Download Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behavior.

Explain the formation of stereotypes
and their effect on behavior.
Two parts to the question:
1. What are stereotypes (formation & research)
2. How does it impact behavior? (attitude,
prejudice, discrimination)
Attitude
•
Definition
– Predisposition to respond in particular ways
toward specific things
•
Three Main elements
1. Belief or opinion about something
2. Feelings about that thing
3. A tendency to act toward that thing in certain
ways
Where do attitudes come from?
• Conditioning
• Cognitive evaluation
– Heuristic: Mental shortcut (no personal evidence)
– Evaluate the topics (evidence)
• Other Sources
– Culture
– Parents
– Peers
Cognitive Evaluation
Why do we have attitudes?
1. evaluate our own beliefs and values to
define ourselves.
– Develop a self-concept, personal identity
2. interpret the objects and events we
encounter.
3. determine how to act in given situations.
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
• Belief, prediction, or expectation that
operates to bring about its own fulfillment
• Examples
– Belief that people are friendly  you are friendly
and open  people are friendly back
(confirmation)
Cognitive Dissonance
• Definition:
– Uncomfortable clash between self-image,
thoughts, beliefs, attitudes or perceptions and
one’s behavior
• Cognitions  thoughts
• Dissonance  “clashing”
– RJ: Festinger & Carlsmith
• Compliance & cognitive dissonance
How does it impact behavior?
•
•
Cognitive dissonance makes us
uncomfortable
Way to diminish negative feeling…
1. Reject new information that contradicts
beliefs
2. Convincing others adds proof
3. We convince ourselves
4. Adjust attitudes
Stereotypes
•
Definition: oversimplified images of
people who belong to a particular social
group
– Top three categories:
1. Gender
2. Age
3. Race
•
•
Stereotypes can be positive or negative
Stereotypes are decreasing
– Turned into symbolic prejudice
•
Prejudice that is expressed in a disguised
fashion
FOUR Theories of Stereotypes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Social Cognitive theories
Social Identity Theory
Systems-Justification Theory
Social-Representations Theory
Social Cognitive Theories
• We live in a complex world that has too much
information
– We need to simplify our social world
• Social categorization
– Categories  stereotypes
• Stereotypes are schemas
–
–
–
–
Energy saving devices
Automatically activated
Stable and resistant to change
Affect behavior
Research
• Theory: Social-Cognitive Theory (memory and
stereotypes)
• Researcher: Cohen, 1981
• Method: Experiment
• Hypothesis: We are more likely to remember
information that is consistent with stereotypes
• Procedure:
– Video of husband and wife at dinner
• Librarian or waitress
• Results:
– Librarian: remember she wore glasses
– Waitress: she was drinking beer
SIT (Social Identity Theory)
• Category accentuation
– Emphasize in-group similarities and out-group
differences
• Compare SIT with Social-cognition theory
– SIT enriches social perception
– SIT does not support that viewing a human as
an individual is more accurate
– SIT believes stereotypes are flexible
Research
•
•
•
•
•
Theory: SIT on Stereotypes (flexible)
Researchers: Haslam and Turner, 1992
Method: Experiment
Hypothesis: stereotypes are flexible
Groups (Australians)
– Compare Soviet Union and US
– Compare Iraqis and US
• Results
– SU and US  US more aggressive
– Iraq and US  Iraq more aggressive
System Justification Theory (SJT)
• Jost and Banaji’s 1994 theory
– Stereotypes are used to justify social and
power relations in society
• Rich and the poor
• Powerful and the powerless
• Negative Self-Stereotyping
– Phenomenon of disadvantaged groups
tending to internalize negative stereotypes of
themselves held by others
• Social-cognitive and SIT does not explain this
Social-Representations Theory (SRT)
• Moscovici, 1984
– Social representations are the shared beliefs
of the society
• Determined by social and cultural life
• Not ineffective thinking
– Reflect dominant preconceptions shared by
the dominant group
Prejudice and Discrimination
• SJT and SRT emphasize group stereotypes and
their negative consequences
• Prejudice
– Preconceived attitude toward a person or group
• Discrimination
– Unequal treatment of individuals based on their
membership in a group
• NOT an individual basis
Prejudice & Discrimination
• Prejudice
– Preconceived attitude toward a person or
group
• Formed without sufficient evidence
• Not easily changed
• Can lead to discrimination
• Discrimination
– Unequal treatment of individuals based on
their membership in a group
• NOT an individual basis
Stereotype Threat Effect
• Negative stereotypes impact performance
– Individuals are asked to carry out a task and are
made aware of negative stereotypes about their
groups’ ability to perform
• Research
– Spencer et al, 1999
• Telling women that males usually do better (before the test)
led to a decrease in performance scores
– Steel & Aronson, 1995
• African Americans scored less on a difficult verbal task if they
were asked to state their race before the test
Ethnocentrism
• Belief that one’s own ethnic group, nation,
or religion is superior to others
– “us-them” thinking
– Universal
• Leads people to feel more attached to a group
Durban, South Africa 1989
How do prejudices develop?
