PSY 321
Dr. Sanchez
Stereotyping, Prejudice and
Discrimination:
Intergroup Bias
1
The Self-fulfilling Prophecy as a
Three-Step Process
2
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:
Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)

Teachers were told that, on the basis of an IQ test,
a certain group of students was on the verge of an
intellectual spurt

This group of students was randomly chosen

Test was bogus
8 months later, this group of
 Students actually outperformed
 others on an IQ test

3
Racial Profiling as a Self-fulfilling Prophecy
4
What is the state of
intergroup bias in the U.S.?
“Not everybody’s life is what they make
it. Some people’s life is what other
people make it.”
- Alice Walker
5
Racism: Healthcare
• Black and Latino cardiac patients less likely to
receive appropriate heart medicine
• Less likely to undergo coronary bypass
surgery
• Less likely to receive dialysis or kidney
transplant
• Receive lower quality basic clinical services
6
Racism: Hiring
(Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2003)
– Sent 5000 phantom applications to job ads in
Boston & Chicago
– Resumes were identical, EXCEPT:
 RACE WAS VARIED by use of NAMES (Tamika vs
Kristin; Tyrone vs Brad)
– Results?
7
Racism: Mortgage Discrimination

White people are far more likely than Black
people to be granted mortgage loans

This effect cannot be “explained away”
statistically by differences
8
Sexism: Pay Inequity

In 2003, women who worked full-time made __
cents for every dollar a man made.
–
–
–
–
–

Asian women: 75 cents
White women: 70 cents
Black women: 63 cents
Native women: 57 cents
Latina women: 52 cents
These differences cannot be explained away….
9
What Is a Social Group?

Two or more people perceived as having
at least one of the following
characteristics:
– Direct interactions with each other over a
period of time.
– Joint membership in a social category based
on sex, race, or other attributes.
– A shared, common fate, identity, or set of
goals.
10
Defining Important Terms

Stereotypes: COGNITIONS/BELIEFS

Prejudice: AFFECT/EMOTIONS

Discrimination: BEHAVIORS
11
Perceiving Groups: Three Reactions
12
A CLASS DIVIDED
Social Categorization:
Jane Elliot’s Class Exercise
Blue Eyes vs. Brown Eyes
13
How Stereotypes Form:
In-groups vs. Out-groups
We have a strong tendency to divide
people into ingroups and outgroups.
 Benefits
 Consequences

– outgroup homogeneity effect
14
Why Are Out-groups Seen
As Homogeneous?
15
Social Categorization
Tajfel’s Minimal Group Paradigm

Minimal Groups = categorizing persons on the
basis of trivial info
– Ps watch a coin toss that randomly assigned
them to X or W
– “Overestimators” vs. “Underestimators”
16
Social Categorization
Tajfel’s Minimal Group Paradigm

General Findings
17
Social Identity Theory
18
Social Identity Theory
Basic Predictions:
 1) Threats to SE = need for ingroup
favoritism
 2) Ingroup favoritism = repairs SE

19
Stereotypes
20
Definitions

What is a stereotype?
e.g., professor
absent-minded reads books
drinks coffee wears glasses
– beliefs about characteristics of group
members
21
Stereotype Content

Gender: Agency-Communion
22
Gendered Scripts =
Example Sexual Agency
23
Stereotype Content

Warm-Competence
Women
Homeless
People
Rich
The Elderly
24
The Stereotype Content Model
(Fiske et al., 2002)
Two fundamental dimensions: warmth & competence
 Positive Stereotypes
 Negative Stereotypes
 MIXED:
– Paternalistic stereotypes (high warmth/low
competence)
 e.g., elderly, disabled people, some gender
stereotypes
– Envious stereotypes (low warmth/high competence)
 Asians, Jews
 The 4 different combinations of warmth and
competence are associated with different intergroup

emotions
25
Stereotype Content Model
(Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 1999; 2002)
Low competence, Low warmth -> Contempt
 Low competence, High warmth -> Pity
 High competence, Low warmth -> Envy
 High competence, High warmth -> Pride

26
How Stereotypes Survive:
Attributions

Attributional biases can perpetuate
stereotypes.
– Fundamental attribution error revisited.
27
How Stereotypes Survive:
Subtyping and Contrast Effects

Illusory Correlations, Selective Memory

Stereotypes stubbornly survive disconfirmation
through “subtyping.”

