Theories of Prejudice and Stereotyping

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Chapter 14
Social Psychology
dissonance by affirming their value as unique individuals, whereas people from collectivist cultures can reduce the same kind of feelings by affirming the value of the
groups to which they belong (Hoshino-Browne et al., 2005). (“In Review: Forming
and Changing Attitudes” summarizes some of the main processes through which attitudes are formed and changed.)
LINKAGES
Can subconscious processes
alter our reaction to people?
(a link to Consciousness)
Removed due to copyright
permissions restrictions.
FIGURE
14.4
The Impact of Stereotypes
on Behavior
When these men suddenly aplearn peared on a video screen, parby
ticipants were supposed to
“shoot” them, but only if they appeared to
be armed (Correll et al., 2002). Stereotypes
about whether white men or black men are
more likely to be armed significantly affected the errors made by participants in
firing their video game “weapons.” Cover
these photos with a pair of index cards; then
ask a few friends to watch as you show each
photo, one at a time, for just an instant, before covering it again. Then ask your friends
to say whether either man appeared to be
armed. Was one individual more often seen
as armed? If so, which one?
doing
2
Prejudice and Stereotypes
䉴 How does prejudice develop?
All of the principles behind impression formation, attribution, and attitudes come
together in prejudice and stereotypes. Stereotypes are the perceptions, beliefs, and
expectations a person has about members of some group. They are schemas about
entire groups of people (Dion, 2003). Usually, they involve the false assumption that
all members of a group share the same characteristics. The characteristics that make
up the stereotype can be positive, but more often they are negative. The most prevalent and powerful stereotypes focus on observable personal attributes, particularly ethnicity, gender, and age (Operario & Fiske, 2001).
The stereotypes people hold can be so ingrained that their effects on behavior can be
automatic and unconscious (Banaji, Lemm, & Carpenter, 2001; Blair, Judd, & Fallman,
2004). In one study, for example, European American and African American participants played a video game in which white or black men suddenly appeared on a
screen, holding an object that might be a weapon (Correll et al., 2002; see Figure 14.4).
The participants had to immediately “shoot” armed men but not unarmed ones. Under
this time pressure, participants’ errors were not random. If they “shot” an unarmed
man, he was more likely to be black than white; when they failed to “shoot” an armed
man, he was more likely to be white than black. These differences appeared in both
European American and African American participants, but was most pronounced
among those who held the strongest cultural stereotypes about blacks.
Stereotyping often leads to prejudice, which is a positive or negative attitude toward
an individual based simply on that individual’s membership in some group (Dion,
2003). The word prejudice means “to prejudge.” Many theorists believe that prejudice,
like other attitudes, has cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Stereotyped
thinking is the cognitive component of prejudicial attitudes. The hatred, admiration,
anger, and other feelings people have about stereotyped groups constitute the affective
component. The behavioral component of prejudice involves discrimination, which is
differing treatment of individuals who belong to different groups.
Theories of Prejudice and Stereotyping
Prejudice and stereotyping may occur for several reasons. Let’s consider three explanatory theories, each of which has been supported by research and accounts for many
instances of stereotyping and prejudice.
Motivational Theories For some people, prejudice serves to meet certain needs
and increases their sense of security. This idea was first proposed by Theodor W.
Adorno and his associates more than fifty years ago (Adorno et al., 1950) and was elaborated more recently by Bob Altemeyer (1996, 2004). These researchers suggest that
prejudice is especially likely among people who display a personality trait called authoritarianism. According to Altemeyer, authoritarianism is composed of three main elements: (1) acceptance of conventional or traditional values, (2) willingness to unquestioningly follow the orders of authority figures, and (3) an inclination to act aggressively
toward individuals or groups identified by authority figures as threats to the person’s
values or well-being. In fact, people with an authoritarian orientation tend to view the
world as a threatening place (Winter, 1996). One way to protect themselves from the
Prejudice and Stereotypes
553
The
use of schemas to assign certain people
to certain categories can be helpful when
deciding who is a customer and who is a
store employee, but it can also lead to inaccurate stereotypes. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New
York and Washington, D.C., many people
began to think of all Muslims as potential
terrorists and to discriminate against
them. This false assumption and the
problems it has created for Muslims in
the United States was one of the many
awful side effects of the terrorist attacks.
SCHEMAS AND STEREOTYPES
threats they perceive all around them is to strongly identify with people like themselves—their in-group—and to reject, dislike, and maybe even punish people from
groups that are different from their own (Cottrell & Neuberg, 2005). Looking down
on, and discriminating against, members of these out-groups—such as gay men and lesbians, African Americans, or Muslims, for example—may help authoritarian people feel
safer and better about themselves (Haddock & Zanna, 1998).
Another motivational explanation of prejudice involves the concept of social identity discussed earlier. Recall that whether or not they display authoritarianism, most
people are motivated to identify with their in-group and tend to see it as better than
other groups (Brewer & Pierce, 2005). As a result, members of an in-group often see
all members of out-groups as less attractive and less socially acceptable than members
of the in-group and may thus treat them badly (Jackson, 2002). In other words, prejudice may result when people’s motivation to enhance their own self-esteem causes
them to disrespect other people.
Cognitive Theories Stereotyping and prejudice may also result from the thought
stereotypes False assumptions that all
members of some group share the same
characteristics.
prejudice
A positive or negative attitude toward people in certain groups.
discrimination
Differential treatment
of people in certain groups; the behavioral component of prejudice.
processes that people use in dealing with the world. There are so many other people,
so many situations in which we meet them, and so many behaviors that others might
display that we cannot possibly attend to and remember them all. Therefore, people
must use schemas and other cognitive shortcuts to organize and make sense of their
social world (Moskowitz, 2005). Often these cognitive processes provide accurate and
useful summaries of other people, but sometimes they lead to inaccurate stereotypes.
For example, one effective way to deal with social complexity is to group people into
social categories. Rather than remembering every detail about everyone we have ever
encountered, we tend to put other people into categories such as doctor, senior citizen,
Republican, student, Italian, and the like (Dovidio, Kawakami, & Gaertner, 2000). To
further simplify perception of these categories, we tend to see group members as being
quite similar to one another. This tendency can be seen in the fact that members of
one ethnic group may find it harder to distinguish among specific faces in other ethnic groups than in their own (Anthony, Cooper, & Mullen, 1992; Michel et al., 2006).
People also tend to assume that all members of a different group hold the same beliefs
and values and that those beliefs and values differ from those of their own group (Dion,
2003). Finally, because particularly noticeable stimuli tend to draw a lot of attention,
rude behavior by even a few members of an easily identified ethnic group may lead people to see an illusory correlation between rudeness and ethnicity (Hamilton & Sherman,
1994). As a result, they may incorrectly believe that all members of that group are rude.