Prejudice Chapter 1 definitions Flashcards
appraisal
a set of cognitions that are attached to a specific emotion
ex. the emotion of fear might be elicited when one perceives that a situation or individual is out of one’s control or unpleasant and blocks one from attaining one’s goals. such as staying alive, staying healthy.
attitude
a general evaluation of some object
ex. you like tennis but hate soccer
basic (primitive) categories
categories in which people are grouped automatically upon perception. i.e. race, gender and age
cultural stereotype
consensually or widely shared beliefs about a group
discrimination
negative behavior toward someone based on their membership in a group
individual stereotype
the beliefs held b an individual about the characteristics of a group
ingroup
a group which one affiliates themselves
minimal group
groups formed on arbitrary or random criteria
ex. randomly assigning people to group a or b
motivation
the impetus to do something bbehavior or avoid doing some behavior, and to keep doing it, in order to meet one’s goals
outgroup
a group with which one does not affiliate themself.
prejudice
a biased evaluation of a group, based on real or imagined characteristics of the group members.
ex. you might be prejudice in favor of your favorite football team when it is playing another team
realistic-conflict theory
states that prejudice and stereotyping arise from the competition between groups for scarce, valued resources
e.g. jobs, food, land
schema
cognitive methods of organizing information
ex. a schema of a librarian- you think she works with books, is old, is there to help you locate books and other informaitin within the library,
stereotype
a set of beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people. believing that certain characteristics are associated with other groups.
subtyping
a new category is created to accomodate stereotype-inconsistent members og a group about which one holds negative stereotypes.
Lippman’s definition of stereotype
tendency of people to thin of someone or something in similar terms
social cognitive definition of stereotype
an automatic process of human thinking. type of schema. beliefs and characteristics leading to attitudes and attributes
cognitive consistency(cognitive dissonance)
thought’s don’t match up, so we do something about those thoughts. consistency between thinking and behaving.
ex. a smoker who knows that smoking is bad for their health. but instead of quitting, they change their attitude about smoking instead.
attribution theory
focuses on declarative statements about others. “prejudice and a lot of stereotypes”
ex. white devil
fundamental attribution theory
interpreting a person’s act by underestimating their situation and to overestimate that person’s overall disposition
ex. kristin and snowball
categorization
organization strategy of the brain
binary- either/or
cognitive miser
people embrace efficiency rather than accuracy. brain is cognitive miser motivation to conserve energy, speedy processing, vs. accurate processing
motivation
how we perceive changes depending upon our goals. Motivation can bias how they person perceives any individual depending on the perveiveer’s salient needs, values or goals at that given time.
