Social Psychological Approaches to Prejudice

Question 1

What is prejudice in social psychology?

Answer 1

A negative attitude or behavior toward an individual based on their membership in an outgroup.

Question 2

What is the most extreme consequence of prejudice?

Answer 2

Persecution, including violence, discrimination, or systemic oppression.

Question 3

What are the five features of prejudice identified by Milner (1981)?

Answer 3

It is an attitude

Based on faulty and inflexible generalisation

It is a preconception

It is rigid and resilient

It is bad (negative)

Question 4

How does Milner (1981) describe the nature of prejudice?

Answer 4

Prejudice is rigid and resilient, making it resistant to change even when contradictory evidence is presented.

Question 5

How does prejudice differ from stereotyping?

Answer 5

Prejudice includes an emotional or evaluative component, whereas stereotypes are cognitive generalizations about groups.

Question 6

What are the two key theories explaining the prejudiced personality?

Answer 6

Authoritarian Personality

Social Dominance Theo

Question 7

: What are the 9 dimensions identified by Adorno et al. (1950) in the authoritarian personality?

Answer 7

Conventionalism

Authoritarian submission

Authoritarian aggression

Anti-intraception

Superstition & stereotypy

Power & toughness

Destructiveness & cynicism

Projectivity

Sex

Question 8

What is the psychodynamic approach to the authoritarian personality, according to Adorno et al. (1950)?

Answer 8

The authoritarian personality develops from early childhood experiences, such as harsh parenting, and results in rigid, prejudiced beliefs.

Question 9

What did Pettigrew (1958) find regarding authoritarianism and prejudice?

Answer 9

Pettigrew (1958) found no significant differences in authoritarianism between regions with high vs. low levels of prejudice.

Question 10

What are the 3 dimensions of authoritarianism identified by Altemeyer (1981, 1998) in the RWA scale?

Answer 10

Conventionalism

Authoritarian submission

Authoritarian aggression

Question 11

What negative traits are associated with high RWA, according to Altemeyer (1981, 1998)?

Answer 11

Faulty reasoning

Double standards

Dogmatism

Hypocrisy

Self-righteousness

Hostility toward outgroups

Aggression and punishment tendencies

Question 12

What is the main premise of Social Dominance Theory (Sidanius & Pratto)?

Answer 12

Social Dominance Theory suggests that all human societies are structured into hierarchies, with groups at the top being more valued than those at the bottom.

Question 13

What are the 3 dimensions of social stratification in Social Dominance Theory?

Answer 13

Age

Gender

Arbitrary Set (e.g., race, religion)

Question 14

What is Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)?

Answer 14

SDO is a scale measuring an individual’s preference for social inequality and group hierarchy, where high SDO correlates with prejudice and support for social stratification.

Question 15

How is SDO associated with personality traits and behaviors?

Answer 15

High SDO is associated with being male, working in jobs that reinforce hierarchies, and holding prejudiced attitudes.

Question 16

What are the key types of racism according to prejudice theories?

Answer 16

Old-fashioned racism

Symbolic racism

Modern racism

Ambivalent racism

Aversive racism

Subtle racism

Question 17

What is old-fashioned racism, according to Sears (1988)?

Answer 17

Old-fashioned racism involves overt hatred and discrimination, such as supporting segregation and believing in racial superiority.

Question 18

What is symbolic racism (Sears & Kinder, 1971; Sears & McConahay, 1973)?

Answer 18

Symbolic racism is the rejection of minority groups based on ideological beliefs, not direct racial prejudice. It has been observed in the USA, South Africa, the UK, and Australia.

Question 19

How does modern racism differ from old-fashioned racism (McConahay, 1982, 1986)?

Answer 19

Modern racism is more subtle, where people reject minorities while justifying their views with pseudo-rational or “empirical” arguments, often not seen as racist by the individuals holding these views.

Question 20

What is ambivalent racism (Katz & Hass, 1988)?

Answer 20

Ambivalent racism is when individuals hold both positive and negative attitudes towards minority groups, rooted in a conflict between humanitarian values (equality and justice) and individualistic values (hard work and achievement).

Question 21

What is the key feature of aversive racism (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1977, 1986)?

Answer 21

Aversive racism involves unintentional, subtle forms of racism where individuals claim to be non-prejudiced but still harbor negative feelings about minorities, often in ambivalent situations.

Question 22

What did Gaertner & Dovidio (1986) find about aversive racists?

Answer 22

Aversive racists sympathize with victims of injustice and support policies promoting equality but possess unconscious negative feelings about minorities.

Question 23

What is subtle prejudice, according to Pettigrew & Meertens (1995) and Meertens & Pettigrew (1997)?

Answer 23

Subtle prejudice is a more covert form of prejudice, characterized by the defense of traditional values, exaggeration of cultural differences, and denial of positive emotions toward outgroups.

Question 24

What were the findings of Meertens & Pettigrew (1997) in their study of prejudice across Europe?

Answer 24

: They found three categories of individuals:

Bigots: High on both blatant and subtle prejudice.

Subtles: High on subtle, low on blatant prejudice.

Equalitarians: Low on both subtle and blatant prejudice.

Question 25

How does prejudice manifest in social attitudes?

