Intergroup Relations:

1
Intergroup Relations

• Cultures in Contact
• CH 6

2
New Experiences

• First-hand
• Second hand heard, read, rumored, witnessed (TV
  media)

3
Categorizing

• Generalizing from previous experiences
• Finding commonalities
• Differences significant or not?

4
Stereotypes

• Descriptions of people that give insufficient
  attention to individual differences
• Selective attention and recall may appear to
  validate the stereotypes weve been exposed to

5
Feelings and Judgments Prejudice feelings and
judgments based on stereotypes

• Convenience, familiarity, safety
• Utilitarian supports oppression, war, devaluing
  the other
• Ego defensive If my way is the best, I dont
  have to consider (possibly superior) alternatives
• Value Expressive BLM syndrome
• Knowledge Allows simplistic organizing of
  information (race-based decision on school
  preference)

6
FORMS OF PREJUDICE

• Racism The belief that individuals born into a
  particular race (outgroup) are inherently
  inferior
• Intense racism (overt)
• Symbolic racism Based on the belief that
  outgroups are interfering with traditional values
  (level playing field, the American Dream, pull
  yourself up by your own bootstraps)
• Tokenism A relatively easy (token) gesture
  demonstrating lack of prejudice such as a cash
  donation is enough to convince yourself youre
  not prejudiced
• Arms length prejudice Friendly in some
  settings, distant in others
• Real likes and dislikes (Distancing from
  smokers, people who use curse words)
• Familiar and unfamiliar
• Are these what we traditionally think of as
  prejudices?

7
Interventions

• Avoiding the negative consequences of stereotypes
• Stereotypes should be consciously held
• Stereotypes should be descriptive
• Stereotypes should be accurate
• Stereotypes should be a first (best?) guess
• Stereotypes should be modifiable

8
Interventions

• Equal-status contact Due to history, perhaps
  even higher status of outgroup member?
• Superordinate goals Require everyones
  contribution and all participants desire the goal
• Intimate contact Connecting through shared
  personal information
• Candid treatment of difficulties (splitting
  Transcending some of my best friends are)

9
Actions

• w/o Intervention
• Vocational tracking in school based on inaccurate
  assumptions
• Misunderstanding across differences
• Perpetuation of inaccurate stereotypes
• Racism
• Ethnocentrism

• With Intervention
• Critical thinking self-awareness
• Openness to individual differences
• Curiosity
• Learning opportunity across differences
• Insightful interactions
• Isomorphic attributions

10
CULTURES IN CONTACT
11
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