Stereotypes Flashcards
(8 cards)
Stereotypes
A belief about the personal attributes of a group of people; sometimes overgeneralized, inaccurate, and resistant to new information
Where do they come from?
Simply put, we learn stereotypes from parents (our first and most influential teachers), significant others (e.g., peers), and the media
How do we apply them?
Stereotypes are cognitive tools for simplifying everyday life
Social Categorization- The classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes
Ingroups- Groups in which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging, or identity “us”
Outgroups- Groups with which an individual does not feel sense of membership, belonging, or identity “them”
How do they influence basis?
Greenberg Studies/Shooter bias/…
Minimal group paradigm-Tajfel (1982)
In 1971, Henri Tajfel conducted experiments to find out what the minimal conditions were for intergroup bias. In order to conduct proper experiments, he followed several criteria:
No face-to-face interaction between subjects (in- or out-group)
No subjects could know to which group other subjects belonged
The responses of the subjects that would demonstrate bias could not in any way be justified by the group membership inclusion criteria
The responses of the subject should not benefit them in any utilitarian way
A strategy of intergroup differentiation should be in competition with a more utilitarian or rational strategy that benefits the in-group in absolute terms
The response should be made important and real to the subject
Two experiments were conducted. The first of which consisted of 64 male subjects aged 14 to 15 who estimated the number of dots projected on a screen. They were divided into four groups, under two different experimental conditions. In the “neutral” condition, subjects were told that some overestimate and others underestimate, but this did not reflect accuracy. In the “value” condition, the subjects were told that some people are more accurate than others.
The subjects were then randomly assigned to one of the four groups (over estimators, under estimators, accurate, inaccurate) regardless of their actual performance (which was irrelevant for this experiment). Now each subject had the opportunity to give cash awards to different subjects based on group membership. Did group membership matter?
In the second experiment, 48 of the same boys were divided into three groups this time. They were shown slides of reproductions of paintings by two artists, Klee and Kandinsky, with slides identified by number and painting by a letter. They were asked which ones they preferred, although the artist remained anonymous to them. Again, each of the groups were randomly assigned to either the “Klee” or the “Kandinsky” group, and the subjects were presented with matrices where they could assign monetary rewards to their own group and the other group.
Ingroup bias
We respond more favorably to people in our groups; In the first experiment, the different conditions resulted in no significant differences in the results. All the groups shown significant favoritism for their in-group, and there was striking evidence for discriminatory in-group behavior. Similarly, experiment #2 resulted in significant in-group favoritism.
Outgroup Homogeneity
The tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of out groups than among members of in groups
Stereotype Threat (Supplemental Reading)
a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their social group; Ex: White student taking class on African American History
