Lecture 3: Bias and Discrimination Flashcards
(21 cards)
What does prejudice mean?
An adverse opinion formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge has been acquired.
What is a stereotype?
A standardised mental picture that is held in common by members of a group, that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude or uncritical judgement.
What is the primacy effect?
We put more weight on the first information about another person which we receive.
What is the halo effect?
- A persons appearance is often the first info about them which we receive.
- The halo effect states we assume that physically attractive people are good (more skilled and morally superior) (Dion, Berscheid, Walster 1972)
- Taller men receive higher starting salaries than shorter men (Knapp 1978)
What is a social schema?
- “The filing cabinet of the mind”
- A set of inter-related cognitions which allow us to quickly make sense of a person based of limited information.
- They allow us to function in a complex world, but are resistant to change.
What are some different types of schema?
- Some schemas relate to oneself (scripts), like actual self or ideal self
- Some relate to other people, person schemas ore role schemas (lecturer)
What are the key concepts of stereotypes?
- If our person or orle schema is based on widely held assumptions, due to their group identity, we are using a stereotype.
- They can be true or false.
- Human’s struggle to process information which contrasts which stereotypes. eg: the shy celebrity or intelligent boxer (Haire & Grune, 1950)
What are some effects of prejudice?
- Develops a social stigma and can cause devaluation of social identity
- Justifies unjust power systems
- It can be visible or hidden, there is more prejudice against the controllable.
- Demonstrates Tajfels minimal group studies as we seek to maximise intergroup difference.
What is stereotype threat?
Stereotypes can be perpetuated and this causes anxiety making the individual perform worse.
Stone et al 1999 golf study
- Stone used black and white participants
- Tested sporting intelligence and natural athletic ability
- Black pp will likely perform worse on the sporting intelligence section as they are anxious due to the negative stereotypes, but better on the natural athletic ability as there is no negative stereotype so no anxiety.
Outline the student example of the snowball effect.
- Psychologists went to a school and chose children a random they thought would do well.
- Teachers changed their behaviour towards these students, they started to enjoy class more meaning the teachers liked them more (back and fourth)
- These students were found to have performed better in the end of the year even though this was started with a false stereotype.
What is attributional ambiguity?
Suspicion and mistrust in relationships
What is an issue which may be caused by reverse/positive discrimination?
Tokenism - people may feel they have only been hired because they are a women not because of their talent, and could be undermined because of it.
What are some possible explanations for prejudice?
- An inherent fear of the unfamiliar (evolutionary)
- Learned. Barrat and Short: 5-10 yo preferred Spanish to Germans (classic stereotype)
- Evolved fear of other groups
- Parental prejudice passed on through modelling, operant or classical conditioning.
What is the authoritarian personality?
- Proposed by Adorno et al in 1950
- Arose from consideration of the Holocaust, and proposed that harsh parenting leads to ambivalence towards parents.
- Leads to: Excessive respect for authority, obsession with status, displaces anger onto weaker others, intolerance for uncertainty, difficulties with intimacy.
- Has lots of research but mixed evidence.
Critiques of the Authoritarian Personality.
- Pettigrew: Found white south Africans and Northern US citizens were similar for personality but different in terms of racism
- There are numerous examples of rapid changes in attitude to outgroups: antisemitism in Germany, racist attitudes against Japanese Americans following pearl harbour.
What is social dominance theory?
- Social dominance orientation = acceptance of myths which justify unequal status quo
- People at the top defend the status quo to maintain privileged status
- System justification theory: Defence of the status quo as to avoid avoid uncertainty
Sexism as a social construction
- Simone de Beauvior- the second sex 1949
- Defined ‘femininity’ as a social construct designed by men
- Women are the second sex - defined in relation to men due to male power
- Female norms include lack of education and dependency on men.
- Femininity was culturally defined by men so that women become a foil before which men appeared active, capable, necessary and strong.
What is optimal distinctiveness?
Seeking to be distinct and superior to outgroups to boost self-esteem. Positive reflection needed on the ingroup
What is structural misogyny?
Established norms of male empowerment and female marginalisation to maintain male control of society and the norms of female identity.
Healthcare statistics of racism
- Black children were less likely to be classified as requiring emergency care (US department of Health and Human services)
- Black people aged 51-55 were more likely to suffer from chronic disease that white people of the same age
- Black mothers have increased likelihood of complications and mortality during pregnancy (Howell, 2019)
