Prejudice 1

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Discussion Question

• In the past week, have you had an interaction

with others in which you wondered whether
they were viewing you a certain way because
of a stereotype of some sort?
 Learning Objectives

• What are the three components of prejudice?

• How can we measure prejudices that people don’t want to

reveal—or that they don’t know they hold?

• What are some ways that prejudice harms its targets?

• What are three aspects of social life that can

cause prejudice?

• What are the six conditions that can reduce prejudice?

13.1 What are the three components of prejudice?

DEFINING PREJUDICE
 Prejudice - Australia
• Between 10% and 30% of Aboriginal and half-
caste children were forcibly removed from
their homes and relocated in settlement
camps between 1910 and 1970 (Australian
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission, 1997)
 Victim
• “They put us in the police ute [car] and said they were taking
us to Broome [a city in Western Australia]. They put the mums
in there as well. But when we’d gone about ten
miles they stopped, and threw the mothers out of the car. We
jumped on our mothers’ backs, crying, trying not to be left
behind. But the policeman pulled us off and threw us back in
the car. They pushed the mothers away and drove off, while
our mothers were chasing the car, running and crying after us.
We were screaming in the back of that car.”
 Why?
• “Children are removed from the evil influence
of the aboriginal camp with its lack of
moral training and its risk of serious organic
infectious disease. They are properly fed,
clothed and educated as white children, they
are subjected to constant medical supervision
and in receipt of domestic and vocational
training”
Common targets - homosexuals
Prejudice—A Ubiquitous Social Phenomenon (1 of
2)

• Prejudice

– A hostile or negative attitude toward people in a

distinguishable group based solely on their
membership in that group

• Any group can be a target of prejudice.

• Prejudice toward a particular race is called

 Racism
• Today
– aversive racism (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986).
– simultaneously hold egalitarian values and
negative (aversive or unpleasant) feelings toward
minorities
Prejudice—A Ubiquitous Social Phenomenon (2 of
2)

• Can be discriminated against based on:

– Nationality
– Racial and ethnic identity
– Gender
– Sexual orientation
– Religion
– Appearance
– Physical state
– Weight
 Three Components of Prejudice

• Cognitive: Stereotypes

• Affective: Emotions

• Behavioral: Discrimination
 The Cognitive Component:
Stereotypes (1 of 5)
• Stereotype

– A generalization about a group of people

– Certain traits are assigned to virtually all members

of the group, regardless of actual variation among
the members.

• Make sense of our social world by grouping

people together
 The Cognitive Component:
Stereotypes (2 of 5)
• From categories to stereotypes
– “the little pictures we carry around inside our
heads”
• Social categorization
– process of sorting people into groups on the basis
of characteristics they have in common
 The Cognitive Component:
Stereotypes (2 of 5)
• Example (false) stereotype - Obesity
– less conscientious, less agreeable, less emotionally
stable, and less extraverted (Roehling, Roehling, &
Odland, 2008).
– cocaine user, (Tiggemann & Rothblum, 1988)

–
 The Cognitive Component: Stereotypes (3 of 5)

What is this woman’s occupation? Most Western non-Muslims hold the stereotype that Muslim women who wear the full-length
black niqab must be repressed sexually as well as politically. But Wedad Lootah, a Muslim living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is
a marriage counselor and sexual activist, and the author of a best-selling Arabic sex manual.
Source: Bryan Denton/Corbis

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 The Cognitive Component:
Stereotypes (4 of 5)
• Stereotyping:
– a cognitive process

– technique we use to simplify our world

• “Cognitive misers” take shortcuts and adopt rules of
thumb to understand people

– Better memory for information consistent with stereotypes

 The Cognitive Component:
Stereotypes (5 of 5)
• Stereotypes

– Adaptive: when accurately identifies attributes of

a group well

– Maladaptive: blinds us to individual differences

 Sub-types
• Hard to change because people “sub-type”
– E.g., you hold a “warm and nurturing woman”
stereotype
– err Katie Hopkins?
– “Ahh exception fits in the “Career women”
subtype”
 What’s Wrong with Positive
Stereotypes? (1 of 2)
• Stereotypes can be positive of course (fat +
Jolly) or negative (fat + Lazy).

