1. Prejudice
Hostile, negative attitudes toward a distinguishable group of people based solely on their membership in a group

2. What causes prejudice? Nature? Nurture? Mental bi-product?
Biological survival mechanism
Nurture?
Learned from our parents, society, teachers, etc.
Mental bi-product?
Social categorization: Us vs. Them
In-group bias: + feelings & special treatment for people in our group and – feelings & unfair treatment for people not in our group
Out-group homogeneity: perceiving individuals not in our group as more similar to each other than they really are as well as more similar than the members of the in-group are

3. Stereotype
A generalization about a group of people where identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members regardless of actual individual variance
Not necessarily emotional, not necessarily intentional, does not necessarily lead to abuse: can be a way of simplifying the world (remember schemas?)
Gender, race, occupation, religion, hair color…

4. Can we ‘undo’ stereotypes?
Bookkeeping Model: information inconsistent with a stereotype leads to a modification of that stereotype (accommodation)
Conversion Model: information inconsistent with a stereotype leads to a radical change in the stereotype
Subtyping Model: information inconsistent with a stereotype leads to the creation of a new stereotype to accommodate the information with out changing the initial stereotype (assimilation)

5. Two Step Model of Cognitive Processing
The return of automatic vs. controlled processing as they apply to stereotypes
Automatic: pops up with the right stimulus (member of stereotyped group, stereotypical statement, etc.) causing stereotype to be accessed from memory
Occurs without awareness…you don’t think stereotypical thoughts on purpose
Controlled: aware of the occurrence of stereotypical thought access
For example, choosing to ignore stereotypical information

6. Discrimination vs. Reverse Discrimination
Discrimination: an unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group solely because of their membership in that group.
Reverse discrimination: an unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group solely because of their membership in that group.

7. Ultimate Attribution Error
Tendency to make dispositional attributions about an entire group of people
Differs from Fundamental Attribution Error in that you make attributions about a GROUP, not an individual
Bodenhausen (1988)
College students were more likely to find a defendant guilty of a crime if his name was Carlos Ramirez rather than Robert Johnson
But flip the coin…

8. Affirmative Action & Quotas
Set of laws requiring employers to hire employees from diverse ethnic back-grounds
Applies to public university admissions as well
Forcible desegregation of work and college environments
Heavily criticized in the present day; does it still have a use?
Sprit vs. application

9. The Bell Curve Book by Herrnstein & Murray, 1995
Suggested statistically significant differences in academic performance between African, Anglo, and Asian Americans
There IS a difference on academic tests w/ considerable overlap
Traditionally, Asian outscore Anglo who outscore African Americans
So question is not does it occur (yes) but why?
Recall the stereotype threat
Remember, also applies to gender

10. Blaming the Victim
Tendency to blame individuals (dispositional attributions) for their victimization
Usually motivated by the “belief in a just world”
Aimed at the homeless, traditionally oppressed persons (e.g. Jews), etc.
Janoff-Bulman, Timko, & Carli, 1985
Wagstaff, 1982
33% of surveyed Brits believed that victims of rape are “almost always to blame for it.”

11. Realistic Conflict Theory
Limited resources lead to conflict between groups and result in increased prejudice and discrimination
Italian vs. Irish immigrants
Hovland & Sears, 1940
Correlated price of cotton in Southern states from 1882 to 1930 with the number of lynchings of southern African Americans in the same time frame
VERY strong negative correlation (r = -.72)
Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, & Sherif, 1961
Classic “boy scout” experiment with “eagles” and “rattlers”

12. Institutionalized Racism, Sexism
Institutionalized Racism: racist attitudes held by the vast majority of us because we live in a society where stereotypes and discrimination are the norm
Institutionalized Sexism: sexist attitudes held by the vast majority of us because we live in a society where stereotypes and discrimination are the norm
Normative Conformity: go along with the group to gain acceptance and fulfill the group’s expectations
Non-conformity has consequences but can invoke change
Rosa Parks, Sydney Poitier
“By far the greatest determinant of prejudice is slavish conformity to social norms.”

13. What’s good for the goose…
Members of the “in-group” can behave one way but if members of the “out-group” behave in that same way, they are perceived as mocking, insulting, or in violation of a social norm thus furthering the “us vs. them” distinction
Speech patterns, behavior, etc.
Prejudiced behavior can change with convenience as well as time
Alabama Governor George Wallace

14. What reduces prejudice?
May be reduced by equal status contact between majority and minority groups in the pursuit of common goals.
Helps if sanctioned by institutional support (e.g. laws, customs, norms, etc.)
Applications to desegregation (jigsaw classroom)
Mutual Interdependence: situation where 2 or more groups need each other and depend on each other to accomplish a goal important to both
Education, proper models, intolerance for prejudice on the highest and lowest levels