1. Prejudice: Disliking Other
Chapter 9
David G. Myers

2. Overview Nature and Power of Prejudice Social Sources of Prejudice
Motivational Sources of Prejudice
Cognitive Sources of Prejudice
Consequences of Prejudice
Reducing Prejudice

3. The Nature and Power of Prejudice
Prejudice – a negative prejudgment of a group and its individual members
Stereotype – beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people
Typically overgeneralized and inaccurate
Discrimination – unjustifiable negative behavior towards a group or its members
Racism
Sexism
Heterosexism
Ageism
Weight Bias

4. Is Prejudice Disappearing?
Changing Prejudice – most American’s racial and gender attitudes have changed in the last 30 years
90% say people should be treated fairly w/out discrimination
Only 14% say they are highly prejudiced

5. Is Prejudice Disappearing?
Publicly people may not admit to prejudice, but stats. show it still exists
53% of African-Americans feel excluded on college campuses
61% of people would not see a homosexual doctor
Profiling - In NJ 35% of all stopped drivers are Black (15% of speeders)
Interracial Acquaintances vs. Interracial Intimacy
Race in America

6. Gender Prejudice
Gender Stereotypes – typically are stronger than racial stereotypes (Feminism?)
Ambivalent Sexism – mix of hostile and benevolent attitudes
Sexism is even more severe in other countries

7. Modern vs. Overt Prejudice
Dual Attitudes - automatic reactions (implicit) still occur regardless of one’s conscious (explicit) level of prejudice
Automatic reactions are affected by stereotype activation (priming)
"Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone but only his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.“ (Fyodor Dostoyevsky )

8. Modern Vs. Overt Prejudice
Modern Prejudice – subtle, even unconscious forms of discrimination, revealed through preferences and associations, and judgments
Modern Sexism & Racism - discrimination that occurs when it’s able to hide behind other motives

9. Modern Prejudice and Behavior
Prentice-Dunn “Shocking Study”

10. Modern Prejudice and Behavior
Hart et al (2000). Impression Study

11. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Automatic Prejudice
Implicit Association Test (IAT) – measures conscious and unconscious associations
Predicts hiring decisions, medical decisions, interpersonal interactions, biased judgments

12. Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Round One
Left Hand Right Hand
African American Name Caucasian Name
Round Two
Positive Adjective Negative Adjective

13. Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Round Three
Left Hand Right Hand
African American name Caucasian name
Negative Adjective Positive Adjective
Round Four
African American name Caucasian name
Positive Adjective Negative Adjective

14. Social Sources of Prejudice
Social Inequalities – stereotypes are used to rationalize unequal status
Social Dominance/Authoritarian Orientation – motivation to have your group be dominant over others
Religion and Prejudice – religion is used an excuse for social injustice
Religion does not cause prejudice

15. Conformity
Conformity - prejudice is often maintained by public apathy and inertia
Institutional Supports – political leaders, organizations, and education reflect and reinforce attitudes
Face-ism – male ads focus more on faces and females focus more on the body

16. Television and film propagate cultural attitudes and biases

17. Television and film propagate cultural attitudes and biases

18. Television and film propagate cultural attitudes and biases
Comparing how Blacks and White women are portrayed in the top movies of 1996.
White female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 17%
Black female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 89%
White female movie characters shown being physically violent: 11%
Black female movie characters shown being physically violent: 56%
Times more likely that a mug shot of the accused will appear in a local TV news report when the defendant is Black rather than White: 4X

19. Emotional Sources of Prejudice
Frustration & Aggression Hypothesis –frustrations can lead to displaced aggressions
Realistic Group Conflict Theory – prejudice arises when groups are competing for scarce resources

20. Cognitive Sources of Prejudice
Social Identity Theory – our self-esteem is influenced by our membership in groups
Categorization – we simplify & organize our world by categorizing people into groups
Rely on stereotypes when pressed for time, preoccupied, tired, emotionally aroused, and lacking experience
Ingroup/Outgroup Bias – the tendency to view ingroup members more favorably that outgroup members
Outgroup Homogeneity Bias – outgroup members are seen as more similar to one another

21. Distinctiveness: Standing Out
Stereotypes can bias attention, interpretation and memory (Illusory Correlations)
Distinct People – draw our attention and have exaggerated bad and good traits
Stigma Consciousness - Distinctive individuals sometimes imagine attention when there is none
Vivid Stimuli - extreme events are remembered better and can distort judgments (e.g. Black athletes, Muslim extremists, Homosexual criminals, etc.)

22. Attribution and a “Just World”
Attributions - we commit the FAE when explaining outgroup members’ behaviors
Group-Serving Bias – we are lenient with ingroup members and quick to condemn outgroups
Just-World Phenomenon – false belief that the world is fair and people get what they deserve

23. Consequences of Prejudice
Self-fulfilling Prophecy – negative expectations and behaviors cause others to confirm stereotypes
Stereotype Threat – self-confirming concern where one’s behavior will verify a negative stereotype

24. Stereotype Threat

25. Breaking the Prejudice Habit
Knowledge and Awareness
Motivation to Avoid prejudice
Internal vs. External Motivation
Seeking out diverse experiences
Monitoring and Controlling the prejudice habit