Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

Chapter 5: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Terms in this set (35)

racism
prejudice and discrimination based on a person's racial background (or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one racial group over another)
sexism
prejudice and discrimination based on a person's gender (or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one gender over another)
stereotype
a belief or association that links a whole group of people with certain traits or characteristics
prejudice
negative feelings toward persons based on their membership in certain groups
discrimination
behavior directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group
group
two or more persons perceived as related because of their interactions (direct and over a period of time), membership in the same social category (ex. based on sex, race, etc.), or common fate, identity, or set of goals
ingroups
groups with which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging, and identity; favored; "us"
outgroups
groups with which an individual does not feel a sense of membership, belonging, or identity; excluded; "them"
modern racism
a form of prejudice based on race that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable, and easy to rationalize
implicit racism
racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally; measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT)
gender stereotypes
differ from other stereotypes in that they are prescriptive (telling what each group SHOULD be like) in addition to being descriptive
ambivalent sexism
two types: hostile sexism and benevolent sexism
hostile sexism
sexism characterized by negative, resentful feelings about women's abilities, value, and ability to challenge men's power; part of ambivalent sexism
benevolent sexism
sexism characterized by affectionate, chivalrous feelings founded on the potentially patronizing belief that women need and deserve protection; part of ambivalent sexism
optimal distinctiveness theory
according to this theory, people try to balance the desire to belong and affiliate with others with the desire to be distinct and differentiated from others; may drive people to identify with relatively small ingroups and distance themselves from outgroups and individuals whose group status is ambiguous
Terror Management Theory
according to this theory (whose main idea is that people cope with the fear of their own death by constructing worldviews that help preserve their self-esteem), favoring ingroups over outgroups is one important way that people preserve their cultural worldviews and attempt to gain a kind of immortality; consistent with research that shows thinking of mortality triggers ingroup biases
Robbers Cave
a field study in intergroup conflict where two groups of boys went to camp and became close-knit groups before knowing about or meeting the other group. Then, the "Rattlers" and the "Eagles" met for competitions, which led to extremely hostile interactions (food fight, cabins ransacked, group flags burned, etc). The experimenters tried saying nice things to each group about the other to begin restoring the peace, but this didn't work - neither did getting together in a non-competitive situation. In the end, the only thing that worked was cooperating in pulling the camp truck, which had broken down, up a steep hill. This field study shows that superordinate goals help bring separate groups together even if there is a lot of hostility.
superordinate goals
a shared goal that can be achieved only through cooperation among individuals or groups
realistic conflict theory
the theory that hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources; this competition or scarcity may be imagined (not real, but real enough to the perceiver)
relative deprivation
feelings of discontent aroused by the belief that one fares poorly compared to others; contributes to the escalation of hostility involved in realistic conflict theory
ingroup favoritism
the tendency to discriminate in favor of ingroups over outgroups (often including the derogation of outgroups, which bolsters self-esteem)
social identity theory
the theory that people favor ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self-esteem
social dominance orientation
a desire to see one's ingroup as dominant over other groups and a willingness to adopt cultural values that facilitate oppression over other groups
social categorization
the classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes; in some sense, this is natural and adaptive (saves time and energy), but this leads us to overestimate the differences between groups and to underestimate the differences within groups
outgroup homogeneity effect
the tendency to assume that there is a greater similarity among members of outgroups than among members of ingroups
dehumanization
the psychological process where perceivers think of outgroup members more like objects than like fellow human beings; they see them as less than fully human, which helps them justify exclusion, prejudice, discrimination, etc.
illusory correlation
an overestimate of the association between variables that are only slightly or not at all correlated; people tend to overestimate the association between variables that are distinctive (because they are novel or deviant) or between variables that they already expect to go together; helps support and propagate stereotypes
subtyping
people can create a group within a larger stereotype group in order to admit that there are exceptions, including members of the larger group that the perceiver may actually like; by excluding a few favored cases (in the smaller group), the negative stereotype can be kept intact for all other cases
social role theory
the theory that small gender differences are magnified in perception by the contrasting social roles occupied by men and women
sexism in the media
even brief exposure to sexist television commercials (or other sexist media) can significantly influence one's behavior
stereotype content model
a model proposing that the relative status and competition between groups influence group stereotypes along the dimensions of competence and warmth
subliminal presentation
a method of presenting stimuli so faintly or rapidly that people do not have any conscious awareness of having been exposed to them; studies involving this method show that stereotypes are sometimes automatically activated
stereotype threat
the experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about one's group
contact hypothesis
the hypothesis that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce prejudice under certain conditions; 4 conditions needed for contact to treat racism = circumstances where the groups have equal status, personal interaction, cooperative activities, and social norms that favor intergroup contact
jigsaw classroom
a cooperative learning method used to reduce racial prejudice through interaction in group efforts
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...