Social Psychology - Prejudice Flashcards
Theories - Factors affecting prejudice (12 cards)
What is social categorisation?
The ingroup is the group to which we see ourselves as belonging and the outgroup comprises anyone who is not part of the ingroup.
Social categorisation refers to the separation of individuals into one of these two groups: ingroup or outgroup.
What does Taijfel and Turner (1979) argue about categorisation?
They argue that categorisation is a basic characteristic of human thought and as such we have little control over tis automatic sorting process.
They argue that the mere existence of an outgroup is enough to bring about prejudice and discrimination.
What is social identification?
Social identification involves the individual adopting the beliefs, values and attitudes of the group to which they see themselves belonging. They can also alter their behaviour to fit with the norms of the group.
In addition to the more obvious outward changes in behaviour and appearance, identification includes a shift in a person’s thinking and involves a change to his o her self - concept as a new social identity is formed. Once this process has occurred, social comparison may follow.
What is social comparison?
An individual may boost his/her self esteem through making comparisons between the ingroup and outgroup.
Since the outcomes of these comparisons affect out self esteem, the comparisons may not be objective.
If the ingroup members are seen as better then we too as an ingroup member must also be better. We are then motivated to perceive our ingroup in a positive light and this can be increased further through seeing the outgroup in unfavorable terms.
What is self esteem?
Self esteem is the value attached to your self concept - high self-esteem means you feel good about yourself.
What is the quest for positive distinctiveness in terms of social comparison?
The desire to see the ingroup as different and better. Difference between groups are emphasised and similarities minimised. These cognitive processes many lead to discrimination between ingroup and out group members, meaning not only do we think about outgroup members differently, we also treat them differently.
Evaluate social identity theory. (Strength)
Minimal group experiment - Tajfel (1970) worked with 15 year old Bristol school boys. Ingroups and outgroups were created by telling each boy which other boys had behaved like them or not like them in a previous task. Later the boys were asked to allocate points to the other boys and were told these points would be exchanged for cash. Tajfel found that more points were awarded to ingroup members than outgroup members. Boys even opted to maximise the difference in points awarded to the ingroup compared with the outgroup, even if this reduced the total final sum awarded to the ingroup.
This study shows how social categorisation is sufficient to trigger ingroup favouritism and discrimination against the outgroup.
Evaluate social identity theory (Competing argument to strength)
Although this study appears to support SIT, the task of privately allocating points lacks mundane realism. IN real life, we may be less discriminatory as there may be unpleasant social consequences of such actions. Discrimination is rarely this covert meaning that the study lacks ecological validity.
Evaluate social theory (weakness)
A weakness of SIT is that research evidence suggest that it may only explain intergroup behaviour in Western societies. Margaret Wetherall (1982) conducted a replication of Tajfel’s experiment using eight year old schoolchildren in New Zealand. She found that indigenous Polynesian children were significantly more generous in their allocation of points to outgroup members then their white New Zealand classmates.
This suggest that SIT may be ethnocentric because it fails to predict the behaviour of people form more collective backgrounds. IT may also not apply to people who belong to minority groups
Evaluate social identity theory (Application)
SIT provided testable suggestions about how prejudice can be reduced through efforts to increase self-esteem.
Steven Fein and Steven Spencer (1997) gave students a sense of high or low self-esteem (using false feedback on an intelligence test). Students who now had low self-esteem later rated Jewish applicants for a job less favorably than an Italian candidate but this was not true of those with self-esteem. In a second study, self-esteem was increased by asking the students to write about something they valued. This has the effect of reducing anti-Jewish prejudice.
This suggests that prejudice in society could be decreased by implementing policies which target low self-esteem.
Evaluate social identity theory (issues an debates)
The debate around the development of psychological knowledge over time is relevant to our understanding of SIT.
Researchers have studied brain activity whilst showing people pictures of outgroups in society, such as people who are homeless. Emotional centres in the brain, such as the insula (involve in the disgust response) seem to be more active when viewing outgroup members compared with other control images (Harris and Fiske 2006). Jay Van Bavel an colleagues (2008) took tis a step further. They replicated Tajfel’s minimal gender experiment and then used fMRI to monitor brain activity whilst viewing images of in- and outgroup members, finding that the orbitofrontal cortex was more active when viewing ingroup members that outgroup members.
This study reveals that our perception of in- and outgroup member is mediated by an assortment of differing brain regions. The studies show how social, cognitive and biological topics can combine to develop psychological knowledge over time.
Evaluate social identity theory (balanced conclusion)
The idea that prejudice stems from social identity and levels of self-esteem is useful in explaining group processes such as in- and outgroup behaviour. SIT also offers useful implications for reducing prejudice, or example by increasing self-esteem. However support for SIT is undermined by the fact that the minimal group experiments have low mundane realism.
