Download Prejudice and discrimination - gleneaglespsych1-2

•Factors
contributing to the development of
prejudice
•Factors that may reduce prejudice

Ingroups

Outgroups

Intergroup conflict


Attribution is the process of trying to explain
observed behaviour in terms of a particular
cause.
Attribution can be either internal (from within
the person) or external (from the
environment)


If we attribute behaviour to internal factors,
we tend to blame one or more characteristics
of that person for causing the behaviour.
If we attribute behavoiur to external factors,
we tend to blame the situation or
circumstance as the cause.

His reckless driving
◦ Internal attribution – why??

The slippery road conditions
◦ External attribution
– why??


Occurs when people overestimate the
influence personal characteristics and
underestimate the influence of the situation
they are in when explaining a person’s
behaviour.
For example: you met a blonde girl on the weekend
who had never heard of Tony Abbott so you might
conclude that all blondes are naïve and do not care
about politics. You might not consider that she has
been out of the country for 2 years and this is her
first weekend back!


Is the tendency for
individuals to believe that
they live in a world where
people generally get what
they deserve and deserve
what they get.
For example: this explains why
so many people believed Carl
Williams ‘deserved’ to be
sentenced to life imprisonment
- the victim is blamed.

Intergroup contact
◦ Sustained contact
◦ Mutual interdependence
◦ Superordinate goals
◦ Equality of status

Cognitive interventions

Sustained contact: it has been suggested that
direct contact between members of different
groups can reduce intergroup stereotyping
prejudice. This is called the contact
hypothesis.
◦ However, there are exceptions to this. Can you
think of any groups that are still discriminated
against today, despite sustained contact?
Males
and
females
Europeans
and
Aboriginals
Older
people and
younger
people
Muslims
and
Christians


In order for sustained contact to be effective
in reducing prejudice, one condition which
must be present is:
mutual interdependence. This means that the
two different groups must have contact which
makes them dependent on each other.
◦ Tug of war example – two groups who may not
have like one another need each other if they are
going to win.

3 main stages:
◦ Promote development of cohesion between the
group (got the group to ‘bond’)
◦ Intergroup competition (tug of war competition)
◦ Aimed to improve relations by increasing contact
through intergroup cooperation in non-competitive
situations (provided social interactions between the
two ‘rival’ groups) – but this didn’t work!

In order to overcome rivalry and negative attitudes,
made the groups mutually interdependent on each
other (created situations where members of one
group alone could not accomplish the task)
(superordinate goals)

Create a flowchart or a comic strip of this
experiment including:
◦ the main stages of the experiment
◦ the results obtained by Sherif
◦ The way rivalry and negative attitudes were
overcome
◦ Make sure you include the key terms and concepts!
◦ Make it pretty because you will presenting this to
the class!
 (Pg. 351-354)

Create a cartoon flowchart of this experiment
including the main stages of the experiment
and the results obtained by Sherif.
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
•Promote development of cohesion between the
group
•Provide ‘bonding’ sessions for
•Intergroup competition
•Tug of war competitions
•Improve relations by increasing contact
through intergroup cooperation in noncompetitive situations
•Hiring and watching movies together
Mutual
interdependence
•Overcome rivalry and negative attitudes by making
the groups mutually interdependent on each other
•Water tank and car problems – could not be solved
by one group alone


Superordinate goals are goals which cannot
be achieved by any one group alone and
overrides other existing goals which each
group might have.
For example, you may have two groups of
people who seriously dislike each other and
place them in the bush. The only way they
can find their way out is to work together –
this would be their superordinate goal!


Another example is the film, ‘Remember the
Titans’
This breaks down barriers, encourages
people to see each other as just people and
not as part of "that other group that we
dislike", and can help overcome differences
between the groups.


Equality of status is another condition of the
contact hypothesis. in order for prejudice to
be reduced, each group must have equal
status in the contact situation.
When status between two groups is not equal,
the group members tend to view the other
group members differently, and may also
treat them differently.


Cognitive intervention involves changing the
way in which someone thinks about
prejudice.
If people can be encouraged to understand
others based on their individual
characteristics rather than generalising some
of their characteristics to stereotype them,
then prejudice may be lessened.

Questions 3, 4 & 5
◦ These need to be completed for homework by next
lesson (Thursday Pd. 5 & 6)