Racism / Racist (definition)1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences
among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3.hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
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Discrimination (defined)1. an act or instance of discriminating, or of
making a distinction. 2. treatment or consideration of, or making a
distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.
3. the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.
4. Archaic. something that serves to differentiate.
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Chapter NinePrejudice: Disliking Others
Defined:1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed
beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding an ethnic, racial, social, or religious group
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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Defining Prejudice
Discrimination Unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its
membersRacism
Prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race
Sexism Prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior
toward people of a given sex
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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice? (an attitude)
Defining PrejudicePreconceived negative judgment of a group and its
individual members Supported by stereotypes
Beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people Could a stereotype be accurate? What are some? Give examples
Some examples of groups that may experience prejudice: Gender, racial, religion/atheists, overweight, sexual
orientation, elderly, immigrants, Occupations? Others?
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Attitude components (3)Prejudice – affect
positive or negativeStereotype – belief
Attributing characteristics of an individual based on their group membership
Positive or negative / accurate or inaccurate What are some positive stereotypes?We need them to negotiate a complex world
Why? “accuracy dominates bias” (90 % correct)
Discrimination – behavior –acting on a belief/affect
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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Prejudice: Implicit and Explicit
Dual attitude system Explicit
Conscious (central channel) Implicit
Automatic (peripheral channel) Implicit Associations Test (IAT) Try it out – (click here)
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Racial prejudiceIs there a difference between?
A preference for Will always vote for
A preference not for Will always vote against
What percent of Blacks voted for Obama in 2012? 95% - report most exit polls
What percent of women will vote for Hillary?
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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Racial Prejudice and discrimination
Subtle forms of prejudice Labor market discrimination Patronization
Avoiding criticisms Overpraising accomplishments
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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Racial Prejudice
Automatic prejudice Involves primitive regions of the brain associated
with fear (amygdala) Critics note that unconscious associations may only
indicate cultural assumptions, perhaps without prejudice
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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Gender Prejudice
Gender stereotypes Strong gender stereotypes exist Members of the stereotyped group accept the
stereotypes Most believe that men and women are different yet
equal Over time prejudice toward women has decreased
as much as with blacks A favorable stereotype (most people like women
more) Women’s work is not devalued
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What Is the Nature and Power of Prejudice?Gender Prejudice
Sexism: Benevolent and hostile Attitudes toward women have changed rapidly Most see women as understanding, kind, and
helpful Gender discrimination
Disappearing in democratic Western countries Non-Western countries gender bias is still strong
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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Social Inequalities: Unequal Status and
PrejudiceSocial dominance orientation
Motivation to have one’s group dominate other social groups
Being in a dominant high-status position tends to promote this orientation and justification
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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Socialization
Authoritarian personality Personality that is disposed to favor obedience to
authority and intolerance of outgroups and those lower in status Ethnocentricity
Believing in the superiority of one’s own ethnic and cultural group, and having a corresponding disdain for all other groups
Dogmatic authoritarianism – on the left See “Vision of the Anointed” – by T. Sowell
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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Socialization
Religion and prejudice In almost every country, leaders invoke religion to
sanctify the present order Use of religion to support injustice helps explain a
pair of findings concerning North American Christianity White church members express more racial
prejudice than nonmembers Those professing traditional or fundamentalist
Christian beliefs express more prejudice than those professing more progressive beliefs
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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Socialization
Conformity If prejudice is socially accepted, many people will
follow the path of least resistance and conform to the fashion
If prejudice is not deeply ingrained in personality, then as fashions change and new norms evolve, prejudice can diminish
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What Are the Social Sources of Prejudice?Institutional Supports
Government SchoolsMagazines and newspapers
Face-ismFilms and television
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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice?Frustration and Aggression: The Scapegoat
TheoryDisplaced aggression
Hate crimesRealistic group conflict theory
Prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources
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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Social Identity Theory: Feeling Superior to
OthersThe “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of
our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships We categorize We identify We compare
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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Social Identity Theory: Feeling Superior to
OthersIngroup bias
Tendency to favor one’s own group Because of our social identifications, we conform to
our group norms When our group succeeds, we feel better by
identifying strongly with it More ingroup bias if part of a small group
What does this say about school integration Racial mix levels?
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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Social Identity Theory: Feeling Superior to
OthersNeed for status, self-regard, and belonging
Terror management People’s self-protective emotional and cognitive
responses when confronted with reminders of their mortality
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What Are the Motivational Sources of Prejudice? Motivation to Avoid Prejudice
Motivation to avoid prejudice can lead people to modify their thoughts an actions Self-conscious people will feel guilt and try to
inhibit their prejudicial response
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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Categorization: Classifying People into
GroupsSpontaneous categorization
Social identity theory implies that those who feel their social identity keenly will concern themselves with correctly categorizing people as us or them
Necessary for prejudice
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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Categorization: Classifying People into
GroupsPerceived similarities and differences
Outgroup homogeneity effect Perception of outgroup members as more similar to
one another than are ingroup members Own-race bias
Tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race
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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice?Distinctiveness: Perceiving People Who Stand Out
Distinctive people Feeds on self-consciousness Dartmouth women with “disfigured faces” - (Kleck & Strenta, ‘80) - What did they believe about others
reactions? Majority beliefs about what minorities stereotypes of
them are “meta stereotypes” Stigma consciousness
Person’s expectation of being victimized by prejudice or discrimination Double edged sword Live with the stress but use it as a buffer (don’t take it
personally
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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Distinctiveness: Perceiving People Who Stand
OutVivid cases
Given limited experience with a particular social group, we recall examples of it and generalize Can prime the stereotype
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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Distinctiveness: Perceiving People Who Stand
OutDistinctive events foster illusory correlations
Stereotypes assume a correlation between group membership and individuals’ presumed characteristics
Attentiveness to unusual occurrences can create illusory correlations
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What Are the Cognitive Sources of Prejudice? Attribution: Is It a Just World?
Group-serving bias Explaining away outgroup members’ positive
behaviors; also attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions
Just-world phenomenon Tendency of people to believe that the world is just
and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get
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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Self-Perpetuating Prejudgments
Whenever a member of a group behaves as expected, we duly note the fact; our prior belief is confirmed
When a member of a group behaves inconsistently with our expectation, we may interpret or explain away the behavior as due to special circumstances
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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Self-Perpetuating Prejudgments
Subtyping Accommodating individuals who deviate from one’s
stereotype by thinking of them as “exceptions to the rule”
Subgrouping Accommodating individuals who deviate from one's
stereotype by forming a new stereotype about this subset of the group
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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Discrimination’s Impact: The Self-Fulfilling
ProphecySocial beliefs can be self-confirmingPrejudice affects its targets
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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Stereotype Threat
Disruptive concern, when facing a negative stereotype, that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype
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What Are the Consequences of Prejudice? Do Stereotypes Bias Judgments of
Individuals?Yes, but people often evaluate individuals more
positively than the groups they composeStrong Stereotypes MatterStereotypes Bias Interpretations
Affect how events are interpreted We evaluate people more extremely when their
behavior violates our stereotypes
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