• Example

• What’s wrong with the implication that black

men can jump?

– “Mark Flick” study (Stone et al., 1997)

 What’s Wrong with Positive
Stereotypes? (2 of 2)
• Denies individuality of person

– Ignore the fact that plenty of African American

kids are not adept at basketball and plenty of
white kids are

• If we meet a young African American man and

feel astonished at his ineptitude on the
basketball court, we are denying him his
individuality.
 Stereotypes of Gender (1 of 2)

• Traditional stereotypes
– Women
• More socially sensitive, friendlier, and more concerned
with the welfare of others

– Men
• More dominant, controlling, and independent
 Stereotypes of Gender (2 of 2)

• Hostile sexism
– Stereotypical views of women that suggest that
women are inferior to men
• E.g., that they are less intelligent, less competent, and so on.
Item “Women are too easily offended”

• Benevolent sexism
– Stereotypical, positive views of women
• “Many women have a quality of purity that few men
possess”
 Cartoon: Who’s the Boss?
“No, this is not Mel’s secretary. This is Mel.”

Source: Bacall Aaron/CartoonStock

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Hurricane Mark versus Hurricane Maxine

Gender stereotypes are so influential that people even tend to take less seriously the risks posed
by hurricanes given female names.
Source: Jeff Schmaltz/NASA Images

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Are Stereotypes Always Wrong, Mostly
Wrong, or Mostly Right?
• Stereotypes are often overgeneralizations of a
truth.
– Heuristics/shortcuts conserve mental effort and
time
– heuristics survive because they often produce the
right answer
– So, some stereotypes have some element of
accuracy?
 Are Stereotypes Always Wrong, Mostly
Wrong, or Mostly Right?
• Stereotypes are often overgeneralizations of a
truth.
– For example: Men are taller than women. This
stereotype is true most of the time, but there are
situations where this is not true.
• Janet Swim (1994)
– Gender stereotypes
– Participants indicated on what traits men and women
differed, and how big they thought the difference was
– They were mostly accurate for both what and how
big!
Swim, J. K. (1994). Perceived versus meta-analytic effect sizes: An assessment of the accuracy of
gender stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(1), 21.
Are Stereotypes Always Wrong, Mostly
Wrong, or Mostly Right?
• Stereotypes are often overgeneralizations of a
truth.
– Jussim and colleagues
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jussim/papers.html
– Racial and ethnic stereotypes were accurate
within 20%.
– Political and national stereotypes are not
accurate.
– There is an essay question related to
 Accuracy in modern stereotypes
• Accuracy in modern stereotypes suggests
stereotypes have changed since they were first
studied.
• When we meet a person, we rely mostly on
information we gather about them, not on
stereotypes.
• Accuracy depends on:
– If the stereotype is a heuristic, then generally, most
are accurate.
– If the stereotype is held in order to booster self-
esteem, then most are inaccurate.
 The Affective Component: Emotions

• Negative emotions about groups are often

ingrained.

• This makes such attitudes difficult to dispel.

 The Behavioral Component:
Discrimination

• Discrimination

– An unjustified negative or harmful action toward

the members of a group simply because of their
membership in that group
 Racial Discrimination (1 of 2)

• Example: Blacks and whites not treated

equally in the “war against drugs”
– African Americans disproportionately arrested,
convicted, and incarcerated for drug charges
• Microaggressions
– “slights,” indignities, and put-downs
– Example: White professor compliments Asian
student for his “excellent English”
 Racial Discrimination (2 of 2)

• Social Distance
– A person’s reluctance to get “too close” to
another group

– Unwilling to work with, marry, or live next to

members of a particular group

– Example: Straight student not wanting to sit next

to
gay student
 Gender Discrimination

• Occupations segregated by gender

– People form stereotypes about the requirements
of such careers
• “Female” jobs: require kindness and nurturance

• “Male” jobs: require strength and smarts

• As gender ratios in occupations change, so do

prejudice and discrimination
The Activation of Prejudice (1 of 2)

