Prejudice: Disliking Others

1
Chapter 9

• Prejudice Disliking Others

2
Quotes

• If I see someone that comes in (an airport)
  thats got a diaper on his head and a fan belt
  wrapped around that diaper on his head, that guy
  needs to be pulled over.
• -U.S. Congressman John Cooksey (R-LA)who was
  defeated in 2002
• I mean, you got the first mainstream
  African-American who is articulate and bright and
  clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, thats a
  storybook, man.
• - Senator Joe Biden about Barack Obama
• You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be
  known. I dont like gay people and I dont like
  to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I dont
  like it. It shouldnt be in the world or in the
  United States.
• - Tim Hardaway (retired Miami Heat player)
  about John Amaechi (retired Utah Jazz player)
  following his announcement that he is gay

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How Do You Feel About Overweight People?

• List three things you believe about overweight
  people
• How much do you like overweight people?
• Dislike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Like
• Would you discourage your brother/sister from
  marrying someone who is overweight?

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Outline

• Definitions of Stereotypes, Prejudice, and
  Discrimination
• How do Stereotypes Form?
• Why do they Persist?
• Racism

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ATTITUDES
6

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What are the Typical Characteristics of

• Southerners
• College professors
• Poor people
• Women
• Blacks
• Gay men and lesbians

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Stereotypes

• A stereotype is a generalization
• A belief about the personal attributes of a group
  of people
• Stereotypes are overgeneralized, inaccurate, and
  resistant to new information
• The cognitive component

9
Do you think homosexuals should or should not
have equal rights in terms of job opportunities?
100
Should Have Equal Rights
Percentage
50
0
1977
1982
1989
1992
1996
YEAR
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But what kind of jobs should homosexuals have?
Many still believe homosexuals should be excluded
from some jobs.
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Prejudice

• A negative prejudgment of a group and its
  individual members
• The affective component

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Discrimination

• Do you know anyone who has, because of their
  membership in a group, been
• Denied a job or a promotion?
• Insulted or harassed?
• Ignored or poorly served in a restaurant or other
  business?
• Denied an apartment or house?

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Discrimination

• Discrimination Unjustifiable negative behavior
  toward a group or its members
• The behavioral component

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Institutionalized Discrimination

• Built into legal, political, social, and economic
  institutions
• May be direct
• Military rules requiring expulsion of openly
  homosexual soldiers
• Or more indirect and subtle
• Height and weight requirements for certain
  positions may favor some individuals over others

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Distinguishing Between Stereotypes, Prejudice,
and Discrimination

• Stereotypes Beliefs about members of a specific
  group
• Prejudice Negative feelings toward members of a
  specific group
• Discrimination Negative behaviors directed at
  members of a specific group

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How Do Stereotypes Form?

• Social categorization We tend to sort people
  into groups on the basis of common attributes
  (e.g., race gender)
• This is a cognitive process
• Drawback leads us to overestimate the
  differences between groups and underestimate the
  differences within groups

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How Do Stereotypes Form?

• Ingroups versus Outgroups (cognitive process)
• Ingroup group you belong to or identify with
• Outgroup groups you dont belong to or identify
  with
• Us versus them

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Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

• Tendency for social perceivers to assume there is
  greater similarity among members of outgroups
  than among members of ingroups
• Whites tend to lump Latinos together. Mexican
  Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans see
  important differences
• People from other groups even look alike
• White, Black, and Mexican-American store clerks
  were asked to identify a White customer, a Black
  customer, and a Mexican-American customer

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Cross-Race Identification Effect
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Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

• Why does it occur?
• Less exposure
• With those from other groups, we often attend to
  their group first (It was an Asian guy) and
  then attend to their individual features
• With those of our own group, we attend to their
  individual features first

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Why Do Stereotypes Persist?

• Confirmation bias
• People look for confirming evidence to support
  the stereotypes they hold
• Self-fulfilling prophecies
• Our expectations about others can lead us to act
  in ways that cause other people to behave
  consistently with our expectations
• Portrayal in the media
• ex., gender stereotypic portrayals of men and
  women

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Why are People Prejudiced Toward Others?

• To restore/maintain self-esteem
• To maintain the status quo
• Because of competition for limited resources

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Does a Threat to Ones Self-Esteem Lead to an
Increase in Prejudice?

