation of differences within groups

11. Ingroups vs. Outgroups • Strong tendency to divide people into ingroups and outgroups. • Consequences • Exaggerate differences between ingroups and other outgroups • Outgroup homogeneity effect • New research indicates that perceivers may actually process faces of outgroup members more like objects than fellow human beings • Dehumanization has played a role in atrocities throughout history

12. Social Identity Theory • Two Basic Predictions: • Threats to one’s self-esteem heighten the need for ingroup favoritism. • Expressions of ingroup favoritism enhance one’s self-esteem.

13. Culture and Social Identity • Collectivists more likely to value connectedness and interdependence with people and groups around them • Collectivists less likely to show biases favoring their ingroups in order to boost their self-esteem. • But collectivists may draw sharper distinctions between ingroup and outgroup members. • Socialization refers to process by which people learn the norms, rules, and information of a culture or group • Includes stereotypes and status of groups

14. Gender Stereotypes • Inundated with gender stereotypes from birth and through the life span • E.g., males more adventurous, assertive, aggressive, independent, etc. • E.g., females more sensitive, gentle, dependent, emotional, etc. • Media • Children begin to understand these stereotypes quite early – one study, by age of 2

15. Are Stereotypes Ever Accurate? • What is meant by “accurate”? • Stereotyping can often lead to self-fulfilling prophecies which further distort perceptions and realities

16. Confirmation Biases and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies • Stereotypes are often maintained and strengthened through confirmation biases. • Tendency to interpret, seek, and create information to confirm expectations • Stereotypes can cause a perceiver to act in such a way that the stereotyped group member really does behave in a stereotype-confirming way. • The stereotype creates a “self-fulfilling prophecy.”

17. How Stereotypes Survive and Self-Perpetuate • Illusory correlation: The tendency for people to overestimate the link between variables that are only slightly or not at all correlated. • Tend to overestimate the association between variables when: • The variables are distinctive • The variables are already expected to go together