• Behave more aggressively toward stereotyped

target when:

– Stressed

– Angry

– Suffered blow to self-esteem

– Not in control of conscious intentions

The Activation of Prejudice (2 of 2)

• Prejudices lurk just beneath the surface

• Once activated, it affects how we perceive and
treat out-group members
 Implicit Bias and the Activation of Prejudice
The fatal shootings of Trayvon Martin (left) in Florida in 2012 and Michael Brown (right) in Missouri in 2014
continued a tragic pattern of unarmed African American males being killed because their shooters claimed to
have perceived them as dangerous. Research on implicit bias and the activation of prejudice is relevant to the
effort to understand and prevent such tragedies.

Source: (Right) Splash News/Corbis; (Left) BRIAN BLANCO/EPA/Newscom

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Figure 13.1
Errors Made in “Shooting” People in a Video Game

Participants played a video game in which they were supposed to “shoot” a man if he was holding a gun
and withhold fire if he was holding a harmless object, such as a cell phone. As the graph shows, players’
most common error was to “shoot” an unarmed black man, like the individual pictured above.
(Adapted from Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink, 2002)

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Figure 13.2
The Unleashing of Prejudice Against African Americans

Prejudices can be activated when people feel angry or insulted. In this experiment, white participants
gave less shock to a black “learner” than to a white learner when they were feeling fine. But once
insulted, the white students gave higher levels to the black learner. (Adapted from Rogers & Prentice-
Dunn, 1981)

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
13.2 How can we measure prejudices that people don’t want to reveal—
or that they don’t know they hold?

DETECTING HIDDEN PREJUDICES

 A Milestone That Didn’t End Prejudice
The election of America’s first African American president was an exhilarating milestone for many
Americans, but it awakened implicit prejudices in others.

Source: 2009 Owen DB/Black Star/Newscom

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Suppressing Prejudices

• People hide prejudice.

– When situation becomes “safe,” their prejudice will
be revealed.
• Example
– Questioning President Obama’s Americanism, not his race per se

• Suppress prejudices for two reasons:

– Sincere motivation to become less prejudiced
– Avoid being labeled a sexist, racist, etc.
 Ways of Identifying
Suppressed Prejudices
• Most people don’t want to admit their
prejudices, so unobtrusive measures are
necessary.
– Bogus pipeline
• Participants believed a “lie detector” could detect true
attitudes

• More likely to express racist attitudes

 Ways of Identifying
Implicit Prejudices (1 of 3)
• Implicit biases: biases hidden from oneself

– Implicit Association Test (IAT)

• Measures speed of positive and negative reactions to

target groups
Implicit association test (IAT, Greenwald et al.
1998
 The Face of Prejudice

Typical stimuli used in the IAT to measure implicit racism.

Source: William Cunningham

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Ways of Identifying
Implicit Prejudices (2 of 2)
• IAT may be measuring bias OR…

– It measures a cultural bias or stereotype, not a

personally held bias
 Predictive validity – does it predict
discrimination?
• Small effect size
– Oswald F. L., Mitchell G., Blanton H., Jaccard J.,
Tetlock P. E. (2013). Predicting ethnic and racial
discrimination: a meta-analysis of IAT criterion
studies. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 105, 171–
192.10.1037/a0032734 [on ebridge]
 Implicit social cognition
• More positive reviews from
– Nosek, B. A., Hawkins, C. B., & Frazier, R. S. (2011). Implicit
social cognition: from measures to mechanisms. Trends in
cognitive sciences, 15(4), 152-159. [on ebridge]
– And also Nosek, B. A., Hawkins, C. B., & Frazier, R. S.
(2012). Implicit social cognition.Handbook of social
cognition, 31-53. [on ebridge]
Other ways of detecting hidden
prejudice….

