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Prejudice: Causes and Cures
Chapter 13
“The world is full of pots
jeering at kettles.”
- Francois de la
Rochefoucauld
Maxims, 1665
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Prejudice:
The Ubiquitous Social Phenomenon
Many aspects of your identity can cause
you to be labeled and discriminated
against.
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Prejudice and Self-Esteem
• Clark and Clark (1947) demonstrated that African
American children as young as three already thought it
was not particularly desirable to be black.
• Children were offered a choice between playing with a
white doll and playing with a black doll. The great
majority of them rejected the black doll, feeling that the
white doll was prettier and generally superior.
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Prejudice Defined
Prejudice
A hostile or negative attitude toward people
in a distinguishable group, based solely on
their membership in that group.
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Stereotypes:
The Cognitive Component
Stereotype
.
Once formed, stereotypes are resistant to
change on the basis of new information.
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Stereotypes:
The Cognitive Component
• Sports, Race, and Attribution
• Stereotypes, Attribution, and Gender
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Discrimination:
The Behavioral Component
Discrimination
An unjustified negative or harmful action
toward the members of a group simply
because of their membership in that
group.
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Discrimination against Homosexuals
Several studies have shown homosexuals face
much discrimination and antipathy in day-to-day
lives.
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What Causes Prejudice?
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The Way We Think:
Social Cognition
Our first explanation for what causes prejudice is that it is
the inevitable byproduct of the way we process and
organize information.
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Social Categorization:
Us versus Them
• The first step in prejudice is the creation of
groups—putting some people into one group
based on certain characteristics and others into
another group based on their different
characteristics.
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In-Group Bias
In-Group Bias
Positive feelings and special treatment for
people we have defined as being part of our
in-group and negative feelings and unfair
treatment for others simply because we have
defined them as being in the out-group.
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Out-Group Homogeneity
OUT-GROUP HOMOGENEITY
The belief that “they” are all alike.
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The Failure of Logic
Even people who are usually sensible become
relatively immune to rational, logical
arguments when it comes to their prejudice.
Why is this so?
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The Persistence of Stereotypes
Stereotypes reflect cultural beliefs.
Even if we don’t believe these
stereotypes, we can easily recognize
them as common beliefs held by others.
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Automatic and Controlled
Processing of Stereotypes
• An automatic process is one over which
we have no control.
• Stereotypes are automatically triggered
under certain conditions—they just pop
into one’s mind.
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The Justification-Suppression
Model of Prejudice
• According to Crandall and Eschleman’s (2003) model,
most people struggle between their urge to express
prejudice and need to maintain positive self-concept (as a
non-bigot).
• .
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The Illusory Correlation
Illusory Correlation
When we expect two things to be related,
we fool ourselves into believing that they
are actually unrelated.
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Can We Change Stereotypical Beliefs?
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How We Assign Meaning:
Attributional Biases
Dispositional versus Situational Explanations
• One reason stereotypes are so insidious
and persistent is the human tendency to
make dispositional attributions.
Ultimate Attribution Error
Our tendency to make dispositional
attributions about an individual’s negative
behavior to an entire group of people.
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Dispositional versus
Situational Explanations
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Stereotype Threat
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Expectations and Distortions
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Blaming the Victim
When empathy is absent, it can be hard
to avoid blaming the victim for his or
her plight.
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Self-fulfilling Prophecies
On a societal level, the insidiousness of the selffulfilling prophecy goes far.
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Prejudice and Economic Competition:
Realistic Conflict Theory
• Realistic conflict theory holds that limited
resources lead to conflict among groups
and result in prejudice and discrimination.
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The Role of the Scapegoat
Research on scapegoating shows that
individuals, when frustrated or unhappy,
tend to displace aggression onto groups
that are disliked, are visible, and are
relatively powerless.
.
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The Way We Conform:
Normative Rules
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When Prejudice Is Institutionalized
• We call this institutional discrimination or, more
specifically, as institutionalized racism and
institutionalized sexism.
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When Prejudice Is Institutionalized
Normative Conformity
The strong tendency to go along with
the group in order to fulfill the group’s
expectations and gain acceptance.
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“Modern” Prejudice
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Subtle Sexism
• Hostile sexists
• Benevolent sexists
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How Can Prejudice Be Reduced?
The Contact Hypothesis
Mere contact between groups is not sufficient to
reduce prejudice.
.
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When Contact Reduces Prejudice:
Six Conditions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Mutual interdependence
Common goal
Equal status
Friendly, informal setting
Knowing multiple out-group members
Social norms of equality
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