Chapter 5: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

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Prejudice and discrimination based on a person's racial background or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one racial group over another


Prejudice and discrimination based on a person's gender, or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one gender over another


A belief or association that links a whole group of people with certain traits of characteristics


Negative feelings toward persons based on their membership in certain groups


Behavior directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group

Difference between stereotype vs. prejudice vs. discrimination?

=> stereotype is a prejudgement of a person based on the group they're associated with
=> prejudice is a feeling
=> discrimination is a behavior


Two or more persons perceived as related because of their interactions, membership in the same social category, or common fate
1) direct interaction with each other over a period of time
2) joint membership in a social category based on sex, race, or attributes
3) a shared, common fate, identity, or set of goals


Groups with which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging and identity


Groups with which an individual does not feel a sense of membership, belonging, or identity

old fashion racism

blatant, explicit, and unmistakable acts of aggression against minorities

modern racism

a form of prejudice that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable, and easy to rationalize; likely present under cloud of ambiguity because it's easier to disguise

Why does modern racism exist?

many people are racially ambivalent and they want to see themselves as fair, but they still harbor feelings of anxiety and discomfort about other racial groups

aversive racism

which concerns the ambivalence between individuals' sincerely fair-minded attitudes and beliefs, on the one hand, and their largely unconscious and unrecognized negative feelings and beliefs about blacks, on the other hand

Example of modern racism?

If unambiguous evidence is presented to a jury, whites and blacks are convicted equally.
If ambiguous (some is viewed as inadmissible but usually used by the jury anyways)

implicit racism

Racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally; undetected by individuals who want to be fair and unbiased; can skew judgements, feelings, and behaviors without inducing the guilt that more obvious, explicit forms of racism would trigger


Implicit Association Test; measures the extent to which two concepts are associated. Measures of implicit prejudice predicted biased reactions and behavior significantly better than measures of explicit prejudice did

Example of an IAT

Measures implicit racism toward African Americans, for example, by comparing how quickly or slowly participants associate African American cues with negative and positive concepts compared to European American cues. Can compare older vs. younger

What makes white people more quick to see anger in black faces than white faces

implicit racism

Which brain structure was stronger associated with viewing a member of the outgroup? ex: whites viewing blacks

the amygdala

What does amygdala activation imply?

higher levels of implicit prejudice

What affected the amount of amygdala activity when whites viewed blacks?

when blacks had closers eyes or were gazing elsewhere lowered amygdala activation; this is because direct eye contact from an outgroup member is much more likely to convey threat


thoughts about the outgroup's stereotypes about them, and worry about being seen as consistent with these stereotypes

Are whites with high implicit racism more likely to perform better or worse in cognitive tasks after interacting with blacks? why?

They are more likely to perform worse. This is because they find interacting with blacks exhausting because they are trying to hard not to appear racist

prescriptive stereotype

indicate what men and women SHOULD be

Why do prescriptive stereotypes play into sexism?

ex: when women exhibit traits valued in society (male traits) they may be viewed in harsh terms, contributing to the double standards that are hallmark of sexism

ambivalent sexism

a form of sexism characterized by attitudes about women that reflect both negative, resentful beliefs and feelings and affectionate and chivalrous but potentially patronizing beliefs and feelings

hostile sexism

characterized by negative, resentful feelings about women's abilities, value, and ability to challenge men's power

benevolent sexism

characterized by affectionate, chivalrous feelings founded on the potentially patronizing belief that women need and deserve protection

why is benevolent sexism a problem?

it is a problem particularly for women who defy typical gender roles and are perceived as acting "unlady-like" and are acquaintance raped or have an issue such as that.

are women prejudice against women?


When are women see as competent?

when they present themselves with stereotypically masculine rather than feminine traits, yet when they do this they are also seen as less socially skilled and attractive which may also cost them the job or career advancement they were seeking

what emotion are people likely to misperceive the outgroup member as having when the outgroup member is watching a scary scene? Do they do this with ingroup members as well? Why?

anger; no; because they feel threatened by the outgroup member

optimal distinctiveness theory

people try to balance the desire to belong and affiliate with others, on the one hand and to be distinct and differentiated from others, on the other hand.

