PSYC12H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Raw Image Format, Social Cognition, Authoritarian Personality
Chapter 1 – Introduction to the Study of Stereotyping and Prejudice
1. Groups are the basic building blocks of society
1.1. Forming groups is a basic part of the nature of animals, and has survival benefits
1.2. Disadvantage of group formations – favour members of their own group (ingroup), over other
groups (outgroups)
1.3. Even with Minimal group (groups formed on random or arbitrary criteria), members tend to
prefer members of their group over other groups
1.4. Groups form prejudice and stereotypes
1.4.1.Prejudice – a biased evaluation of a group, based on real or imagined characteristics of the
group members
1.4.2.Stereotype – a set of beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people
1.5. Outgroup members are perceived to be antithetical (opposite) to the ingroups welfare
1.6. Negative attitudes form the basis for subsequent negative intergroup behaviour
1.7. Some of the most intense intergroup hostility has been based on difference in religion
2. Defining Stereotyping
2.1. Lippmanns Stereotype
2.1.1.Lippmann used the word stereotype to describe the tendency of people to think of
someone or something in similar terms (having similar attributes), based on a common
feature shared by each
2.1.2.Stereotype was originally used to describe a printing process in which fixed casts of
material are reproduced
2.1.3.Two significance of Lippmanns stereotype. 1) stereotype tell us what social information is
important to perceive and to disregard in our environment 2) tendency to confirm pre-
existing stereotypes by paying attention to stereotype consistent information and
disregarding information that is inconsistent with our stereotypes
2.2. Stereotyping: From Bad to Neutral
2.2.1.Stereotyping was a very negative and lazy way of perceiving social groups; rigid thinking;
external sign of the stereotypers moral defectiveness
2.2.2.Research about stereotyping has moved away from moral correctness. Researchers now
argue that stereotyping ought to be examined as a normal psychological process
2.3. The Social-Cognitive Definition
2.3.1.With social cognition, researchers regard stereotyping as automatic process of
categorization; inherent in the nature of the way humans think about the world
2.3.2.Stereotype is any generalization about a group whether an observer believes it is justified
or not
2.3.3.Schema – cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a concept or type of
stimulus, including its attributes and the relations among those attributes
2.3.4.Schemas are broader cognitive structures that contain our knowledge of a stimulus, our
expectations for the motives or behaviour of the stimulus, and our feelings toward the
stimulus
2.3.5.Stereotypes are much more specific and are subsumed within a schema
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
2.3.6.The definition of stereotype used in this book – a set of beliefs about the personal
attributes of a group of people
2.4. Cultural and Individual Stereotypes
2.4.1.Cultural stereotype – shared or community-wide patterns of belief (e.g., most white
people (that are culturally white)think that black people are criminals)
2.4.2.Individual stereotype – beliefs held by an individual about the characteristics of a group
(e.g., a specific white person believes that all black people are criminals)
2.4.3.Oes ultural stereotype about a group may not be the same as ones individual
stereotype about the group
2.5. Is a Stereotype an Attitude?
2.5.1.Stereotype is similar to an attitude
2.5.1.1. Attitude – general evaluation of some object
2.5.2.Attitudes have 3 components: Behavioural component, affective component, cognitive
component
2.5.3.Some others believe that stereotypes represent only the cognitive portion of any
intergroup attitude. The other two components of an intergroup attitude, affect and
behaviour, correspond to prejudice and discrimination, respectively
2.5.3.1. discrimination – any negative behaviour directed toward an individual based on
their membership in a group
2.5.3.2. stereotype is not an attitude
2.6. Positive versus Negative Stereotypes
2.6.1.Stereotypes should not be viewed as good or bad; they are merely generalizations about a
group
3. Defining Prejudice
3.1. Prejudice as Negative Affect
3.1.1.An intense dislike based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization - Allport
3.1.2.It may be directed toward a group as a whole, or toward an individual because he is a
member of that group
3.1.3.Most researchers have abandoned to view prejudice as emotion, and instead start to
define prejudice as attitude
3.2. Prejudice as an Attitude
3.2.1.Prejudice is not simply the negative affect toward the outgroup, but it is also the positive
prejudice in favour of ones ingroup
3.2.2.Prejudice can be based on affective, cognitive, or behavioural sources and can result in
cognitive, behavioural, or affective expressions of prejudice
3.2.3.Stangor, Sullivan, and Ford found that the best predictor of negative outgroup prejudice is
not negative feelings about the outgroup but, rather, a lack of positive emotions
3.2.4.Stronger forms of prejudice are more likely to be based on strong negative emotions,
whereas more subtle types of prejudice may be based on an absence of positive feelings
about the group
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
3.2.5.Prejudice is most likely to be displayed toward a disadvantaged group when that group
tries to move into roles for which they are believe by the majority group (e.g., Caucasians)
to be unqualified
3.2.6.There are a couple of core problems with prejudice-as-attitude approach
3.2.6.1. Attitude is not the same as affect
3.2.6.2. Notion that prejudice has an affective, cognitive, and behavioural component is
problematic because research shows that the three components are not consistent
3.3. Prejudice as a Social Emotion
3.3.1.Social emotion is essentially emotions that require the representation of the mental state
of other people
3.3.2.Appraisal – set of cognitions that are attached to a specific emotion.
3.3.2.1. Emotion is triggered by an assessment of the adaptive significance and self-
relevance of the people and events in ones environment
3.3.3.Two differences in Smiths conceptualization of prejudice that make it a unique model of
prejudice
3.3.3.1. 1) Too vague to say prejudice is positive or negative feelings about another
group. Emotional reactions to other groups are quite specific (e.g., anger)
3.3.3.2. 2) People that are prejudiced toward a certain group does not dislike all
members of that group per say. The reality is many prejudiced people can dislike the
group as a whole, and most of its members, but have genuinely positive attitudes
and affect toward a specific member of that group
3.3.3.2.1. Subtyping can be used to explain difference #2. Subtyping – the
prejudiced individual maintains a negative affect toward the group but creates
a separate category for specific members, thereby allowing the perceivers
stereotypes to persist in the face of what would otherwise be a stereotype-
disconfirming case
3.3.4.How we react to any given outgroup member depends on 1) what self-category is salient
for us at the moment (e.g., my Canadian identity when speaking with a French citizen) 2) in
what context the interaction occur 3) how that person helps or hinders our movement
toward salient personal or group goals at that time
3.4. Prejudice (agreed upon points about prejudice):
3.4.1.Occurs between groups
3.4.2.Involves an evaluation (positive or negative) of a group
3.4.3.Is a biased perception of a group
3.4.4.Is based on the real or imagined characteristics of the group
3.5. In this book, prejudice is – biased evaluation (attitude) of a group, based on real or imaged
characteristics of the group members
4. The Link Between Stereotyping and Prejudice
4.1. According to the balance theory, ones attitude, behaviour, and evaluation (and affect) toward
another person should be cognitively consistent, or else one experiences a state of imbalance,
which is an aversive state of ognitive arousal, which is called cognitive dissonane
4.2. E.g., it does not make sense to have positive feelings about lawyers but make jokes about them
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
