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Diversity in
Groups:
Prejudice,
Discrimination,
and
Stereotypes
Prejudice is an
attitude (usually
negative) toward
members of some
group, based
solely on their
membership in
that group.
As an attitude, prejudice has affective,
cognitive, and behavioral components.
The behavioral component is called
discrimination.
The cognitive
component of
prejudice--a
stereotype-contains beliefs
about members
of the outgroup
that may not be
true.
A
stereotype
filters
information
in a
selective
way to
preserve
the beliefs.
Have attitudes
changed? The
results of
numerous studies
suggest that overt
attitudes have
changed
dramatically over
the past 60+ years.
Can we trust self-reports? There are
strong social norms against expressing
prejudice overtly.
This may lead to
socially desirable
responding that
underestimates the
levels of
contemporary
prejudice. How would
we know?
The Persistence of Prejudice
Prejudice persists because the attitudes
can bolster self-esteem. By putting down
another group, prejudiced people can
affirm their own self-worth.
Stereotypes also
persist because they
save considerable
cognitive effort. By
classifying a person
into a category, we
assume that we know
all the important
information about that
person. Of course,
that assumption can
be quite wrong.
Discrimination
Social norms strongly discourage
discrimination, so it now usually takes more
subtle and disguised forms:
• Tokenism
• Reverse discrimination
• Reluctance to help
• Avoidance
• Initial defensiveness
• The benefit of the doubt
Reverse Discrimination
Fajardo (1985) asked White teachers to
grade essays supposedly written by White
or Black students. The essays varied in
quality with the writer’s race assigned
randomly.
90
80
70
White Writer
Black Writer
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Poor
Low
High
Excellent
What are the consequences?
Favorable treatment may not provide a firm
basis for self-esteem if it can be attributed to
race rather than ability.
Crocker et al. (1991) manipulated the
feedback that was given by a White
evaluator to a Black participant. They also
manipulated whether the Black participant
believed that the evaluator had seen them
through a one-way mirror while they were
performing the task.
When Black participants thought their race
was unknown to the evaluator, their selfesteem was determined by the feedback.
When they believed their race was known,
they did not
suffer
following
negative
feedback
but resented
positive
feedback.
Reluctance to help
Gaertner and Dovidio (1977) had White
female undergraduates overhear a
supposed emergency in which several
chairs seemed to fall on either a White or
a Black female confederate. The
participants were either alone or in the
presence of two other bystanders.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
White Victim
Black Victim
Alone
Others Present
Avoidance
Discrimination
Social norms strongly discourage
discrimination, so it now usually takes more
subtle and disguised forms:
• Tokenism
• Reverse discrimination
• Reluctance to help
• Avoidance
• Initial defensiveness
Initial defensiveness
White staff members treated Black mental
patients more defensively during the initial
30 days of care . . .
The benefit of the doubt
Ugwuegbu (1979) presented mock trial
evidence to Black and White “jurors” in a
rape case in which the victim was either
Black or White. The evidence was
manipulated to be either strongly
favorable to the defendant, strongly
unfavorable to the defendant, or
ambiguous.
When the evidence was clear, all jurors
made reasonably unbiased guilt ratings.
There was a slight tendency for samerace leniency and greater anger about
cross-race rapes when the victim was the
same race as the juror.
Clear race effects emerged when the
evidence was ambiguous.
Guilt Rating (4-36)
25
Black Defendant
White Defendant
20
15
10
5
0
Black Juror
White Juror
The Origins of Prejudice
Realistic conflict theory.
Social learning
also plays a role in
the origins of
prejudice. We
acquire many of
these attitudes
through
socialization
(observational
learning) and the
media.
Social Categorization
One of the more insidious origins of
prejudice arises from the mere fact that
humans readily categorize the social
world. Some of the easiest distinctions to
make are based on physical features-race, age, sex, weight--and these also
represent some of our more strongly held
prejudices.
Cognitive Sources of Prejudice
Stereotypes lead to active manipulation of
information about outgroups, taking
inconsistent information and making it
consistent with the stereotype.
Stereotypes create expectations that
affect the way we think and behave
toward members of an outgroup.
The expectations embedded in
stereotypes can be a powerful guide to
behavior, creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
Person A’s
Expectations
Person A’s
Behaviors
Person B’s
Behavior
The targets of prejudice are also quite
aware of the stereotypes held by others.
The threatening
nature of
negative
expectations can
be a powerful
source of arousal
and affect the
performance of
the targets of
stereotypes-stereotype threat.