What is the outcome of the optimal distinctiveness theory

Drives people to identify with a relatively small ingroup and to distance themselves from outgroups and from individuals status who is ambiguous

How does the Terror Management Theory relate to wanting to be in an ingroup

you want to be immortalized in an ingroup

subordinate goal

A shared goal that can be achieved only through cooperation among individuals or groups (ex: enemy tribes pushing a truck together and then insisting on taking the same bus back home)

realistic conflict theory

the theory that hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources (losing group feels frustrated and resentful, winning group feels threatened and protective)

relative deprivation

feelings of discontent aroused by the belief that one fares poorly compared with others (ex: keeping up with the Jones's even if house is big)

Social Identity Theory

the theory that people favor ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self esteem
People think their own nation, culture, language, and religion are better and more deserving than others

ingroup favoritism

the tendency to discriminate in favor on ingroups over outgroups

Two components of social identity theory

1) a personal identity
2) various collective or social identities that are based on the groups to which we belong

aka we can boost their self esteem through their own personal achievements or through affiliation with successful groups

1) What heightens ingroup favoritism?
2) What enhances self esteem

1) threats to one's self-esteem
2) expressions of ingroup favoritism

are individualists or collectivists more likely to show ingroup bias in order to boost their self esteem? but who is more likely to show ingroup bias?

individualists; collectivists

social dominance orientation

a desire to see one's ingroup as dominant ovr other groups and a willingness to adopt cultural values that facilitate oppression over other groups; promoting self-interest

system justification

process that endorse an legitimize existing social arrangements which protect the status quo

what do disadvantaged groups who show system justification believe?

they show outgroup favoritism and believe the system is fair even though they're disadvantaged

social categorization

the classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes; natural and adaptive so that we can group things/people together and form impressions quickly and use past experiences to guide new interactions

outgroup homogeneity effect

the tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than among members of ingroups; subtle differences among "us" but "they" are all alike. When people join an ingroup they initiall see homogeneity

Where was the activity in the brain noticed when people viewed an outgroup member

orbitofrontal cortex

When does dehumanizing occur? What area of the brain is in play?

when they are part of an outgroup; prefrontal cortex

Illusory correlation

an overestimate of the association between variables that are only slightly or not a all correlated

What does Illusory correlation result in?

1) people tend to overestimate the association between variables that are distinctive: variables that capture attention simply because they are novel or deviant
2) relatively unusual events happen together, that combination may stick in people's minds, and this can lead people to overestimate an association between the two events
3)people tend to overestimate the association between variables that already expect to go together

Example of Illusory correlation

if people see a story on the news about a person who was recently released from a mental hospital (rare) committing a brutal murder (rare), they remember the link between the two better than if a more commonly encountered type of person committed the murder or than if a former mental patient did something more common

What does Illusory correlation have to do with stereotypes?

This perpetuates stereotypes because people remember distinctive things and then perpetuate them

How do people make attributions?

they're already looking for the negative stereotype so if you do something negative they say it's that and if you do something positive they say its situational


"career woman" their idea of woman still stays in tact and career is the subtype of woman

Confirmation Bias

People's tendency to interpret, seek, and create information that seems to confirm their expectations

Self-fulfilling prophecies

occurs when a perceiver's false expectations about a person cause the person to behave in ways that confirm those expectations. Stereotypes can trigger such behavioral confirmation

what determines what toys boys/girls will like?

neurobiology and society

Social Roles Theory

The theory that small gender differences are magnified in perception by the contrasting social roles occupied by men and women

Three steps of Social Roles Theory

1) Biological and social factors, a division of labor between the sexes has emerged over time, both at home and in work setting. Men: construction and business, Women: Childcare, low-status jobs
2) People behave in ways that fit the roles they play, men are more likely than women to weild physical, social and economic power
3) These behavioral differences provide a continuing basis for social perception, leading us to perceive men as dominant and women as domestic "by nature" when in fact the differences reflect the roles they play

Problem created with Social Roles Theory

people believe that gender roles are made from biology but they're made by society

stereotype content model

A model proposing that the relative status and competition between groups influence group stereotypes along the dimension of competence and warmth

competition is associated with?
status is associated with what?

competition: lower warmth
status: higher competence

Subliminal presentation

a method of presenting stimuli so faintly or rapidly that people do not have any conscious awareness of having been exposed to them

How do you inhibit making derogatory comments?

increasing blood glucose

stereotype threat

the experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about one's group; affects intellectual performance

contact hypothesis; does it work?

the theory that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce prejudice under certain conditions; yes, eventually

Contact hypothesis conditions

1) equal status: contact should occur under equal conditions that give the 2 groups equal status
2) Personal interaction: contact should involve one-on-one interactions among individual members of the two groups
3) Cooperative activities: Members of the two groups should join together in an effort to achieve superordinate goals
4) Social norms: the social norms, defined in part by relevant authorities, should favor intergroup contact

Jigsaw Classroom

A cooperative learning method used to reduce racial prejudice through interaction in group efforts (people were each responsible for one piece of the puzzle then taught the rest of the group) resulting in people bringing those from the outgroup into their ingroup

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