Chapter 6:

Stereotypes, prejudice and

discrimination
Is it easy for people to dislike others?
Blue eyes versus brown eyes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqp6GnYqIjQ


We have all experienced some form of stereotyping, prejudice or
discrimination
Skin color (race/ethnicity)
Gender
Disabilities
Marital status
Perceptions of inequality
We think in terms of in-group versus out-group
Those that are like us and those that are not like us
We always want to be not on the bottom

We are risk averse (prospect theory).
Losses feel worse than gains feel good

Our understanding of society depends on framing of the relative wins and
losses by groups
White people are losing ground
versus
Blacks are gaining
Perceptions of inequality
When message framed as minority
gains, no differences between
whites and non-whites.

When message framed as White
losses, Whites perceived more
progress towards equality than non-
Whites.

When messages framed as White
losses and minority gains, Whites
perceived much progress towards
equality, whereas non-Whites
indicated the least progress.
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4.7
5.45
4.64
5.69
4.39
WHITES NON-WHITES
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Minority gains
White losses
Minority gains and white losses
Stereotyping
Important vocabulary:

Stereotypes: Cognitive component
Beliefs about what group members are like

Prejudice: Affect component
Feelings about certain groups

Discrimination: Behavioral component
Differential treatment of people based on group membership

Thought question: Is discrimination always conscious? Is it always done in an
exclusionary or hostile way?
Stereotypes include:
Traits
Physical appearance
Abilities
Behavior
Can either be positive or
negative
Can either be accurate or
inaccurate

Ideas about stereotypes can lead
to differential access to powerful
positions
Glass Ceiling
Glass Ceiling: A barrier that prevents a person of a minority group to
advance to top positions.
e.g., Think manager think male.

Minority individuals who reach leadership positions
Tend to have lower evaluations of work performance
Experience more discrimination at work (and for women, sexual harassment).

Violation of expectations
Glass Cliff
Glass Cliff: Admittance of minority individuals to a position of power
When crisis occurs
Position is precarious
There is greater risk of failure

Research has also found that such individuals
are more likely to get fired.
Seeing a few instances of successful minority group individuals leads to the
belief that less change is needed
Tokenism
Distorts perceptions that conditions are equal
Performance suffers, when people know they were selected for their token status
and not for their skills.

Speaking out against stereotypes and discriminations
If as a member of minority group:
Viewed negatively, regardless of whether complaining was justified
Viewed positively if taking personal responsibility
How do we judge people from different
groups?

Shifting standards
Subjective scales
Objective scales

We have different standards depending
on peoples group membership
Use different reference groups to judge
performance
same rating does not mean equal
rating

Stereotypes: Schema, used for organizing, interpreting and recalling
information
Stereotypes are schemas for groups of people
Outgroup homogeneity effect

Not all stereotypes are recognized
Single versus married

We may also encounter exceptions to the rule
Subtyping
Protects the stereotype

Stereotypes may change when the relationship between groups change
More on this later

Prejudice:
Feelings towards social groups
Negative feelings people have towards groups
In the presence of a group member
Thinking of a group member

Believing that groups have underlying essences (perhaps biological)
Justification for differential treatment

Different types of emotions leads to
different types of reactions
Reducing negative emotions =
reducing discrimination
Three perspective on why prejudice exists:

1. Prejudice happens in response to





Strength of identification with group membership matters (The Rocky example)
When made to think of a joint identity (e.g., Americans), threat and thus
prejudice is reduced.

Threat to
self-esteem
Derogation and
sabotage
of target group
Maintenance of
group position and
self-esteem restored
2. Competition for resources
Zero-sum outcomes
Realistic conflict theory Robbers Cave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QGNxRGgBwM


3. Social categorization
Us versus Them
Social identity theory
We want to feel good about the group we belong to
Not all stereotypes are conscious
Implicit associations: links between
group membership and evaluative
responses.

Study in which participants were
flashed images:
Black or White person
Gun or no gun

Participants reacted quicker to
seeing Black and gun, or White and
no gun
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No Gun Gun
Discrimination: Prejudice in Action
Modern Racism: Subtle beliefs and feeling
Minorities seek more benefits than they deserve
Discrimination does not affect minorities

May be measured using tasks that get at implicit associations
Bonafide Pipeline:
Quicker responding when seeing White and positive words
Quicker responding when seeing Black and negative words
But does it really measure prejudice?
People want to maintain a self-image of being good.
Social comparison to extreme cases of prejudiced people (e.g., Ku Klux Klan).
Collective guilt
Moral disengagement
Motivated forgetting


Ways to Reduce Prejudice and
Discrimination
Social learning theory says we that we pick up attitudes through significant
people in our lives.
Must strongly identify with these significant others

5 ways of reducing prejudice
1. Contact hypothesis
2. Re-categorization
3. Guilt
4. Just say No
5. Social Influence
Contact Hypothesis
Increased contact allows for the recognition of similarities
Direct contact as well as indirect (knowing that someone else knows a person of
the other group) lessens prejudice

Re-categorization
Shifting the boundaries of Us and Them
Common ingroup identity model

Guilt
Collective guilt, even if oneself has not behaved in a prejudiced manner
Framing
White advantage versus Black disadvantage
Viewing ones ingroup as the beneficiary may lessen prejudice

Just say No
Training people to break stereotype
associations (e.g., Black and
negative).
Can also teach to make external
attributions

Social influence
When receiving information that others
see the minority group positively, people
change their attitudes to be more
positive.
When receiving information that others
see the minority group negatively,
people change their attitudes to be
more negative.



Jigsaw Classroom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p1AE3Z3j5I






Questions?