Chapter 14: Attitudes, Prejudice And Discrimination

Question 0

To whom is Prejudice directed to?

Answer 0

• Identifiable group
• Identifiable member of a group
• NOT an isolated individual

Question 1

What is prejudice?

Answer 1

An unfavourable or negative attitude towards a group of people based on insufficient or incorrect information

Question 2

What is discrimination?

Answer 2

The action that expresses the attitude of prejudice

Question 3

Prejudicial behaviour is:

Answer 3

• Antisocial behaviour causing stress and tension between groups
• Causes harm to the victims

Question 4

Moderation and prevention of prejudicial behaviour can be achieved by:

Answer 4

Understanding why people are prejudiced and the formation

Question 5

Why is prejudice and discrimination different?

Answer 5

• Prejudice is a feeling whereas attitude is an action
• E.g La Pierre’s study (1934) Many restaurant owners were prejudiced against Chinese people but very few showed discrimination by refusing them service

Question 6

What is the cognitive component of Prejudice?

Answer 6

• Categorisation of people
• Beliefs about the people
  -Stereotyping
  Eg. Negative beliefs about elderly people

Question 7

What is the affective component of Prejudice?

Answer 7

• Feelings that are friendly or hostile towards group of people
• Eg. A strong feeling of dislike towards the elderly

Question 8

The behavioural component of Prejudice is:

Answer 8

Discrimination- the behaviour towards a group of people

Eg. Discriminating against elderly person

Question 9

Types of Prejudice:

Answer 9

• Sexism (gender)
• Racism (race)
• Ageism (Age)
• Homophobia (Sexual preference)
• Disability ( Physical/ intellectual ability)

Question 10

Examples of Discrimination:

Answer 10

• Reluctance to help
• Tokenism
• Reverse discrimination

Question 11

What is RELUCTANCE TO HELP?

Answer 11

• Reluctance to help other groups to improve their position in society by passively or actively declining to assist their efforts
• Eg. Inadequate facilities for physically disabled employees in a workplace

Question 12

What is TOKENISM?

Answer 12

• Publicly giving trivial assistance to a minority group on order to avoid accusations of prejudice and discrimination
• Eg. Employing one woman in mainly a male organisation

Question 13

What is REVERSE DISCRIMINATION?

Answer 13

• Publicly being prejudiced IN FAVOUR of a minority group in order to deflect accusation of prejudice and discrimination
• Eg. Making a company policy to employ a percentage of minority group members where they are singled out and treated differently

Question 14

The Effects of prejudice and discrimination is:

Answer 14

• Low self-esteem caused by insults, denial of equality, violence
• Disadvantage/failure caused by denial of resources necessary for success
• Self-fulfilling prophecies where original expectations of people are met by the person by changing their interaction with group members and modifying behaviour
• Violence and genocide

Question 15

How is prejudice formed and maintained?

Answer 15

• Through Learning
• Competition
• Psychological processes:
• Intergroup conflict
• Threat to social identity
• Social and cultural grouping
• Stigmatising
• Stereotyping
• Scapegoating

Question 16

Learning in the formation of prejudice is through:

Answer 16

• Operant conditioning
• Observational learning
• Parents and Peers
• Media

Question 17

What is the COMPETITION component in forming prejudice?

Answer 17

• Competition occurs between social groups when there is scarce resources
• Competitive environment= development of prejudice towards rivals
• eg. Immigrants experience prejudice from people already living in country due to competition for jobs, higher economic status etc.

Question 18

What is the INTERGROUP CONFLICT component in forming prejudice? When does it occur?

Answer 18

• With the existence of groups: In group and out group
• Competition between groups for scarce resources
• Eg. Certain ethnic group perceive themselves as being in the in-group because they think they possess superior intellectual/physical qualities to other ethnic groups (out group)

Question 19

What is the THREATENING OF SOCIAL IDENTITY component in forming prejudice?

Answer 19

• People categorise themselves into a group and gain individual identity by belonging to the group
• Group membership= enhanced self-esteem
• Prejudice forms when you need to protect your self-esteem because it is being ‘attacked’
• Eg. Bullying members of the out group

Question 20

What is social categorisation?

Answer 20

• Classification of people into groups based on characteristics that we perceive them to have in common
• Organising information about them Eg. Use of labels
• Social Categories= Stereotypes
• Assuming all members of the group are the same

Question 21

Stereotypes are based on:

Answer 21

• appearance
• gender
• ethnicity
• race
• physical ability
• disability & age
• culture and so forth

Question 22

What is a stereotype?

Answer 22

A simplified and generalised belief about a group of people

Question 23

What are the functions of stereotypes?

Answer 23

• Help organise knowledge of people quickly but result but are difficult to change

Question 24

Stereotypes are:

Answer 24

- Highly subjective: The person only sees what they want to see/expected to see - Perpetuated through Bias: positive aspects of group members explained for reasons over the good qualities of minority groups

Question 25

What is stigmatising?

Answer 25

- When a group of individuals are perceived by others to possess qualities that are undesirable and are therefore rejected/ignored - Eg. Homeless people - Stigma= Negative label for members of group who possess set of qualities that society deem undesirable

Question 26

What is scapegoating?

Answer 26

- Frustration-aggression theory where scapegoats are formed due to prevailing social circumstances (unemployment, $ depression) - SCAPE GOAT= usually minority out-group who are blamed and physically verbally abused

Question 27

How can prejudice be prevented or reduced?

Answer 27

- Education - Intergroup contact - Cognitive interventions - Superordinate goals &Direct experience

Question 28

What is the EDUCATION component in reducing prejudice?

Answer 28

Consequences of prejudice and what makes up discrimination is taught through education programs

Question 29

What is the INTERGROUP CONTACT component in reducing prejudice?

Answer 29

- Direct contact between groups who have prejudicial attitudes towards one another with the aid of - SUSTAINED CONTACT (interpersonal interactions) - MUTUAL INDEPENDENCE (cooperative activities), & EQUAL STATUS between groups - Social norms favouring reduction of prejudice

Question 30

What is the COGNITIVE INTERVENTION component in reducing prejudice?

Answer 30

Using cognition to reduce stereotypes | Eg providing information to individuals to reduce irrelevant information about groups of people

Question 31

What is the SUPERORDINATE GOALS component in reducing prejudice?

Answer 31

- Working towards a common goal that can facilitate knowledge and understanding between groups - It must be shared and have both group's contribution

Question 32

What is the DIRECT EXPERIENCE component in reducing prejudice?

Answer 32

Experiencing another culture or lifestyle in or out of your country to gain better knowledge and understanding thus reduce ignorance towards a group