Attitudes & Stereotypes Flashcards
What is person perception?
the process by which we develop an impression of another person, using information we can initially gather or observe about them
What is forming a stereotype?
We form impressions of others on the basis of how they speak, how they move, their body language, gender, age, ethnicity, dress, culture and disabilities. Some of these mental shortcuts that we make in our judgement of others are also applied more broadly than just on a case-by-case basis. Society also makes assumptions about the shared cultural background of a group of people who have similar characteristics
What are attributions?
inferences we make about the causes of events or behaviours in order to understand social experiences. Fritz Heider posited that people tend to either see the cause of a behaviour or action as being either located within (internal) the person or outside (external) the person.
What are internal and external attributions?
Dispositional (internal): - traits - ability - motivation - attitude - mood - effort Situational (external): - luck - situation - environmental setting - actions of another person
What are stereotypes?
generalised and simplified belief about a group of people. The most common stereotypes are gender, age, ethnic and occupational stereotypes
What is social categorisation?
is our natural human tendency to classify people into groups based on characteristics that we perceive them to have in common. For example; through the use of labels such as hipsters, bogans, hoons, bikies, bimbos, wimps and snobs.
Stereotyping includes:
> categorising people into groups – this is usually based on appearance, for example
gender, ethnicity, race, physical ability or disability and age, but can also be based
on culture, sexuality, social class, occupation, intelligence and so on
assuming that all members of the group are the same (for example, Homer Simpson is a stereotypical ‘stupid, white, working-class American man’, or Crocodile Dundee is a stereotypical Aussie).
Why do stereotypes play a large role in?
Stereotypes play a large role in prejudice. They can be both positive and negative. Research suggests that prejudicial stereotypes are very accessible and tend to operate automatically without conscious thought.
What is a prejudice?
an unfavourable attitude towards a group of people
What is an attitude?
An attitude is a learned, stable and relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object or idea that can a ect an individual’s behaviour.
Attitudes can operate in di erent forms:
Explicit attitudes and implicit attitudes
What are explicit attitudes?
Are where people openly state their attitude and behave in a way that reflects this attitude. For example:
- exercise is good for my health (attitude)
- visit the gym daily (action).
What are implicit attitudes?
Are involuntary, uncontrollable and sometimes unconscious. It is possible for individuals to be unaware that they hold a particular attitude until their actions reveal it. For example:
- moths are harmless (attitude)
- scream on seeing a moth (action).
What are some functions of attitudes?
> predisposing us, by:
- guiding us to behave in particular ways
- helping us to get what we want and avoid what we do not want
- saving us energy so that we do not have to work out our reactions to an
attitude object each time we encounter it
interpreting, by:
- guiding the interpretation and summary of an attitude object
- helping us to avoid worry and confusion when faced with a new attitude object
- helping us to understand and process information
evaluating, by:
- helping us to stand up for our values and beliefs
- helping us to re ect on our values
- protecting our self-esteem when we feel threatened or uncomfortable.
Relationship between attitudes and behaviour:
people’s behaviour does not indicate their attitude. There are several reasons for this, including attitude salience, attitude speci city, information about the attitude, the situation, and how the attitude is measured
