Prejudice: Foundations, Causes, Effects & Remedies

1. Chapter 7 Prejudice: Foundations, Causes, Effects & Remedies

2. Prejudice: Unavoidable Factors • Group Formation • Ethnocentrism • Stereotyping

3. Group Formation • Fosters survival, social identity • “we” part of the self-concept • Social Identity theory – We like our own groups better to lift our own self-esteem. • Taijfel (1971) “over- and underestimators” • In-group bias – give own group most rewards • Bias stronger when in minority and strongly identify with group.

4. Group Formation • Outgroup bias • Downgrading others not in your group • Also applies to norms and customs, see behavior or ways of other groups as strange or even wrong • People with diverse group memberships exhibit less outgroup bias.

5. Ethnocentrism • By-product of social/cultural upbringing • Rules define culture & expected behavior • Need to honor them in order to successfully adapt and to preserve culture • Contributes to the successful function of a society

6. Inflexible Ethnocentrism • Judging others as wrong, simply because they are different • Flexible ethnocentrism is less judgmental.

7. Becoming More Flexibly Ethnocentric • Key lies in the awareness of our own ethnocentrism. • 1. Become consciously aware of own rules & how they affect perceptions & judgments of others. • 2. Recognize that other cultures have their own norms. • 3. Try to understand other cultures’ norms. • 4. Use all this to develop empathy.

8. Stereotypes • A generalization about a group of people that assumes members share common characteristics. • Mental shortcuts that prepare us to interact • Often based on a “grain of truth” • Often exaggerated caricatures • May become self-fulfilling prophicies

9. Social Contributors to Stereotypes • Confirmation bias • Fundamental attribution error • Outgroup homogeneity effect

10. The Tendency to Stereotype • Personal variables • Need for structure & predictability • Powerful position • Cognitive efficiency? • Less to lose? • Situational variables • Good mood • Emotionally aroused • Mentally distracted

11. Prejudice & Discrimination • Prejudice is pre-judgment • It may be positive or negative • It is usually considered to be negative • It is often based on stereotypes • Factors it is often based on include; • Age, sex, race, ethnic identity, weight, religion, disability, sexual orientation

12. Prejudice • It often becomes more pronounced when the dominant group begins to feel threatened by an influx of immigrants. • Public racial prejudice has declined in the United States. • Has prejudice gone “underground”?

13. Prejudice • Realistic group conflict theory. • People become prejudiced against those with whom they must compete for scarce resources such as jobs.

14. Prejudice • Robbers’ Cave Experiment (Sherif, 1966) • 22 white, middle-class, 11-year old boys • 2-week summer camp • Eagles vs. Rattlers • Mutual competition, vandalism, food fights, name-calling, etc. • Sherif brought the group together through a common goal

15. Factors in Developing Prejudice • Social learning from family & friends • Relative deprivation – perceiving that others are better off than we are • Emotions (threat) • Discrimination (unfair treatment)

16. Effects of Prejudice & Discrimination • Lowered self-esteem • Crocker et al. (1991) • Targets of discrimination feel less personal control • Stereotype threat (Steele, 1997) • Anxiety from the threat inteferes with performance • May begin to avoid situation(s)

17. Overcoming Prejudice • Superordinate Goal • Robbers’ Cave • Jigsaw Classroom (Aronson, 1978-2000) • Mindfulness