1. Understanding Intercultural Communication Second Edition
Chapter 8
What Causes us to Hold Biases Against Outgroups?
Stella Ting-Toomey & Leeva C. Chung
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
PowerPoint Slides Designed by Alex Flecky and Noorie Baig

2. TODAY’S MENU I. Human Perception Tendencies: Some General Principles
II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
III. Marking Ingroup/Outgroup Membership Boundaries
IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
V. Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables

3. I. Human Perception Tendencies: Some General Principles
Process of selecting cues quickly from the environment, organizing them into a coherent pattern and labeling that pattern, and interpreting that pattern in accordance with our expectation.
Quick three-step process:
Selective attention
Selective organization and labeling
Selective interpretation.

4. Perception Test
YouTube Perception Test How many times does the team wearing white pass the basketball?
Link to YouTube Selective Attention test.

5. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
A. Ethnocentrism and Communication
Ethnocentrism: derived from two Greek words:
Ethno: “one’s own ethnic or cultural group”
Centrism: “One’s own group should be looked upon as the center of the world”
Degrees of ethnocentrism:
Distance of disparagement (high ethnocentrism)
Distance of avoidance (moderate ethnocentrism)
Distance of indifference (low ethnocentrism)

6. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS)
Developed by Janet Bennett & Milton Bennett
A Popular Intercultural Training Model:
Three states of ethnocentrism
Three states in development of ethnorelativism

7. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

8. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Stereotype content model (SCM):
Formed along two dimensions:
Perception of warmth dimension
Perception of competence dimension

9. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
A Two-Dimensional Stereotype Content Model
Take note of the various country abbreviations (GER = Germany; SPA = Spain, etc.)

10. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Stereotyping is inevitable; key is to distinguish between inflexible and flexible stereotyping.
Inflexible stereotyping: holds onto negative stereotypes by operating on automatic pilot.
Flexible stereotyping: “mindfully minding our mind.”

11. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Table 8.1
Inflexible Stereotyping
Flexible Stereotyping
Automatic pilot reaction Rigid categories Premature closure Polarized evaluations Information distortion Unwilling to change categories
Mindful of categorization Open-ended categories First best-guesses Loose interpretations Information openness Willingness to change categories

12. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Click here to view UCLA student Alexandra Wallace’s rant on Asian students in the library
What are your interpretations?
Apology accepted? Forgive & forget? Forgive but not forget?
Click here to view Jimmy Wong’s reaction to Alexandra Wallace
What did you think of Wong’s response to Alex?
YouTube link to Alexandra Wallace’s video:
YouTube link to Jimmy Wong’s video:

13. II. Biased Intergroup Filters: Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
B. Stereotypes and Communication
Stereotypes:
Exaggerated pictures about a group of people on the basis of inflexible beliefs and expectations about the characteristics or behaviors of the group.
What are some factors that shape stereotypes?
Click here to view a clip from The Color of Friendship
Link to YouTube.com The Color of Friendship 3/9
View from start until 3:37

14. III. Marking Ingroup-Outgroup Membership Boundaries
Ingroup and Outgroup Attribution Differences

15. III. Marking Ingroup-Outgroup Membership Boundaries
A. Us versus Them
Social identity theory:
Study of ingroup, outgroup membership, how emotional attachment to social group plays key role in forming social/personal identity.
Ingroup: feel connected to.
Outgroup: feel emotionally and psychologically detached.

16. III. Marking Ingroup/Outgroup Membership Boundaries
B. Group Membership Struggle
C. Intergroup Attribution Biases
Attributions: the explanations—the meanings of why people behave as they do.
Fundamental attribution error
Principle of negativity
Favorable self-bias and other-derogation principle
Self-effacement bias

17. III. Marking Ingroup/Outgroup Membership Boundaries
Media Analysis: Crash film clip
Reflection Questions:
Where did the wife acquire her fear and biases?
Do you think stereotypes—both negative and positive—have their place? How so?
Where do we learn our stereotypes?

18. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
Describes an individual’s feelings and predispositions toward outgroup members in a pejorative or negative direction, but can also mean the opposite: One can be indiscriminately for or against members of a particular group.
Four explanations for development of prejudice:
Exploitation theory
Scapegoating theory
Authoritarian personality approach
Structural approach

19. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
B. Prejudiced Remarks . . .or Innocent Jokes?
Click here to watch a clip on how some ingroup members treat their own members like outgroup members.
Where to draw the line question is difficult to answer. . .
Click here to move toward the conscious competence stage with respect to stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination.
(*Caution – these clips contain offensive language).
*Caution – these clips contain offensive language.
YouTube video:
This clip created by students for a project on how to stop stereotyping.

20. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
C. Four Discriminatory Practices
Discrimination:
Verbal and nonverbal actions that carry out prejudiced attitudes. Four practices:
Isolate discrimination:
Small-group discrimination
Direct institutional discrimination
Indirect institutional discrimination

21. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
D. Different Types of Racism
Racism involves three principles:
Feelings of superiority based on biological or racial differences;
Strong ingroup preferences and the rejection of outgroups, different in customs or beliefs; and
Doctrine that conveys special advantage to those in power.
Three basic examples of racism:
Racial profiling
Perpetuating stereotypic images
Hate crimes

22. V. Intercultural Reality Check: Do-Ables
Be honest about your own biases.
Understand where you learn your stereotypes.
Seek accurate identity membership knowledge.
Get involved in diverse identity communities.
Cultivate constructive, intergroup contacts.
Work on positive, interdependent task goals.
Personalized the relationships & build trust.
Learn to listen and share…

23. Parting Thoughts… ~ Anne Frank
In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.
I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.
~ Anne Frank