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Please rate the
statements on the
right using a scale
that runs from 1 to 9
where 1= strongly
disagree and 9 =
strongly agree and
then score you
responses using the
information in the
box at the bottom of
the questionnaire:

• Internal Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice is based on the strong inner belief
that prejudice is wrong. External Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice, which is
“essentially a sense that it is socially unwise to express opinions that others will regard as
socially undesirable or politically incorrect.” (p 416; Baumeister, & Bushman, 2011).
• How did you score? What do you think of this measure?
• With the person next to you Discuss/Answer the following:
– Why is measuring prejudice difficult?
– What methods discussed so far in the lecture and the questionnaire you have just read have psychologists
used to get over the problems of recording prejudiced attitudes?
– Discuss one novel way you might measure prejudice, sexism, or other morally undesirable attitudes.
13.3 What are some ways that prejudice harms its targets?

THE EFFECTS OF PREJUDICE

ON THE VICTIM
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (1 of 3)

• Example 1

– White college students interviewed white and

African American job candidates (Word, Zanna, &
Cooper, 1974)

• White students displayed discomfort and lack

of interest when interviewing African American
candidates, not white (e.g., sat farther away, ended
interview sooner)
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (2 of 3)

• Example 1

– In a second experiment, used confederates for

interviewers who acted as the white students did
in the first experiment

• All white interviewees rated as more nervous and less

effective

• Interviewees confirmed low expectations

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (3 of 3)

• Example 2
– If a society believes that a particular group is
stupid, uneducable, it will act in accordance with
beliefs.
• Educational resources will not be provided to
that group.
• The consequence: The group will not attain adequate
education.
• The Result: The society’s original belief will be
confirmed.
 Figure 13.3 (Word, Zanna, & Cooper, 1974)

An Experiment Demonstrating Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Stereotypes Threats Video
• Applied psychologist Joshua Aronson of NYU talks about how stereotype threat works, particularly in a
classroom setting, and how such threat can be reduced.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
What are some situational factors that can bring about stereotype threat in academic settings?
• What does “identity salience” mean and how does it relate to stereotype threat?
• What interventions has research identified for reducing the negative implications of stereotype threat?

http://visual.pearsoncmg.com/mypsychlabsocial/index.php?episode=episode8&clip=2&tab=intro

Back to Directory
 Stereotype Threat (1 of 2)

• The apprehension experienced by members of

a group that their behavior might confirm a
cultural stereotype

– “If I perform poorly on this test, it will reflect badly

on me and my race.”
 Stereotype Threat (2 of 2)

• Participants played a game of miniature golf

(Stone et al., 1999)
– One half were told the game measured “sport
strategic intelligence.”
• Black athletes performed worse than white athletes.

– One half were told the game measured “natural

athletic ability.”
• Black athletes better than white athletes.
Stereotype Threat and Gender (1 of 4)

• Stereotype: Men are better at math than

women.
– IV = Information given to women about a
math test
• Test showed gender difference in math abilities

• Test had nothing to do with male-female differences

– DV = women’s performance on the test

Stereotype Threat and Gender (2 of 4)

• When told the math test was designed to

show gender differences in math abilities
– Women did not perform as well as men

• When told the math test did not detect male-

female differences
– Women and men performed equally well
 Stereotype Threat and Gender (3 of 4)

Whether or not you feel “stereotype threat” depends on what category you are identifying with at the
time. Asian women do worse on math tests when they see themselves as “women” (stereotype = poor
at math) rather than as “Asians” (stereotype = good at math) (Shih, Pittinsky, & Ambady, 1999).
Source: Gary Conner/PhotoEdit

Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Stereotype Threat and Gender (4 of 4)

• Stereotype threat effects found with multiple

groups:
– Latinos
– Low-income people
– Elderly

• More self-conscious about performance led

to greater effect on performance
 Reversing the Effects of
Stereotype Threat

• How can the effects of stereotype threat be

reversed?

