Chapter Nine

The nature and power of prejudice
•
What is prejudice?
–
A negative prejudgement of a group and its individual members
–
Stereotypes
• Beliefs about personal attributes of a given group
– Discrimination
• Racism
• Sexism

The nature and power of prejudice
(cont.)
•
How pervasive is prejudice?
–
Racial prejudice
• Overt prejudice has change in a short period of time
• Intimate social realms
• Subtle forms of prejudice
• Overcoming prejudice

The nature and power of prejudice
(cont.)
•
Gender prejudice
–
Stereotypes accepted by both sexes
–
Exaggeration of truths: Martin, 1987
–
Gender attitudes:
• “women are wonderful effect”
• Respect vs. affection
• Subtle sexism
– The “personal/group discrimination discrepancy”

Social sources of prejudice
•
Social inequalities
–
Unequal status breeds prejudice

Social sources of prejudice
(cont.)
•
Social inequalities
(cont.)
–
Religion and prejudice
• “Religious” people are assoc’d w/ more prejudice
• “Religious” people are assoc’d w/ less prejudice
– Discrimination’s impact: The self-fulfilling prophecy
• The
“stereotype threat”
• Positive and negative stereotypes

Social sources of prejudice
•
Social identity - the “we” in self-concept
–
Social Identity Theory (Turner & Tajfel)
• We categorize - for utility
• We identify - “ingroup”
• We compare - “outgroup”
–
Ingroup bias

Social sources of prejudice
(cont.)
•
Conformity to ingroup expectations
–
The private/public discrepancy
•
Institutional supports
– “Face-ism”
–
Films and television

Emotional sources of prejudice
•
Frustration and aggression:
–
The scapegoat theory
–
The realistic group conflict theory
•
Personality Dynamics
–
Need for status and belonging
–
The authoritarian personality

Cognitive sources of prejudice
•
Categorization
–
Perceived similarities and differences
•
Distinctive stimuli
–
Distinctive people
–
Vivid cases
–
Distinctive events

Cognitive sources of prejudice
•
Attribution: Is it a just world?
–
Group-serving bias
–
The just-world phenomenon
•
Cognitive consequences of stereotypes
–
Are stereotypes self-perpetuating?
–
Do stereotypes bias judgments of individuals?

8 of 12

9 of 12

10 of 12

Ian Ayres, 1991 average price quoted on $11,000 car
• Black male:
$11,783
•
Black female:
$12,237
• White male:
$11,362
•
White female:
$11,504