Attitudes Towards People

Primacy Effect Our initial evaluation of people is conducted very quickly and the first impressions that we develop tend to be lasting ones. This is called the primacy effect, whereby the initial impression we form of a person is more influential than any later information obtained.

First Impressions Last Psychologists suggest we should look our best for a job interview. The interviewer will tend to make a judgement about our suitability for a position based on the first impression we give. Even though the first impression may not be accurate, it can still have a lasting influence. Examples of what you have worn to a job interview? Did you get the job?

What is Stereotyping? Class Discussion When we evaluate people, we tend to do so by trying to fit them into a category based on our knowledge of people and the world. This process of grouping or ‘fitting’ people into a category based on what we know about them is called stereotyping.

A stereotype A stereotype is a collection of beliefs that we have about the people who belong to a certain group, regardless of individual differences among members of that group. For example, a stereotype of a doctor might be: wealthy, drives an expensive car, lives in a big house, works long hours and is conservative.

Stereotypes help us make sense of the world Stereotypes help us to make sense of our world by giving it order. They provide us with a general system which guides our interactions with others. Because it is not possible for us to intimately know everyone we meet, we use stereotypes to assist us in knowing how we should react to new people we meet.

Stereotyping Example For example, if you are at a party, meet an attractive person, then discover that the person is a police officer, your behaviour towards them may be influenced by the stereotypical view of police as being always ‘on the job’. You may treat your teachers with respect, because you have a view that they are here to help you 

Stereotyping Activity Set the room up so all the tables are at the edge of the room. All the chairs are in the middle Sit down and I will give you a tag for your forehead Don’t look at it! Don’t tell your friend what they are.

Stereotyping activity Once you each have a tag on your head You need to spend the next 10 minutes talking with each other about your "future goals" You should circulate in order to talk with several different people, and you should treat one another according to the other person's labelled attribute. For example, someone labelled "forgetful" might be repeatedly reminded of the instructions.

How did you feel during the activity? Remove you labels Was the label what you guessed, or were you surprised by it? When people stereotyped you, were you able to disregard it? Did you try to disprove the stereotype? If so, did it work? How did you feel toward the person who was stereotyping you? If your attribute was positive (e.g., "good at math"), how did you feel? When stereotyping others, how easy was it to find confirming evidence? When stereotyping others, how did you react to disconfirming evidence?

Reflection on the Stereotyping Activity Quickly write down two paragraphs about what you learnt about stereotyping from doing this activity? Do you use many stereotypes daily? Will you try and use less if they are negative?

Problems with Stereotyping One problem with stereotyping is that stereotypes can be inaccurate. Stereotypes are often based on incorrect or inadequate information. Consequently, many social and cultural stereotypes are formed on the basis of little or no empirical evidence. Gender stereotyping

Stigma A stigma is a negative label associated with disapproval or rejection by others who are not labelled in that way. If a social or cultural group is stigmatised, or negatively evaluated, then members of that group can feel like outcasts who are devalued, ignored and rejected by others, simply because they are members of the stigmatised group. Who was stigmatized in the group activity?

We all make stereotypes every day One very big issue in today’s society is Gender stereotypes. Watch the following clip: Gender Stereotypes link (youtube downloader) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nIXUjzyMe0

Home work Read Page 333-339 Stereotyping Research Handout (Needs to go in Annotated Portfolio) Extension Activities LA 8.10 Page 339 LA 8.12 Page 340