If behavior varies considerably from
expectations, the perceived difference may be
magnified.
– Contrast effect
– “Hilary Clinton” effect
28
How Stereotypes Survive:
Confirmation Biases

Stereotypes are often maintained and
strengthened through confirmation biases.
– The stereotype creates a “self-fulfilling
prophecy.”
29
Stereotype:
Black men are dangerous
Is it a weapon (Correll et al., 2002)?
 Subjects played video game (see p. 149 of
text for picture)
 IVs:

– Race of target
– Target is holding weapon or harmless object

DVs: Pushed “shoot” or “don’t shoot”
button
30
Stereotype:
Black men are dangerous

Results:

Subjects mistook harmless objects for
guns when held by black targets

In other words, subjects biases caused
them to “confirm” their expectations
31
“White men can’t jump”
Stone et al., 1997

Subjects listened to same basketball game

IV: Subjects were led to believe player
was black or white

DV: How athletic was the player? How
“court smart” was the player?
32
“White Men Can’t Jump”?
33
Stereotypes as
(Sometimes) Automatic

Devine (1989): We become highly aware
of the contents of many stereotypes
through sociocultural mechanisms.
– Automatic

Can influence behavior even when do not
consciously endorse the stereotype.
34
What Factors Can Influence
Stereotype Activation?

Amount of exposure to the stereotype.

The kind and amount of information the
perceiver encounters.

The perceiver’s motivational goals.
35
Self-esteem Threats
and Stereotyping
Sinclair & Kunda, 1999

White subjects received feedback on
performance from a doctor:
– Doctor was Black or White
– Feedback was positive or negative

Completed “unrelated” measure of
automatic stereotyping
36
Motivated Stereotype Inhibition
and Activation
37
Are Stereotypes Ever Accurate?

What is meant by “accurate”?
– “kernel of truth”
– But what does “kernel of truth” reflect? Traits or social
structure?

Even when based on reality, tend to exaggerate
differences and understate similarities between
groups.

Stereotyping is a dynamic process – stereotypes
change over time.
38
Overcoming Stereotypes
How much personal information do we
have about someone?
 What is our cognitive ability to focus on an
individual member of a stereotyped
group?
 What is our motivation level to form an
accurate impression of someone?

39
Prejudice:
The emotional component

Competition-based prejudice

Explicit vs. Implicit prejudice
40
Realistic Conflict Theory

The theory that hostility between groups is
caused by direct competition for limited
resources.
41
Competition for Limited Resources

Realistic Conflict Theory
– scarce resources -------> members of in-group
feel threatened
– People feel a sense of “relative deprivation”
– feeling threatened -------> prejudice and
discrimination
42
Realistic Conflict Theory

Example 1 (Hovland & Sears)
– cotton & lynchings in South (1882-1930)
– as cotton prices went down (i.e., scarce
resources), number of lynchings of Black
people increased

Example 2
– Jewish Holocaust
– As German economy worsened, Jewish people
were scapegoated, resented, killed.
43
Realistic Conflict Theory

Example 2 (Sherif & Colleagues)
44
Realistic Conflict Theory

Example 2 (Sherif & Colleagues)
–
–
–
–
–
Boy Scout Camp (Eagles vs Rattlers)
Strengthened cohesiveness w/in group in first week
Enhanced competition btw groups in second week
Resources were source of conflict
How was conflict restored????
45
Forms of Prejudice

Components of Consciousness
– Awareness
 Explicit = aware
 Implicit = unaware
– Control
 Intentional – deliberative (controllable)
 Automatic – no control (involuntary)
–Limited energy & cognitive resources
–Extremely rapid
46

Explicit Attitudes

Implicit Attitudes
– Operate at conscious – Function in an
level
unconscious &
unintentional
– Best measured by
manner
traditional, selfreport measures
– How do we
measure??
47
How Can Implicit Racism Be
Detected and Measured?

Use reaction times to measure associations between
race and positive/negative words
– Fazio et al.’s (1995) bona fide pipeline measure.
 see face, then respond to good/bad words
– Greenwald et al.’s (1998) Implicit Association Test
(IAT)
 Pair faces with good/bad words

fMRI and amygdala activation
48
Some Explicit
Measures of Prejudice

Ambivalent Sexism

Modern Racism

(There are many more…)
49
Ambivalent Sexism
(Glick & Fiske)

Consists of two elements:
– Hostile sexism, characterized by negative, resentful
feelings about women’s abilities, values and ability
to challenge men’s power.
– Benevolent sexism, characterized by affectionate,
chivalrous, but potentially patronizing feelings of
women needing and deserving protection.
– A person can be both a benevolent and a hostile
sexist
50
Modern Racism
(Dovidio & Gaertner)

A subtle form of prejudice that surfaces in direct ways
whenever it is safe, socially acceptable, or easy to
rationalize.

Based on idea that many people are racially
ambivalent.
– Can lead to subtle, often unconscious forms of
prejudice and discrimination.

Example: Parents claim they are not prejudice against African
Americans but are uncomfortable with their child dating an
African American person. Maybe they say it because they want
their children to not fear prejudice.
51
Implicit Prejudice

Unconscious

Unintentional

Automatic
52