Stereotype II

Question 1

Why do people stereotype?

Answer 1

Stereotypes are an energy saving device, that simplifies information processing and reduces cognitive load
Judgemental heuristics: a mental shortcut for streamlining social perception

Question 2

Outline System Justification Theory

Answer 2

People want to believe that social systems are fair and legitimate
Stereotypes can rationalise any inequality that exists

Question 3

Outline Jost and Kay’s (2005) research on SJT

Answer 3

PPs were exposed to communal gender stereotypes
Communal stereotype exposure condition: do these communal traits apply more to women or men and to what degree?
Control condition: no exposure
PPs completed questionnaire assessing agreement with current gender relations and sex role division
Males were above the threshold for SJ in both conditions, whereas females were below the threshold with no exposure but above when exposed

Question 4

What is stereotype maintenance and how is it formed?

Answer 4

Formed through socialisation e.g. family, peers, media etc.
A number of cognitive biases help to perpetuate them:
-Biases in exposure/interpretation
-Self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 5

Outline and explain biased exposure

Answer 5

Stereotypes may bias the information that we seek, in a way that confirms the stereotype.
An impression formation task was used, PPs were given a selection of Qs/As from interviews of physics students
PPs chose to view more stereotypic confirming than disconfirming Qs

Question 6

Outline and explain biased interpretation

Answer 6

Ultimate attribution error: negative stereotypic behaviours attributed to disposition, positive counter-stereotypic behaviours attributed to situation
PPs asked to judge whether emotional faces were having a bad day or emotional
Male and Female PPs made more dispositional attributions for female faces, consistent with the stereotype

Question 7

Outline and explain self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 7

When stereotypic expectancies lead us to behave in a way that encourages stereotype consistent behaviour in the out-group, thus confirming our expectancies

Question 8

Whats an example of research looking at self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 8

Perceiver condition: subliminally primed with faces of African-Americans or Caucasians in a dot counting task.
Target condition: dot counting task with no subliminal prime
Perceiver and Target pair played a game of catchphrase via microphone, judges rated verbal behaviour on degree of hostility
More hostility in pairs where one of them was primed with African-American faces, prompting stereotype consistent behaviour in target PPs.

Question 9

Is stereotype activation automatic?

Answer 9

Early views stated that stereotypes are learnt in childhood, long history of activation and therefore automatic

Question 10

What is a moderator?

Answer 10

A variable that changes/affects the strength or direction of a relationship between 2 variables

Question 11

What is a mediator?

Answer 11

Causes the relationship between 2 variables

Question 12

What research looks at whether stereotype activation is moderated by prejudice?

Answer 12

Devine’s Dual Process Theory
Automatic Processes: stereotypes are automatically activated regardless of prejudice level, learnt in childhood before personal beliefs/attitudes, stereotypes are automatically activated upon categorisation
Controlled processes: when people have the cognitive resources to control their response, they can inhibit stereotype and instead express personal beliefs

Kawakami, Dion and Dovidio (1998)

Question 13

Outline the methods and findings from Devine’s experiment

Answer 13

Examined whether high/low prejudice people automatically activate stereotypes
Different intensities (80% vs. 20%) of parafoveal priming with labels (e.g. blacks) and stereotypes (poor, athletic) of African Americans
Activation measured in an impression formation task.
Concluded that everyone activates stereotypes regardless of prejudice.

Question 14

Whats a critical evaluation of Devine’s research?

Answer 14

Did the use of derogatory labels, negative stereotypic traits directly activate hostility for all PPs?

Question 15

Outline Kawakami, DIon and Dovidio’s research

Answer 15

Whether high/low prejudice people both automatically activate stereotypes
Stereotype activation inferred from shorter pronunciation latencies to stereotypic traits following the black prime relative to the white prime.
High prejudice PPs automatically activate stereotypes
Low prejudice PPs don’t automatically activate stereotypes

Question 16

Is stereotype activation moderated by goals and motives?

Answer 16

Can motivation to enhance self-worth prompt selective activation and inhibition of stereotypes
If people belong to multiple social groups can we selectively activate stereotypes that suit our purpose and inhibit those that don’t?

Question 17

Outline Sinclair and Kunda’s research

Answer 17

PPs answered Qs on interpersonal skills, positively/negatively evaluated by a black/white doctor
Stereotype activation measured using lexical decision task
PPs who received negative feedback on a task from a black doctor tended to activate traits associated with the racial stereotype but inhibit those associated with the doctor stereotype and vice versa with positive feedback.

Question 18

What do Macrae et al. mean when they say stereotypes are energy saving devices?

Answer 18

Stereotypes preserve cognitive resources, they are relatively economical in terms of cognitive effort

Question 19

What is a dual task paradigm?

Answer 19

Two concurrent tasks are given
If, as suggested stereotyping simplifies performance and reduces unnecessary use of resources then when a stereotyping task is given primarily, then we should be able to see an improvement in performance of the secondary task.

Question 20

In study 1 of Macrae et al. how did they manipulate whether PPs could use stereotypes in the impression formation task?

Answer 20

In the first task, participants formed impressions using trait descriptors where stereotype-based information was either present or absent. They also had to monitor information from a tape concurrently, when the stereotype-based information was present this should have simplified the task and saved resources.

Question 21

Outline the results found in study 1

Answer 21

the interaction between stereotype and trait type showed an effect of stereotype activation for the consistent but not the neutral traits recalled.
If PPs are primed with stereotype labels, they should find it easier to recall stereotype consistent traits.

In the prose-monitoring task, t-tests found that subjects in the stereotypic label condition correctly answered a significantly greater number of test questions.

Question 22

How did study 2 improve on study 1?

Answer 22

Present a priming stimulus that PPs are unaware of, so receive stereotype labels that were outside their conscious awareness

Question 23

Did results of study 2 replicate those of study 1?

Answer 23

Yes, replicated for the prose monitoring task and a mixed model ANOVA showed that the main effect of the stereotype condition was consistent with the hypotheses which is the same as study 1

Question 24

How did study 3 improve on previous 2 studies?

Answer 24

Used a shorter prime duration and a better pattern mask, and also instructed to priorities the impression formation task and devote any additional attention to probe reaction task

Question 25

Which of the 3 studies provides the most convincing evidence?

Answer 25

study 3 as it identified limitations in the previous 2 studies and consequently had more accurate findings.