9 - Stereotypes

Question 1

stereotype

Answer 1

A stereotype is a cognitive representation of a social group that come to be as a result of the association of particular knowledge, affect, and behavior of that group

can be positive or negative

can be accurate or inaccurate

• Categorization allows us to make quick and more efficient decisions
• Helps us process information

Question 2

how do we acquire stereotypes?

Answer 2

SALIENCE

• Salience
o Crocker and McGraw (1984): Minority figures in a group of majority members are seen to have exaggerated qualities. Salience makes us see the salient stimulus as more responsible for causing actions of a group

• Illusory correlation
o When two rare things happen concurrently, we assume they co-occur more frequently than they actually do

• Hamilton and Gifford (1976): The minority group’s fewer, yet proportional (to a majority group’s) undesirable traits stood out and the group was seen as generally more undesirable….. more negative things attributed to them

Question 3

automatic vs controlled processes

Devine’s studies

Answer 3

patricia deivne

Stereotypes are cognitive representations,
networks of knowledge and affect

When this knowledge activated is it
necessarily applied?
• Can it be controlled?

Study 1:

black stereotypes and attitude formation

When stereotype is activated,
stereotypic associations are easily formed
• We interpret ambiguous things as
stereotype-consistent

Study 2: When stereotype is activated and
we express our opinions in explicit ways,
**control processes influence our responses
to make them consistent with our beliefs **

Question 4

studies on control/effects of steoertypes

Answer 4

o Macrae et al. (1994): When participants who suppressed the stereotypes, they sat further from stereotyped individual than those who were not instructed to suppress the stereotypes

sat further away from skinhead if they were instructed to suppress steroetype

o Bargf, Chen, and Burrows (1996)
• When primed with stereotypes, participants’ behavior was affected without their awareness to reflect the stereotypical behaviours

Question 5

stereotype threat

Answer 5

The fear/anxiety of a stigmatized group that their behavior might confirms that stereotype

• Steele and Aronson (1995)
 When primed with race, blacks performed much worse than whites on GRE tests and worse than other blacks not primed with race. The same results showed when participants were told the tests were diagnostic of ability

reducing it:

provide role models, ask for race after (structural level)

reinforcing self-esteem (individual)

Question 6

stereotype lift

Answer 6

When there’s a negative stereotype about an outgroup, ingroup performance increases due to social comparison

yet minorities don’t exhibit upward comparison, therefore don’t have lower self-esteem

o Crocker and Major (1989): Attributional ambiguity – Minority groups attribute negative feedback to prejudice rather than ability; people can compare the outcomes of their performance to other ingroup members and raise/lower the importance of certain group traits

o Crocker, Voelkl, Testa, and Major (1991)
• When blacks believed they were seen by whites and received positive feedback (to initiate friendship), they discounted it and felt worse (perhaps felt observer was compensating), and when they weren’t seen, they felt the feedback was real and felt better about selves

Question 7

Reducing prejudice

Answer 7

contact hypothesis - Robber’s cave- when people are able to interact with equal status in common goals, acquintance potential, support of supervising authorities

jigsaw classroom/superordinate goals - bigger goals

limits on effectiveness (subtyping) - admitting exceptions