Homework Due Monday April 11 th Go to the websites below and take the tests. Register using your and make a password. Be sure to include the class ID: DHSBulldogs2012 (otherwise I will not receive the completed assignment. Take the baseline survey first. Take the Slide Tour of Prejudice second. Finally take the IAT using the link When finished answer the questions below: What were your IAT results? Do you believe your results were accurate? Why or why not? What was your reaction when you learned your results? Regardless of the IAT, do you think that you have hidden racial biases? What is your evidence? In your opinion, how common are hidden racial biases, and how important are they compared with other racial biases?

Sociocultural Level of Analysis: Social and Cultural Norms Part V

An integrative approach to prejudice and discrimination Stereotyping is a cognitive process whereby people categorize others for example, in terms of belonging to a social group or simply just on the basis of their looks – think about the many jokes about blondes. – Once a set of characteristics are used to describe a group of people, those characteristics are often attributed to all members of the group.

An integrative approach to prejudice and discrimination Prejudice is an attitude. An attitude can be defined by as the combination of emotion and cognition. Not only does a person judge an individual based on a set of characteristics that is attributed to him or her because of the group to which he or she belongs, but contact elicits and emotional response. Prejudices may or may not be based on stereotyping.

An integrative approach to prejudice and discrimination Discrimination is a behavior. Discrimination is when a person treats someone differently based on his or her membership of a group, rather than on individual merit. This type of behavior can range from denying the person a job (e.g. because they are overweight, old, or suffer from a physical disability) to segregation, to violent hate crimes.

Biological research on the origins of prejudice The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is designed to detect the strength of a person's automatic association between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory. A computer-based measure, The IAT requires that users rapidly categorize two target concepts with an attribute (e.g. the concepts "male" and "female" with the attribute "logical"), such that easier pairings (faster responses) are interpreted as more strongly associated in memory than more difficult pairings (slower responses). The results of an IAT test are thought to measure an individual's implicit attitudes: actions or judgments occur without the performer's awareness. Banaji and Greenwald (1998) were the developers of the IAT

Biological research on the origins of prejudice Susan Fiske (2007) – participants were placed into an MRI scanner and then shown a series of photos. These photos included people with disabilities, rich businessmen, older people. US Olympic athletes, and homeless people. – Fiske was surprised that when participants viewed the photo of a homeless person: their brains set off a series of reactions associated with disgust.

Biological research on the origins of prejudice Susan Fiske (2007) – An area in the brain called the insula was activated, which is usually a response to non- human objects such as garbage and human waste. – Even more surprising, the part of the brain that is activated when we think about other people or ourselves – the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex – was no activated. In other words, in the case of the homeless, the participants’ brains did not react to them as people.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice Arguing that stereotypes alone cause prejudice is not sufficient. Allport (1954) argued that hostility is a key emotional component of prejudice. Important factors in the development of prejudice – The way people make decisions. Shortcuts or trick to making easy decisions are called heuristics, and may influence how people interpret the behavior of others.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice Important factors in the development of prejudice – The way people make decisions. Shortcuts or trick to making easy decisions are called heuristics, and may influence how people interpret the behavior of others. – Tversky and Kahnemann (1982) argue that people make many judgments based on the availability heuristic – that is, they base decisions on the information that is readily available.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice Important factors in the development of prejudice – The heuristics that Tversky and Kahnemann suggested could be due to schema processing. It is accepted by many social psychologists that people use schemas to process social information. This is part of what is called social cognition. Since humans are social animals and dependent on other people they need to be able to form impressions of people and understand what they are doing. Social schemas give the individual the opportunity to process the enormous amount of information in the social world in an economic way.

How do you think people would estimate the future of a child coming from either environment?

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice Darley and Gross (1983) "Hannah" study, participants were told fourth grader Hannah was the child of either a poor or a wealthy family. After watching a video of Hannah's performance on a test, participants in the "wealthy family" group rated Hannah's performance above fourth grade, whereas the "poor family" group rated her performance below fourth grade, in spite of watching the same ambiguous video. These findings demonstrate that stereotypes about socioeconomic status affect perceptions of intelligence.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice In order to overcome prejudice, one has to be able to decategorize, but this is no easy task because stereotypes are resistant to change – partly due to the phenomenon called “confirmation bias.” Confirmation bias – people tend to look for information that confirms their stereotypes or prejudices – not the opposite.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice In order to challenge stereotypes an maybe change them, members of the group who do not fit the stereotype need to be presented to those who hold the stereotype. However just presenting one member of a minority group who does not match the prevalent stereotypes is not enough to change stereotypes.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice The member would be seen as the “exception”, this is what Allport called “fencing off”. Rothbart and John (1985) argue that whereas unfavorable traits need few examples to confirm and strengthen stereotypes, more examples are needed to disconfirm them.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice Impression management theory (Tedeschi and Rosenfield 1981) argues that much attitude change is seen as an attempt to avoid social anxiety and embarrassment, or to protect the positive view of one’s own identity. Devine (1989) found that even when a person considers himself or herself to be low in prejudice, when put into contact with a member of a stereotyped group, the person will immediately react according to the social norms.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice Jane Elliott’s experiment… – On the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in April 1968, Jane Elliott’s third graders from the small, all-white town of Riceville, Iowa, came to class confused and upset. They recently had made King their ‘Hero of the Month,’ and they couldn’t understand why someone would kill him. – So Elliott decided to teach her class a daring lesson in the meaning of discrimination. She wanted to show her pupils what discrimination feels like, and what it can do to people. –

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice – Elliott divided her class by eye color — those with blue eyes and those with brown. On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes. Throughout the day, Elliott praised them and allowed them privileges such as a taking a longer recess and being first in the lunch line. In contrast, the brown-eyed children had to wear collars around their necks and their behavior and performance were criticized and ridiculed by Elliott.

Cognitive research on the origins of prejudice – On the second day, the roles were reversed and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior while the brown eyes were designated the dominant group…

_________________is a cognitive process whereby people categorize others

Confirmation bias Stereotyping Compliance

___________________________(1983) "Hannah" study, participants were told fourth grader Hannah was the child of either a poor or a wealthy family.

Darley and Gross Hart Devine

__________________________– people tend to look for information that confirms their stereotypes or prejudices – not the opposite.

_____________________– people tend to look for information that confirms their stereotypes or prejudices – not the opposite. Confirmation bias Stereotyping Compliance

_________________________________found that even when a person considers himself or herself to be low in prejudice, when put into contact with a member of a stereotyped group, the person will immediately react according to the social norms.

___________________________________found that even when a person considers himself or herself to be low in prejudice, when put into contact with a member of a stereotyped group, the person will immediately react according to the social norms. Devine Allport Darley and Gross

Discrimination is a ________.

attitude behavior

_______________________found that when white and black participants were given brief subliminal glimpses of faces of individuals from other ethnic groups, both showed increased activity in the amygdala.

Hart Devine Rothbart and John

The _____________ is designed to detect the strength of a person's automatic association between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory.

TAT IAT TAI

__________________argue that whereas unfavorable traits need few examples to confirm and strengthen stereotypes, more examples are needed to disconfirm them.

Devine Rothbart and John Hart

_______________ argued that hostility is a key emotional component of prejudice.

Allport Hart Rothbart and John

Prejudice is an ______________.

Attitude Behavior

An _________________________can be defined by as the combination of emotion and cognition.

Attitude Behavior