Stereotypes & Prejudice; Aggression:
Lecture #8 topics
 Stereotypes
 formation, perpetuation, & Amadou Diallo
 Prejudice
 intergroup conflict; social identity theory
 Aggression
 gender, origins (nature vs. nurture), situational factors
 Formal course evaluations
Stereotypes
“41 SHOTS”
41 shots cut through the night
You’re kneeling over his body in a vestibule
Praying for his life.
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain’t no secret, no secret my friend
You can get killed for living in your American skin.
—Bruce Springsteen
Stereotypes
Amadou Diallo
Stereotypes
stereotypes:
beliefs that associate an entire group of people
with certain traits





athletes are stupid
librarians are quiet
Italians are emotional
White men can’t jump
Koreans own convenience stores/ drycleaners
Stereotypes
STEREOTYPE FORMATION
Stereotypes
social categorization:
classifying individuals into groups based on
_______ _______
Stereotypes
Benefits
 lets us form inferences
about people efficiently
Drawbacks
 _______ of _______
differences; _______ of
_______ differences
 failure to perceive
_______ - _______
information
 belief that intergroup
differences are more
_______ than they really
are
Stereotypes
when we distinguish in-groups vs. out-groups:
_______ of intergroup differences
 may have had adaptive significance over evolution
outgroup _______ effect
 assumption that there is more _______ among outgroup members than among in-group members
 _______ leads to perception that out-group members
all look the same (e.g., East Asians)
Stereotypes
www.alllooksame.com:
my score: 8/ 18
“needs a lot
more work”
Stereotypes
what accounts for out-group homogeneity?
 _______ _______ with out-groups
 in-group members are seen as _______; out-group
members are seen more _______
 _______ samples of out-groups
 obnoxious U of T students at football game do NOT
represent ALL U of T students
Stereotypes
fundamental attribution error:
overestimation of personal & underestimation of
situational factors when explaining other people’s
behaviour
 e.g., _______ _______ : we don’t take into
account that underperformance is due to _______,
not personal ability; thus, our stereotypes get
confirmed
Stereotypes
Billie Jean King &
Bobby Riggs
stereotype-disconfirming acts are explained by
_______ situational factors & _______ personal
factors
 e.g., Billie Jean won because of luck, not skill
Stereotypes
confirmation bias:
tendency to interpret & seek information that
confirms our expectations
 we interpret _______ behaviours to be _______ with
stereotypes
 e.g., an ambiguously aggressive behaviour will be
seen as more threatening when actor is Black rather
than White
Stereotypes
Stone (1997):
Ratings of player
HIGH
Court smarts
Athletic ability
LOW
Player is White
Player is Black
Stereotypes
self-fulfilling prophesies:
when our expectations about someone cause him/
her to act in ways that confirm our expectations
 e.g., Word (1974): White interviewers’ demeanour
elicited _______ performance from Black applicants,
which confirmed stereotypes
Stereotypes
Payne (2001):
TASK:
Is object a
weapon?
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
Stereotypes
Correll (2002):
_______
_______
GUN:
“SHOOT”
CELL PHONE:
“DON’T SHOOT”
GUN:
“SHOOT”
CELL PHONE:
“DON’T SHOOT”
Stereotypes
RESULTS:
ARMED TARGET
UNARMED TARGET
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
Prejudice
Sherif’s (1954) Robbers Cave study:
 boys formed in-groups
 groups went to war
 groups made peace
Prejudice
Tajfel’s (1971) minimal groups paradigm:
 participants divided into “_______” &
“_______”
 created _______ _______: categorizing people
into groups according to _______ similarities
 participants awarded more points to people in
their own groups than to people in the other
group
 in-group bias: favouring your _______ over
_______
Prejudice
social identity theory (Tajfel, 1982; Turner,
1987):
 we’re motivated to enhance self-esteem, which
consists of:
 _______ self-esteem: based on personal identity
 _______ self-esteem: based on social identity
 we enhance self-esteem by:
 _______ achievements, or
 connecting ourselves with _______ groups
Prejudice
basic predictions:
 if our self-esteem is _______ , in-group
favouritism will _______
 when we _______ our in-groups, our selfesteem will _______
Prejudice
Fein & Spencer (1997):
Ratings of applicants
HIGH
Positive feedback
Negative feedback
LOW
Italian applicant
Jewish applicant
Prejudice
Fein & Spencer (1997):
Increase in self-esteem
HIGH
Positive feedback
Negative feedback
LOW
Italian applicant
Jewish applicant
Aggression
BEHAVIOUR
accidentally hurting someone
working hard to make a sale
biting someone on the neck
swinging a stick at someone but
missing
insulting someone
deliberately failing to stop harm
murdering for $$
hiring someone to break
someone’s kneecaps
hitting others while enraged
AGGRESSIVE?
Aggression
aggression:
behaviours intended to harm another individual
In the U.S. in 2002, there was, on average:
One MURDER
One RAPE
One AGGRAVATED ASSAULT
One VIOLENT CRIME
…every 32 minutes
…every 6 minutes
…every 35 seconds
…every 22 seconds
Aggression
ORIGINS OF AGGRESSION
instinct theories:
 Freud: aggression = _______ of life over death
instinct
 Lorenz: aggression enhances _______ survival
evolutionary perspectives:
 aggression enhances _______ survival
 adaptive to not aggress against _______ _______
 adaptive for males to aggress to ensure _______
 adaptive for females to aggress to _______
_______
Aggression
biological perspectives:
 role of testosterone:
 _______ transsexuals experience _______
aggression
 _______ transsexuals experience _______
aggression
 role of serotonin (5-HT):
 helps decrease _______
 low 5-HT related to higher aggression; drugs (SSRIs)
that _______ 5-HT activity related to _______
aggression
Aggression
learning perspectives:
 aggression is _______ reinforcing
 a child who hits to get a toy will be more likely to hit
again
 aggression is _______ reinforcing
 a child who shoves to stop teasing will be more likely
to shove again
Aggression
using punishment to stop aggression can
backfire:
 spanking gives kids a role model to imitate – can
encourage aggression
 corporal punishment is related to childhood & adult
aggression & to adult criminal behaviour
Aggression
social learning theory (Bandura, 1977):
 we learn from _______’ examples & from
_______ experience with rewards &
punishment
 _______ influence whether we help or harm
 the Bobo doll study (1961)
 watching an _______ model led kids to _______
 they _______ their aggression to the model (they
punched when she punched & kicked when she
kicked)
Aggression
SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES
frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard,
1939):
 _______ progress toward a goal causes
_______, eliciting motivation to aggress
 all aggression is caused by _______
Aggression
 we _______ our aggression when we can’t
aggress against source of frustration
 we deflect it from real target onto a substitute
 aggression is _______
 motivation to aggress drops when we imagine,
observe, or act out aggression
 this reduces physiological arousal, which decreases
anger & likelihood of aggressing
Aggression
evidence does not support aggression as
cathartic:
 imagining/ seeing aggressive models _______
arousal
 if aggression feels _______ because it
decreases arousal, chances of future aggression
increase
 anger may _______ if we blow off steam
Aggression
SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES
heat:
higher incidence of violent crimes
 during summer
 during hotter years
 in hotter cities
Aggression
ML pitchers more likely to hit batters when it’s hot:
HBPs per game
HIGH
LOW
<21°C
21-26°C
27-32°C
33+°C