– Alternative mindset:

• “I’m a good student”

– Self-affirmation:

• Practice of reminding yourself of your good qualities

 Writing the essay

Dr Tipples

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 The Essay Feedback Checklist*
• Addressed the question throughout the essay?
• Organised the essay clearly with a structure that
supports a considered conclusion?
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concepts, and/or theories?
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evaluation and analysis?
• Use of evidence to support essay answer?
• Evaluated research evidence and theoretical
concepts?
* This Essay Feedback Checklist is an adaptation of that developed by colleagues at Liverpool Hope University College (see: Norton, L., Clifford, R.,
Hopkins, L., Toner, I., & Norton, J.C.W. (2002). Helping psychology students write better essays. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 2, 116-126).
 Similar to our feedback sheet

• Areas identified for improvement in the

assignment:
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 Example: “Discuss the idea that schemas are
often useful”
• Addressed the question throughout the
essay?
– Addressed the question?
• It says “Discuss” and that means include arguments
(and the evidence) for and against the idea (“that
schemas are often useful”) leading to a conclusion
based on your weighing up of the evidence/ideas
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often useful”
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– For every paragraph you write think whether it is
answering the question
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the end) tell me how it answers the question
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that you have read lots if you aren't actually
answering the question!
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different question!
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INDICATES SHALLOW, SPOON-FED LEARNING
 Example: “Discuss the idea that schemas are
often useful”
• What we want
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say “yes” or “no” to your essay plans!)
– Conscious evaluation of material
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• So where do I find an answer….

 Where to find an answer…
• Textbooks are a good starting point and are very useful if they do
actually answer the question!
• Also, they often show you how to write
– They are well organised
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springboard to find further material
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for/against the idea “that schemas are often useful”
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evidence, evaluated that evidence and referenced it correctly
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 Google scholar
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evidence for the idea)
– I found this article in one textbook
– Linville, P. W., & Jones, E. E. (1980). Polarized appraisals
of out-group members. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 38(5), 689.
• Describes benefits of complex schema
– I typed the full title into summon on
http://www2.hull.ac.uk/lli/induction/index.html
..found the reference
 Used my Athens/shiboleth login to
access the abstract

• article abstract
 I clicked “Times cited…55”

• article abstract
 Came up with an even better ref:

• But don’t forget you still need to read and evaluate the
material even when you have found it!
• That skill is beyond this lecture but I encourage you to
read..

• http://writingproject.fas.harvard.edu/files/hwp/files/w
riting_for_psych_final_from_printer.pdf
 More from our feedback sheet
• Content (relevance, completeness and accuracy);
• Structure and organisation;
• Argument development;
• Independent research;
• Source material (quality, evaluation and
synthesis);
• Citing, referencing, formatting, grammar,
punctuation
 More from our (old) feedback sheet
• Content (relevance, completeness and accuracy);
• Structure and organisation;
– If you answer the question throughout then this will help organise
overall
– But there is nothing like an example of good writing and again
textbooks demonstrate how
• Argument development;
• Independent research;
• Source material (quality, evaluation and
synthesis);
• Citing, referencing, formatting, grammar,
punctuation
 Good writing – textbook example
• Baron, R. A., Byrne, D., & Branscombe, N. R.
(2006). SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 11/E.
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/
us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0
205444121.pdf
• Free chapter
 • Paragraphs are
linked
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the same thing
concept “self-
presentation”
• Author uses
linking
words/phrases
• “As described in
previous
section”
• “We can also”
• Your
paragraphs will
be linked
because you
will be
answering a
single question.
Consider using linking
words
“Furthermore”,
“Similarly”, “Also,” “A
further example”
Evidence example
Paragraphs presents
and evaluates (where
appropriate) the
evidence
 Imagine essay title “Can we control
stereotype threat?”
• Concepts
clearly
defined
 Imagine essay title “Can we control
Note ONE
stereotype threat?”
IDEA PER
PARAGRAPH
IS A GOOD
GUIDE

• Idea
presented
• Evidence
given

• Further
clarification
and evidence
provided
• Author
concludes
 In short
• Answer the question (discuss if it asks you to!)
• Include relevant evidence
• Structure paragraphs clearly (one idea)
• Link paragraphs (again if you answer the question
throughout this is much easier)
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– Don’t forget to – that refers back to the
question and summarises the main points
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academic style, avoiding opinion, planning,
drafting, time management (allow at least 2 hours a
day for 2 weeks to write a 2000 word essay)