Terminology

1
Terminology

• Prejudice Negative attitudes toward members of
  specific social groups
• Discrimination Negative behaviors directed
  toward members of social groups who are the
  object of prejudice

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Prejudice

• What it means
• Why it persists
• Enhance self concept
• Save us cognitive effort
• Stereotypes-Beliefs to the effect that all
  members of specific social groups share certain
  traits or characteristics. Stereotypes are
  cognitive frameworks that strongly influence the
  processing of incoming social information
• positive stereotypes and academic performance
• gender stereotypes and accuracy

3
Discrimination

• Decreasing?
• New racism. Three components.
• Denial that discrimination continues
• Antagonism to the demands of minorities for equal
  treatment
• Resentment about special favors

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Discrimination

• Tokenism-The performance of trivial or
  small-scale positive actions for people who are
  the targets of prejudice. Prejudiced groups
  often use tokenistic behaviors as an excuse for
  refusing more meaningful beneficial actions.
  Small benefits, high costs.
• Two negative effects of tokenism
• Reverse Discrimination

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Origins of Prejudice

• Realistic Conflict Theory
• Early Experience
• Social Categorization
• in-group versus out-group
• ultimate attribution error

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In-group versus Out-group

• In-groupThe social group to which an individual
  perceives herself or himself as belonging (us)
• Out-group Any group other than the one to which
  individuals perceive themselves as belonging
  (them)

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Ultimate Attribution Error

• The tendency to make more favorable and
  flattering attributions about members of ones
  own group than about members of other groups.
• Self-serving bias.
• Similarity and threat.

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Cognitive Sources of Prejudice

• Stereotypes
• Illusory correlations
• Out-group homogeneity

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Stereotypes

• Beliefs to the effects that all members of
  specific social groups share certain traits or
  characteristics. They are cognitive frameworks
  that strongly influence the processing of
  incoming social information.

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Stereotypes

• Think of traits for different groups
• Tacit inferences
• Lazy thinkers versus deep thinkers
• Unconscious stereotypes
• Stereotypes threat
• Stereotypes and prejudice

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Stereotype Threat

• The threat perceived by persons who are the
  target of stereotypes, that they will be
  evaluated in terms of these stereotypes.

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Illusory Correlations

• Perceived associations between variables that are
  stronger than actually exist occur when each
  variable is distinctive so that the co-occurrence
  of the variables is readily entered into and
  retrieved from memory.
• Why?

13
Out-group Homogeneity

• You know what theyre like theyre all the
  same
• Illusion of out-group homogeneity The tendency
  to perceive members of out-groups as more similar
  to one another (less variable) than the members
  of ones own in-group.

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Out-group Homogeneity

• In-group differentiation- The tendency to
  perceive members of ones own group as showing
  much larger differences from one another (as
  being more heterogeneous) than those of other
  groups

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Out-group Homogeneity

• Example Age
• Why?
• Adds to prejudice how?

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Techniques for Countering Prejudice

• Direct Intergroup Contact
• Extended Contact Hypothesis
• Recategorization
• Cognitive Interventions

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Direct Intergroup Contact

• Contact Hypothesis The view that increased
  contact between members of various social groups
  can be effective in reducing prejudice between
  them.
• How?
• Conditions
• Pessimism

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The Extended Contact Hypothesis

• A view suggesting that members of ones own group
  have formed close friendships with members of an
  out-group can reduce prejudice against this
  group.
• How?
• Support

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Recategorization

• Shifts in the boundary between an individuals
  in-group (us) and some out-group (them),
  causing persons formerly viewed as out-group
  members now to be viewed as belonging to the
  in-group.
• The common in-group identity model, Gaertner et
  al. (1989, 1993).

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The Common In-Group Identity Model

• Theory suggesting that to the extent that
  individuals in different groups view themselves
  as a member of a single social entity, positive
  contacts between them will increase and
  intergroup bias will be reduced.
• How do we get this shift?
• Can it reduce prejudice?

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Cognitive Intervention

• Attribute-driven processing

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Prejudice Based on Gender

• Sexism Prejudice based on gender
• Gender Stereotypes Stereotypes concerning the
  traits supposedly possessed by females and males,
  which distinguish the two genders from each
  other.
• Are gender stereotypes accurate?

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Discrimination Against Females

• Why?
• Role of Expectations
• Role of confidence and self-perceptions
• Negative reactions to female leaders
• The glass ceiling

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Sexual Harassment

• Sexual Harassment When discrimination hits rock
  bottom
• Legal definition with the certain conditions
• Sex-role Spillover Theory A theory suggesting
  that females working in nontraditional jobs will
  be seen as role deviates and so as more
  appropriate targets for sexual harassment.