Prejudice I Flashcards
Definitions of Prejudice
- prejudice
- cognitive
- affective
- conative
Prejudice: “unfavorable attitude towards a social group and its members” (Hogg & Vaughn, 2018)
From “prejudgment”
Prejudice has traditionally been viewed as consisting of three components: (map onto A B C’s of psychology)
Cognitive: beliefs and stereotypes about a social group.
Affective: strong, usually negative feelings about a social group and the qualities it is believed to possess.
Conative: intentions to behave in a certain way towards the social group – not behaviour itself.
Definitions of prejudice:
1- what is not included and why?
2- do all researchers adopt this tripartite view of prejudice?
3- what do other models of prejudice include?
1- Discrimination is not included, because prejudice is not always believed to translate into discriminatory actions (e.g. laws can prevent discrimination).
2- But not all researchers adopt this tripartite view of prejudice.
3- Other models of prejudice include the behavioral component (discriminatory actions toward a social group) as part of prejudice.
1- How do others view stereotyping, prejudice & discrimination?
2- match stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination to the components of attitudes
1- Others view stereotyping, prejudice & discrimination as separate things
– not interchangeable
2
Stereotypes – the cognitive component of attitudes towards a social group, beliefs about what a particular group is like
Prejudice is affective (feeling)
Discrimination is behavioural (action) component of
an attitude
Prejudice as…
Prejudice seen as…
Prejudice as an unfavourable and devaluing orientation toward members of a group because of their belonging to the group.
Prejudice seen as core to intergroup inequalities, intergroup conflict and intergroup violence, exploitation, e.g. dehumanisation and genocide.
Targets of prejudice
Social stratification
- class
- race
- ethnicity
- gender
- religion
- sexual orientation
Theoretically you can have as many forms of prejudice as there are social categories
What are the types of prejudice
- Explicit attitudes
- Implicit attitudes
Explain what explicit attitudes are?
definition, measured, limitation, behavioural manifestations
Explicit attitudes: attitudes that are controllable, overt, reflective and monitorable.
Measured e.g. through self-report measures of attitudes toward a social group.
Limitation: social desirability concerns can lead people to conceal their real attitudes (eg people might hide how they feel)
Behavioural manifestations: (include) Hate crimes, Hate speech, Discriminatory policies and laws, Racial profiling, Police brutality
Explain what implicit attitudes are?
definition, inferred based on, behavioural manifestations
Implicit attitudes: attitudes that are reflexive, outside conscious awareness, uncontrollable and subtle.
They are inferred based on behavioural task performance.
Behavioural manifestations: Implicit hiring discrimination, Implicit glass ceiling at work (women getting promoted), Implicit housing discrimination
Give an example of an implicit measure and explain what it does
Implicit Association Tests (IAT)
Example: participants rapidly categorise a series of African American vs European American faces paired with either positive words (e.g. good) or negative words (e.g. bad). If the African American + bad task is completed faster and with fewer errors than the African American + good task, this indicates more negative implicit attitudes toward African Americans.
(refer to answers in terms of relating to implicit/ explicit level)
1- how is racism measured?
2- how can prejudice be held?
3- how do aversive racists hold racist beliefs
4- explain about aversive racists
1- Racism is measured using both explicit and implicit measures.
2- Prejudice can be held at an implicit but not explicit level.
3- Aversive racists do not hold racist beliefs at the explicit level but hold racist beliefs at the implicit level.
4- Aversive racists support principles of racial equality,
sympathise with victims of racism, and view themselves as non-prejudiced. But they also hold negative feelings and beliefs about Blacks often at an unconscious level, acquired through socialisation and socio-cultural influences.
Explanations of prejudice
- Individual differences
- Intergroup theories
Individual differences
– Authoritarian personality and Right-Wing
Authoritarianism
– Social Dominance Orientation
Intergroup theories
– Realistic Group Conflict Theory
– Intergroup Threats
– Social Identity Theory
Who developed the Authoritarian Personality and Right-Wing Authoritarianism
Theodor Adorno
Bob Altemeyer
The authoritarian personality:
Historical context
Psychoanalytic approach
Historical context: fascism and right-wing ideologies in World War II (Holocaust): how can we explain prejudice and discrimination?
Psychoanalytic approach: The Authoritarian Personality (1950): Theodor Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson & Sanford
Theodor and Frenkel → They were both Jewish and had fled Austria and Germany Nazi oppression
What is the authoritarian personality?
We cannot think of prejudice towards a certain group in isolation of other things. Theres a cluster of attitudes that coalesce together. This is called the authoritarian personality.
What led to the development of the authoritarian personality and what was it characterised by?
Autocratic and punitive parenting practices lead to the development of an authoritarian personality, a syndrome characterised by:
– Ethnocentrism (valuing your group at the expense of other groups)
– Negative attitudes toward Jewish and African
American people and ethnic minorities generally
– Negative attitudes toward democracy
– Cynical and pessimistic view of human nature
– Conservative economic and political attitudes
Child begins to view relationships in terms of authoritarianism, submission ect. and they become to glorify those who are in power and vilify those that are in weak positions.
The authoritarian personality:
Findings
– People who are prejudiced against one ethnic minority tend to be prejudiced toward other minorities (e.g. Blacks, Jews, Catholics)
– Authoritarians hold conservative political economic views and exhibit high levels of generalised ethnocentrism.
The authoritarian personality:
Limitations
- Situational and sociocultural factors have a powerful effect on ethnocentrism.
– Pettigrew (1958): although White US Northerners are less racist than White US Southerners and White South Africans, they have similar authoritarianism scores. A culture of prejudice is therefore sufficient for discrimination to occur.
So we cannot establish different racism that occurs in society only from authoritarian personality
- Ethnocentrism can arise quicker than child rearing practices have time to change: e.g. extreme antisemitism arose quickly in Germany between the two wars
Right wing authoritariansism:
- who devised the RWA scale and what to overcome?
- what are the 3 dimensions the RWA measures?
Bob Altemeyer (1988) devised the RWA scale to overcome previous methodological limitations.
RWA measures three dimensions:
– Authoritarian submission: submission to society’s
established authorities
– Conventionalism: adherence to social conventions adopted by existing authorities
– Punitiveness against deviants: support for aggression toward deviants
- what is RWA
- behaviour associated with high RWA
RWA is an ideological orientation that varies from individual to individual.
For those high in RWA:
– Social conventions are deemed moral
– Acquiring power and authority results from following social conventions
– Questioning power and authority is therefore immoral
- what does RWA correlate with?
- who tend to score high on RWA?
- RWA correlates with prejudice against gay people, immigrants, foreigners, Blacks and Jews.
- Those who are politically conservative tend to score more highly on RWA
