Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination Flashcards
What is prejudice?
affective / emotional response.
Attitude towards the members of a group based solely on their
membership in that group (positive or negative
What are stereotypes?
cognitive component.
Expectations and beliefs. Involve generalizations about typical
characteristics of members of a group (positive or negative).
What is discrimination?
behavioural component of prejudicial reactions.
Actual actions towards the objects of prejudice (positive or negative).
What are examples of stereotyping?
Ageism - Old people are said to be very forgetful.
Racial - Native Americans in cowboy films are seen as bloodthirsty savages.
Sexism – Women are bad drivers.
Religion – Catholic families have a lot of children.
Profession – All bankers are greedy.
Media - Males are always: The boss, policeman, fireman, doctor.
Women are always: The librarian, secretary, teacher, nurse
Where do stereotypes come from?
Parents and family.
* Friends.
* The media.
* Education (school university)
* Travel.
* Laziness.
* Fear.
* Envy.
* A sense of superiority.
* Lack of experience of people, etc.
What are the good effects of stereotyping?
Enables us to respond rapidly to situations in which we’ve had a similar experience.
* We are given a general idea on how a specific person may think and act.
* We are more aware on what the person might find interesting or offensive.
* Helping us in the creating a much effective interaction.
What are the bad effects of stereotyping?
Prejudice (an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex,
religion etc).
* Stigma (a set of unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about
something).
* Discrimination (unfairly treating of a person or group of people from other people or
group of people).
* Racism (poor treatment or violence against people because of their race).
* Conflicts.
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
A prejudiced person may not act on their attitude. Therefore, someone can
be prejudiced towards a certain group but not discriminate against them.
* Prejudice includes all 3 components of an attitude (affective, behavioural
and cognitive), whereas discrimination just involves behaviour.
What is the social identity theory?
Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group
membership (s). Us v Them.
* Groups (eg social class, family, football team etc.) which people belong to are
an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us a sense of social
identity: a sense of belonging to the world.
* In order to increase our self-image we enhance the status of the group to which
we belong. Eg Wales is the best country in the world!
* We can also increase our self-image by discriminating and holding prejudice
views against the out group Eg. The Americans are a bunch of losers!
* Social identity theory states that the in-group (us) will discriminate against the
out-group (them) to enhance their self-image.
* This is critical to understanding prejudice, because once two groups identify
themselves as rivals, they are forced to compete in order for the members to
maintain their self-esteem. Competition and hostility between groups is thus not
only a matter of competing for resources (like in Sherif’s Robbers Cave) like jobs
but also the result of competing identities.
What is reverse discrimination?
treating members of a target group more favorably than members of other groups leading to negative effects:
Example: Employment criteria – gender, disability or ethnic origin bias
