Prejudice

Question 1

Prejudice

Answer 1

Hostile or negative attitude towards an individual because of the individual’s group membership, and has the following components:

1. Affect,
2. Behaviour, and
3. Cognition.

Question 2

Stereotypes

Answer 2

Generalisation about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members, regardless of actual variation among the members. This happens because
1. We maximise our effort by developing accurate attitudes about some while relying on simple beliefs for others, and
2. Information consistent with our beliefs will be attended to and rehearsed.
Positive stereotypes can be harmful because
1. It sets up expectations, and
2. It denies individualities of individuals and their actual capabilities.

Question 3

Racism

Answer 3

1. Old-Fashioned Racism is most explicit, and
2. Modern Racism are implicit assumptions that are negative toward blacks in the absence of explicit attitudes that blacks are inferior.

Question 4

Sexism

Answer 4

1. Hostile Sexism are stereotypical views of women that suggest that they are inferior to men, and
2. Benevolent Sexism involves positive stereotypes of women.

Question 5

Implicit Association Test

Answer 5

Measurement of unconscious prejudices according to the speed with which people can pair a target face with a positive or negative association. However,

1. Cultural Association may be at play, rather than innate bias, and
2. it has Low predictability with overt behaviour.

Question 6

Activation of Stereotypes

Answer 6

Activation of stereotypes can be explained by

1. Dissociation Model, and
2. Suppression of Stereotypes.

Question 7

Dissociation Model

Answer 7

(Devine’s 1989 stereotype dissociation study)

Controlled responses to the group are separate from automatic responses.

Question 8

Suppressing Stereotypes

Answer 8

(Macrae et al’s 1994 skinhead study)

Ironic suppresison happens when we try to intentionally suppress our stereotypes.

Question 9

What causes prejudice?

Answer 9

The following may explain the causes of prejudice:

1. Pressure to Conform
2. Social Identity
3. Social-Cognitive Perspective
4. Economic Perspective
5. Motivational Perspective

Question 10

Pressure to Conform

Answer 10

Can be due to

1. Institutional discrimination
2. Normative conformity
3. Self-justification and reduction of dissonance

Question 11

Social Identity

Answer 11

Social Identity is the part of a person’s self-concept that is based on his/her identification with a social affiliation. Ethnocentrism is the universal belief that our own culture, nation or religion is superior to all others.

Question 12

Social Categorisation

Answer 12

Our innate ability to notice different categories allow experience to shape our grouping of social and non-social targets based on common characteristics which may involve

1. In-Group Bias, and
2. Outgroup Homogeneity

Question 13

In-Group Bias

Answer 13

(Taifel’s 1982 minimal group paradigms)
The tendency to favour members of one’s own group and give them special preference over people who belong to other groups, even if the groups are assigned randomly.

Question 14

Outgroup Homogeneity

Answer 14

The perception that individuals in the out-group are more similar to each other than they really are, more so than members of the in-group, resulting in overextension of a known attribute of an out-group member to all out-group members.

Question 15

Stereotypes Guide our Attention

Answer 15

(Bodenhausen’s 1988 verdict study)

We attend more to information that aligns with the stereotype.

Question 16

Realistic Conflict Theory

Answer 16

(Sherif et al’s 1961 boy scout camp study)
Limited resources lead to conflict between groups and result in increased prejudice and discrimination towards out-group members.

Question 17

Motivation for Prejudice

Answer 17

(Fein & Spencer’s 1997 false feedback study)
Prejudice allows the maintenance of a positive self-concept and self-esteem through
1. Blaming the Victim, and
2. Scapegoating.

Question 18

Blaming the Victim

Answer 18

The tendency to make dispositional attributions to individuals for their victimisation, motivated by just world theory to avoid feelings of vulnerability.

Question 19

Scapegoating

Answer 19

(Rogers & Prentice-Dunn’s 1981 scapegoat study)
The tendency for individuals, when frustrated, to displace aggression onto groups that are disliked, visible and powerless.

Question 20

Consequences of Prejudice

Answer 20

Prejudice may have the following consequences for out-group members:

1. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, and
2. Stereotype Threat

Question 21

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Answer 21

(Word, Zanna & Cooper’s 1974 interview study)
An expectation of the target’s behaviour comes true because of the tendency of the perceiver to act in ways that bring it about, leading to the perceiver viewing the behaviour to be indicative of the target’s abilities rather than their own actions.

Question 22

Stereotype Threat

Answer 22

(Steele & Aronson’s 1995 intelligence study)
Apprehension experienced by members of a group that their behaviour may confirm the existing cultural stereotype, interfering with their ability to perform well. The threat can be heightened by the salience of the prejudice factor, eg. race.

Question 23

How can prejudice be reduced?

Answer 23

Being presented with disconfirming evidence may strengthen stereotypical belief as we self-justify to hold on to our prejudice. Desegregation is important in reducing false impressions about out-groups, based on

1. Contact Hypothesis, and
2. Jigsaw Classroom, an application.

Question 24

Contact Hypothesis

Answer 24

(Sherif et al’s 1961 boy scout camp study)
The follow conditions should be met in order to facilitate friendship and less hostility:
1. Mutual interdependence,
2. Having a common goal,
3. Equality of status,
4. Informality of contact,
5. Multiple contacts to prevent subtyping, and
6. Social or institutional norms of equality.

Question 25

Jigsaw Classroom

Answer 25

(Aronson 1971) Classroom setting designed to reduce prejudice and raise the self-esteem of children by placing them in small, multiethnic groups and making each child dependent on the other children in the group to learn the course material.