Answer 25

Prejudice can be measured through attitudes toward groups, such as racism, sexism, or ageism. These attitudes often manifest in different forms of discrimination, including overt (old-fashioned) and subtle (modern, symbolic, or aversive) types of racism.

Question 26

What are the key differences between personality and attitude-based theories of prejudice?

Answer 26

Personality-based theories focus on individual traits (e.g., authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) that predispose people to prejudice. Attitude-based theories focus on the different forms and expressions of prejudice, such as symbolic racism, modern racism, ambivalent racism, and subtle racism.

Question 27

What are stereotypes in the context of social psychology?

Answer 27

Stereotypes are mental representations or schemas of social groups and their members, organizing information and influencing perception, attention, and memory.

Question 28

How do stereotypes influence memory and recall?

Answer 28

: Stereotypes influence memory by directing recall towards stereotype-consistent information and by creating a strong perseverance effect, where stereotypes persist even in the face of contradictory information.

Question 29

According to Lippmann (1922), how are stereotypes applied to individuals within a group?

Answer 29

Lippmann described stereotypes as applying the same characteristics to all members of a particular group, leading to oversimplifications and generalizations.

Question 30

What is the role of triggering stimuli in prejudice behavior?

Answer 30

Negative stereotypes (e.g., inferior, lazy, stupid) act as triggering stimuli that activate stereotypes, leading to prejudicial behavior, such as unfavorable thoughts and actions towards individuals or groups.

Question 31

What is the traditional view of stereotyping and how is it supported by research?

Answer 31

The traditional view posits that stereotyping is automatic and unintentional. Research, including priming studies (e.g., Devine, 1989), shows that stereotypes can be activated automatically through external cues.

Question 32

What did Dovidio et al. (1986) study regarding stereotype activation?

Answer 32

Dovidio et al. (1986) showed participants the words 'Black' or 'White' as primes, followed by either stereotypical or non-stereotypical characteristics (e.g., musical vs. ambitious). They found that participants responded faster to stereotype-consistent traits.

Question 33

What are the key features of automatic processing in stereotype activation?

Answer 33

: Features of automatic processing include being fast, unintentional, unconscious, and uncontrollable.

Question 34

What is Devine's (1989) dissociation model of stereotype activation?

Answer 34

Devine’s model suggests that all people, regardless of prejudice level, know societal stereotypes (cultural transmission). These stereotypes are automatically activated in everyone, but low-prejudiced individuals inhibit them through conscious processing, while high-prejudiced individuals do not.

Question 35

What does Devine's (1989) dissociation model imply about high and low-prejudiced individuals?

Answer 35

The model implies that high and low-prejudiced people are indistinguishable at the automatic processing level but differ at the conscious level of processing, with low-prejudiced individuals inhibiting negative stereotypes.

Question 36

What factors influence whether stereotype or conscious processing occurs?

Answer 36

Factors include motivational goals (e.g., to think of people in individual terms), cognitive load (e.g., when busy), and contextual factors (e.g., when the context doesn’t require judgment).

Question 37

What does the study by Locke et al. (1997) reveal about high and low-prejudiced individuals?

Answer 37

Locke et al. (1997) found that high-prejudiced individuals automatically activate negative stereotypes, while low-prejudiced individuals do not, indicating differences in both automatic and conscious processing.

Question 38

What is the first step toward stereotyping and prejudice according to SIT/SCT?

Answer 38

According to Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Social Categorization Theory (SCT), categorizing people into ingroups and outgroups is the first step towards stereotyping, intergroup discrimination, and prejudice.

Question 39

How do people perceive others according to SIT/SCT?

Answer 39

People tend to perceive others not as individuals, but as prototypical group members based on ingroup or outgroup status.

Question 40

What are the levels of self-categorization in SIT/SCT?

Answer 40

Superordinate level: Identifying as a human being. Intermediate level: Identifying as a group member. Subordinate level: Identifying as an individual.**

Question 41

What role does social comparison play in prejudice according to SIT/SCT?

Answer 41

Social comparison leads to positive differentiation for ingroups, enhancing self-esteem, and potentially resulting in prejudice towards outgroups to maintain ingroup favorability.

Question 42

How does social identity theory explain prejudice in response to threats?

Answer 42

Prejudice arises when individuals strive for positive intergroup differentiation, especially when social identity is threatened (e.g., a low-status group perceives itself as being devalued).

Question 43

What do Tajfel and Turner (1986) say about responses to social identity threats?

Answer 43

Tajfel and Turner (1986) suggest that individuals respond to threats to social identity by striving for positive differentiation, especially when the ingroup is perceived as being socially inferior or under threat.

Question 44

What is the difference between legitimate and illegitimate social competition?

Answer 44

Legitimate social competition occurs when low-status groups strive for social change through accepted political processes (e.g., civil rights movements), while illegitimate social competition involves striving for change through unconventional means (e.g., civil unrest or riots).

Question 45

How do high-status group members respond to perceived status differences between groups?

Answer 45

High-status group members may either perceive the status difference as legitimate, feeling indifferent or superior, or as illegitimate, resulting in moral outrage or sympathy (Leach et al., 2002).

Question 46

What are the responses of low-status group members to perceived status differences?

Answer 46

Low-status group members may engage in social competition when they perceive status differences as illegitimate, unstable, and with impermeable group boundaries, aiming for social change (Augustinos et al., 2006).