1. Scapegoating
– Type of displaced
aggression
– Blaming a person for
the actions of others
or conditions not of
their making
2. Prejudiced Personality
– Authoritarian Personalities
• Rigidity, inhibition, prejudice,
oversimplication
– Ethnocentric
• Placing one’s own group at the
center
– Dogmatism
• Unwarranted positiveness or
certainty in matters of belief or
opinion
• 3. Intergroup conflict
– Social Stereotypes
• Oversimplified images of people who belong to a
particular social group
• Positive or Negative
– Us vs. Them
Stereotypes in Film
• Does film reflect the stereotypes in society
OR does film create stereotypes
Experiments in Prejudice
• Jane Elliot
– Method: Unstructured experiment
– Brown eyed, blue eyed experiment
• How did she create prejudice?
– Status inequalities
• Differences in power, prestige, privileges
FOUR Theories of Stereotypes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Social Cognitive theories
Social Identity Theory
Systems-Justification Theory
Social-Representations Theory
Empirical Research
• Princenton Trilogy
– Katz and Braley
– Gilbert
– Karlins et al
• How do stereotypes impact behavior?
– Darley and Gross
– Steele and Aronson
Katz and Braley, 1933
• AIM: whether traditional stereotypes had a
cultural basis
• Participants: 100 male Princeton students
– Little contact with other ethnic groups
• Procedure: choose five habits that characterized
different ethnic groups
• Results
– Positive traits applied to own group (ingroup bias)
– Majority agreement in negative traits
• Implications
– Stereotypes are learned through the media  cultural
products
Gilbert, 1951
•
•
•
•
Method: survey
AIM: replicate Katz and Braley, 1933
Procedure  same
Results
– Less agreement about negative traits
• Except Japanese (bombing of Pearl Harbor)
– Unhappy about being asked to express stereotypes
• Less accepted to express negative stereotypes
– Still had ingroup bias
• Implications: stereotypes are cultural products
Karlins et al, 1969
• AIM: replicate other studies
• Results
– Many objected to the task
• But, greater agreement on stereotypes
– Re-emergence of social stereotyping
• Criticisms for Princeton Trilogy
– Difference between knowledge of a
stereotype and accepting it
• Research doesn’t consider this
Darely and Gross, 1983
• Method: Experiment
• Hypothesis: by giving a few details, people apply
stereotypes to an individual
• Procedure
– Videos:
• Playing in a poor and rich environment (same girl)
• Taking an intelligence test
• Asked to predict future success
• Results
– Rich girl would do well, poor girl would do less well
• Implications: use stereotypes to predict future
success (treatment of people)
Steele and Aronson, 1995
• Method: Experiment
• AIM: to see if belief in a stereotype impacts behavior
• Participants: African-Americans & European Americans
(White).
• Procedure: verbal performance test
– Told it was…
• Verbal ability
• To see how problems were solved
• Results
– African Americans scored lower on the “verbal ability” test
• Implications
– If an individual believes in a stereotype, it impacts their behavior