PSYC12H3 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Stereotype, Ingroups And Outgroups, Social Dominance Orientation
PSYC12H3
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1 – The Psychology of Prejudice
What is a stereotype? It is the tendency of people to think of someone or something in similar terms-
that is, as having similar attributes
- A stereotype is a cognitive heuristic – mental short-cuts
- We humans are intellectually lazy – cognitive-misers = cheap ad do’t want to spend resources
on figuring things out in the environment
- Ancestors survived and thrived and evolved because of taking mental short cuts
- Its too cognitively taxing to go out and understand every stimulus encountered in environment
(social and non-social stimuli)
- We can see physical cues – genetically programed to detect cues and draw conclusions
- The evolutionary fall → what was good for us in our evolved past is no longer good for us today
Individual versus cultural stereotypes
- An individual = the beliefs held by an individual about the characteristic of a group
- Cultural = Shared or community wide spread patterns of beliefs
Prejudice = overarching definition of prejudice is the:
- A biased evaluation of group (emotional component) based on imagined characteristic of the
group
Relationship between S and P
- Almost always integrated
- Feelings of prejudice always encompasses stereotyped beliefs about out-group, and the
endorsement of stereotypes carries accompanying negative affect and evaluation of out-group
Prejudice and stereotyping pervade human interactions – we judge, categorize, automatically when we
encounter new person
ERP → how soon in visual processing stream of brain activity is there a differentiation of activation to
ppl of different races and sexes? 100 ms for race and 150-200ms for gender
- Perceive race differences faster than gender
- But still fast for gender
- 2 versions of prejudice: Implicit and Explicit
o Implicit = automatic
o Explicit = deliberate and conscious – thinking it through
Prejudice = gut reaction affecting impressions towards of person – implicit gut level reaction perpetuate
a modern form of prejudice, which is exceedingly difficult to combat
- Do’t hae leel of isight to fight automatic thoughts - unconscious
- Feeling automatic bias that makes them engage in a way that is prejudiced/negative stereotypes
= marginalization of a society
Hodson → applicants – white and black – assimilation of job interview coming out of university = 2
criteria: SATs and GPA
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- When both white and black had high of both = no stereotypes
- BUT in one instance they gave ppl better GPA and low SAT and vice versa
- The committee folks were more likely to accept the white applicants who had one better than
other – and significantly strict to admitting black applicant with one better than other
- Justification? They made the one the black person did worse on was best
o Confabulation = post-hoc
- Prejudice and stereotyping may perpetuate the inequality of social groups in society
o Gender pay gap – more like motherhood pay gap; at flight risk and full 8-12 months off
of work = less advancement and production
▪ Lowest gap = Iceland (maternity and paternity leave) 6 and 6 months off; second
is Rwanda (civil war over last few decades, there was a moment that 70% of
population women due to men die off to war – so needed law that progressed
women)
- In the extreme, prejudice can turn into dehumanization: a process whereby ppl may cease to
see- and respond to- members of certain groups as human individuals
o Motivation – need to be motivated to turn off these biases
- Explicit racism has declined – implicit prejudice is widespread
1) Right-wing extremism/authoritarian populism (core set of attitudes – cynicism over human
rights, anti-imigration) (explicit prejudice and fear to out-groups) appears to be on rise – TRUMP
– appeal to authority – stronger values of collective than on the liberal side
2) Social media!! Eco-chamber in terms of politics – in a space in social media, yelling ideas, and
hearing only same ideas – very rarely contradictory → social media is changing the way that we
are exposed to information, more polarization!
a. This may be exacerbating division between left and right= creating a situation that
breeds out-group dehumanization ➔ the less we share with the outgroup member the
easier to dehumanize
- Obama and great recession degreased militias to 0! Then rise later
- Conservative groups – neo-Nazi ➔ more in European areas (slide 25) – boarders – so many
boarders in Europe – with distinct ethnicity and cultures associated with that people – pride in
their culture – vocal that they are NOT e.g. French, the ARE Italian
- Brexit – anti-immigrant prejudice major factor
o England separating from the EU – European union
- Left-ig political oeets too! Woe’s arch i respose to trup’s iauguratio as
one of the largest protest
1994 – start of cultural war – the median between democrat and republican was small
2014 – much larger gap!
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
It is the tendency of people to think of someone or something in similar terms- that is, as having similar attributes. A stereotype is a cognitive heuristic mental short-cuts. We humans are intellectually lazy cognitive-misers = cheap a(cid:374)d do(cid:374)"t want to spend resources on figuring things out in the environment. Ancestors survived and thrived and evolved because of taking mental short cuts. Its too cognitively taxing to go out and understand every stimulus encountered in environment (social and non-social stimuli) We can see physical cues genetically programed to detect cues and draw conclusions. The evolutionary fall what was good for us in our evolved past is no longer good for us today. An individual = the beliefs held by an individual about the characteristic of a group. Cultural = shared or community wide spread patterns of beliefs. Prejudice = overarching definition of prejudice is the: A biased evaluation of group (emotional component) based on imagined characteristic of the group.
