PSY 2110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Implicit-Association Test, Prefrontal Cortex, Authoritarian Personality
27 Apr 2018
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CHAPTER 10: PREJUDICE, STEREOTYPE, DISCRIMINATION
DEFINITIONS
•Prejudice
A negative attitude toward an individual solely on the basis of that person’s presumed membership in a
particular group
person disliked because they’re perceived to be in an undesirable category
based on 3 characteristics of prejudice
involves judging individual negatively independent of their actual attributes/actions
assuming attributes of the group as a whole - neglecting variability
led to appalling acts of violence against innocent people who happened / presumed to be numbers
of a particular group
it’s an attitude (racial, gender, age, weight), the affective/feeling component
•Stereotype
overgeneralized beliefs about the attributes of members of a particular group
cognitive component
can operate as conscious justifications of prejudice against others or as implicit assumptions that guide
how we think about groups and their members
•Discrimination
negative behaviour towards an individual solely on the basis of that person’s membership
behavioural component
the consequence of the prejudice and stereotypes a person holds, but attitudes don’t always guide
behaviour
PREJUDICE: OVERT/IMPLICIT AND SUBTLE
•Implicit prejudice: negative attitudes/affective reactions associated with an outgroup, for which the
individual has little or no conscious awareness and which can be automatically activated in intergroup
encounters.
Physiological measures of bias
measures of implicit prejudice tap into people’s automatic affective response to a person/group
brain registers the threat response - amygdala signal negative emotional responses (i.e. white
people with strong racial bias have high amygdala response when viewing pics of black men)
but, if given time, this initial negative attitude tends to get down regulated by prefrontal cortex -
meaning even if people who acknowledge their prejudice may feel some pressure to control it
Cognitive measures of bias
if you like a group, you quickly associate that group with good things (IAT)
present people with members of different groups and measure how fast it takes them to identity
good/bad
•Overt prejudice: public, undisguised, observable, conscious
steadily declining: enforcement of laws against discrimination, cultural norm of tolerance, learned to
hide their prejudice
measures overt prejudice with explicit questions
i.e. “do you agree that homosexuals should be kept separate”
•Subtle prejudice: modern, hidden, disguised, unconscious
expressing that prejudice is a problem of the past and people are being too pushy about equality
measures subtle prejudice with an implicit association test (IAT) - how long it takes to categorize
SOURCE OF PREJUDICE
•Personality
Authoritarian personality
They view society as naturally competitive and hierarchical
Submissive towards figures of authority, Aggressive towards subordinates/minorities
Strongly believe in conformity
Display ethnocentrism: viewing world through our own (superior) cultural values and judging everything
based on it
Feel like they occupy a moral high ground - thus their prejudice/discrimination are justified
prejudice motivated by fear of a morally degenerating world and self-righteousness
social dominance orientation: world is viewed as competitive where it’s appropriate and right for
powerful groups to dominate weaker ones, inequality is natural
don’t claim to occupy a moral high-ground, proceed without moral restraint, use any means to obtain
power
drive for personal / group dominance (mostly males)
•Social Categorization
experience of hostile feelings linked to a salient category of people
jump from single experience with a member of outgroup then generalize about all members of that
group
prefer what’s familiar and what’s connected to oneself
liking of ingroup is stronger than disliking of outgroup
social identity perspective: ingroup bias serves self-esteem needs
when feel bad about ourselves, compensate through downward comparison by thinking more
harshly about outgroup
Document Summary
Prejudice: overt/implicit and subtle: implicit prejudice: negative attitudes/affective reactions associated with an outgroup, for which the individual has little or no conscious awareness and which can be automatically activated in intergroup encounters. They view society as naturally competitive and hierarchical. Submissive towards gures of authority, aggressive towards subordinates/minorities. Display ethnocentrism: viewing world through our own (superior) cultural values and judging everything based on it. Realistic group con ict theory: prejudice arises when groups compete for scarce resources sense of threat and frustration is likely to generate negative emotions about the perceived rival group prejudice/discrimination increases during economic frustration. Does not work if one group has authority over the other: contact that is intimate and varied, allowing people to get acquainted. Have to have the opportunity to really get to know someone: contact involving intergroup cooperation toward a superordinate goal, institutional support, or contact that is approved by authority, law, or custom.
