The Effects of Self-Esteem on Implicit Stereotypes

1. The Effects of Self-Esteem on Implicit Stereotypes Katie Fisher and Jenny McGuinness

2. Stereotyping Describe sterotyping. Example: When a white woman encounters a black man on a dark street, she automatically stereotypes the individual to be similar to her automatic schemas of him (i.e. a black man from a movie being an attacker). Only then does she pay attention to the way he is acting or behaving towards her in reality.Describe sterotyping. Example: When a white woman encounters a black man on a dark street, she automatically stereotypes the individual to be similar to her automatic schemas of him (i.e. a black man from a movie being an attacker). Only then does she pay attention to the way he is acting or behaving towards her in reality.

3. Automatic vs. Controlled Processes Example of an automatic process in it�s own term � Stroop effect (reading and colors) Refer back to example of woman encountering man in dark alley to connect to stereotypingExample of an automatic process in it�s own term � Stroop effect (reading and colors) Refer back to example of woman encountering man in dark alley to connect to stereotyping

4. Automatic Processes vs. Personal Beliefs Stereotypes can be learned in childhood and become automatic. In this way, stereotypes can affect us without our conscious involvement. (Devine, 1989) What makes it automatic is that it�s so well learned and practiced, therefore we tend not to think about it any more.What makes it automatic is that it�s so well learned and practiced, therefore we tend not to think about it any more.

5. Implicit Association Test When group attributes are strongly associated in memory, mapping them onto the same response key is considerably easier than when attributes are weakly associated.When group attributes are strongly associated in memory, mapping them onto the same response key is considerably easier than when attributes are weakly associated.

6. Formation of the IAT Each block starts with short instructions for the specific task and requests the participant to respond as fast as possible. (Bertram et.al, 2002) Initial target-concept: black face or white face and asked to assign to categories �African American� or �European American� Attribute discrimination: adjectives given and asked to associated to the categories �good� or �bad� Initial combined task: one target (African American or European American) combined with one attribute (good or bad) and asked to assign either words or pictures to the categories Reversed target-concept: initial target-concept repeated with switch of categorization keys Reversed combined task: initial combined task repeated only the two categories combined were switchedInitial target-concept: black face or white face and asked to assign to categories �African American� or �European American� Attribute discrimination: adjectives given and asked to associated to the categories �good� or �bad� Initial combined task: one target (African American or European American) combined with one attribute (good or bad) and asked to assign either words or pictures to the categories Reversed target-concept: initial target-concept repeated with switch of categorization keys Reversed combined task: initial combined task repeated only the two categories combined were switched

7. Initial Target-Concept

8. Attribute Discrimination

9. Initial Combined Task (Critical Block 1!!)

10. Reversed Target Concept *Instructions: As quickly as possible hit the left key if the face is European American and the right key if the face is African American

11. Reversed Combined Task (Critical block 2!!)

12. IAT Effect

13. Self-Esteem �An affective component of the self, consisting of a person�s positive and negative self-evaluations.� (Brem, Kassin, & Fein, 2002) Personal: Self-esteem based on self perception Collective: Self esteem based on group membership

14. Self-esteem & Stereotypes Those who base their self-esteem on their own self perception tend to make up for low esteem by picking on others in order to raise self-esteem

15. Current Study We will be looking at both personal self-esteem and collective self-esteem to determine if there are any significant differences between the two in regards to the tendency to have unconscious stereotypes.We will be looking at both personal self-esteem and collective self-esteem to determine if there are any significant differences between the two in regards to the tendency to have unconscious stereotypes.

16. Our Hypothesis

17. Participants Small Midwestern Liberal Arts College 41 total subjects 19 Male 22 Female Between ages of 18-22 Freshman: 14 Sophomore: 14 Junior: 5 Senior: 9

18. Procedure Informed Consent Demographics SES status Age Number of siblings Major & Minor

19. IAT Procedure IAT Participants given specific instructions in order to take the IAT: http://psychexps.olemiss.edu/Exps/IAT_Race/IATRace.htm Before running subjects, set up project Placed assigned participant number in as their �guest name.� Received another number/letter code To get our data ran selected our project Debriefing

20. IAT Effect

21. IAT Scoring

22. Overall Results

23. Results by Gender - Female

24. Results by Gender - Male

25. Scatterplot

26. We Found Out

27. Discussion Hypothesis not supported � why? IAT unconscious PSE and CSE are conscious Possbility because the IAT is unconscious, and one�s self esteem is conscoious, so maybe??Possbility because the IAT is unconscious, and one�s self esteem is conscoious, so maybe??

28. Discussion Continued CSE and PSE highly correlated for women � but not for men What does this mean? Possible gender difference in collective and personal self-esteem�women tend to base self-esteem more on group membership while men base their self-esteem on a more personal level.

29. Limitations Small, Liberal Arts College Most males were from a single fraternity Only had one non-Caucasian participant (Pacific Islander)

30. Possible Future Directions Develop an implicit measure of self-esteem Greenwald et. al (2002) Look at the relationship between personal and collective self-esteem in men and women More diversity in the sample

31. Questions