• Participants took a test and were given positive
  or negative feedback (Fein Spencer, 1997)
• Participants given negative feedback temporarily
  had lower self-esteem than participants given
  positive feedback
• Participants then participated in a second study
  in which they evaluated a job applicant
• Half of the participants evaluated Maria
  DAgostino (Italian)
• Half of the participants evaluated Julie Goldberg
  (Jewish)

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Does a Threat to Ones Self-Esteem Lead to an
Increase in Prejudice?
Ratings of Target
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Does the Expression of Prejudice Restore Ones
Self-Esteem?
Increase in Self-Esteem
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Summary of Study

• A threat to ones self-esteem can lead to the
  expression of prejudice
• The expression of prejudice can, in turn, lead to
  an increase in self-esteem

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Explicit versus Implicit Prejudice

• If you were asked your opinions about New Yorkers
  or fraternity members that would tap
• Explicit prejudice positive or negative
  feelings of which you are aware
• But not implicit prejudice feelings of which
  you are not aware

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Implicit Association Test

• Watch video
• Go to the website
• implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
• Take any of the Implicit Association Tests (IATs)
  that are offered
• Turn in a sheet of paper next time telling me you
  did thisdont give me your results!

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Costs of Prejudice, Discrimination, and
Stereotyping

• Physicians were only 60 as likely to suggest a
  top-rated diagnostic test for Black heart
  patients as for Whites
• Even when Blacks presented same symptoms, and
  gave identical information about themselves
  (Schulman et al., 1999)

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Costs of Prejudice, Discrimination, and
Stereotyping

• Ayres (1991) had men and women visit 90 car
  dealerships in Chicago and negotiate a price for
  a new car. Dealers cost was 11,000
• White men 11,362 (362)
• White women 11,504 (504)
• Black men 11,783 (783)
• Black women 12,237 (1,237)

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Costs of Prejudice, Discrimination, and
Stereotyping

• A token minority in a group tends to become
  self-consciousand tends to perform less well on
  tasks that require concentration (Lord Saenz,
  1985 Saenz, 1994)

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Stereotype Threat

• In one study, Black and White students were asked
  to take a difficult exam taken from the verbal
  portion of the GRE (Graduate Record Examination)
• For some students, race was made salient by
  asking them to report it at the beginning of the
  test

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Steele Aronson (1995)
10
8
Number of Items Answered Correctly (adjusted by
SAT score)
6
4
2
0
Salient
Not Salient
Students Race
Salience of Race
Black
White
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Stereotype Threat

• White men did worse in math when they thought
  they were being compared to an Asian (Aronson et
  al, 1999)
• White men did worse on athletic task they thought
  tapped natural ability
• But Black men did worse if they thought it tapped
  athletic intelligence(Stone et al, 1999)

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Reducing Prejudice, Stereotyping, and
Discrimination

• One approach is based on the assumption that
  prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination serve
  important goals for people
• Ex. Competition for resources self-esteem
• A goal-based approach tries to target
  interventions to the different goals

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Reducing Prejudice, Stereotyping, and
Discrimination

• Another approach is based on the idea that
  negative stereotypes and prejudice are due to
  ignorance
• From this perspective, simply exposing people to
  members of different groups should reduce
  prejudice
• But merely putting different groups together has
  not generally worked

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When Does Contact Reduce Prejudice?

• Mutual interdependence must exist!
• Both groups must have equal status
• Contact must be rewarding
• Contact must occur in a friendly, informal
  setting, where in-group members and out-group
  members can interact one-on-one
• These one-on-one interactions must occur with
  multiple members
• Social norms must promote and support equality
• Outgroup members have traits and abilities that
  challenge negative stereotypes
• A common goal must exist

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Contact Helps When

• Importance of common goals was shown in the study
  of the Rattlers and Eagles (boys in summer camp
  in OklahomaRobbers Cave).
• When their only contact involved competitive
  games (e.g., stealing the flag from the other
  camp), interactions became increasingly negative
• But then researchers forced the boys to cooperate
  toward common goals (such as starting a bus to
  take them all to a movie)

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Ratings of Own Group
100
Ratings of Other Group
80
60
Percentage of Rattler and Eagle Ratings That Were
Unfavorable
40
20
0
After Competition
After Cooperation

• The hostility between the groups eventually
  turned into friendship and acceptance after they
  were induced to begin cooperating with each other
  (Sherif et al.)