Chapter 11: Stereotyping,
Prejudice, and Discrimination
Social Psychology by
Tom Giliovich, Dacher
Keltner, and Richard
Nisbett
Characterizing Intergroup Bias
Stereotypes - beliefs about attributes that are thought to
be characteristic of members of particular groups
Prejudice - a negative attitude or affective response
toward a certain group and its individual members
Discrimination - unfair treatment of members of a
particular group based on their membership in that
group
Sources of Prejudice

Social Sources
–
–

Unequal Status
Social Identity
Cognitive Sources
–
–
–
Stereotypes
Perceived Similarities and Differences
Illusory Correlation
Social Sources of Prejudice

Unequal Status
–
realistic conflict theory - direct competition between
groups over valued resources (jobs, schools)


Robber’s Cave Experiment
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
Racial Violence and Economic Conditions
250
Number of Lynchings
210
201
200
150
127
114
100
100
64
64
38
50
11
21
0
1882 1884 1890 1893 1906 1908 1917 1921 1927 1930
Years
Frustration During Exercise
Mammal
7
Frustration
6
4.75
5
3.33
4
3
1.33
2
1
Back
Bird
Fish
Social Sources of Prejudice

Social Identity
–
social categorization- divide world into in-group
(“us”) and out-group (“them”)

in-group bias- view own group more favorably
–
Bele: You're finished Lokai. Oh, we got your kind penned in
on Cheron in a little district. And it's not going to change.
You half-white.
Lokai: You half-black.
In-Group Bias from Exercise
Mammals
5
4
Birds
3.75
3.65
Positivity
3.33
3
2
2.90
2.4
2.4
1.6
1.77
1
Mammals
Birds
Raters
Fish
3.87
Fish
Cognitive Sources of Prejudice
“prejudice is by-product of our thinking processes”
stereotypes- sweeping generalizations of social groups
 influence social thought by:
–
–
–
process information consistent with stereotype quicker
focus on information consistent with stereotype
use tacit inferences to make inconsistent information appear
consistent
Cognitive Sources of Prejudice

out-group homogeneity
–

in-group differentiation
–

out-group members seen as more alike
in-group members seen as more diverse
(heterogeneous)
illusory correlations
–
overestimating rates of negative behavior in minority
groups
Out-Group Homogeneity
Mammal
Variation if Positivity
Ratings of Mammals
2
1.5
1.3
0.94
1
0.5
0
0.99
Bird
Fish
Discrimination
Discrimination- negative behaviors directed
toward members of some social group
 subtle forms
–
–
–
tokenism- perform trivial actions for minorities
reverse discrimination- leaning over backwards to
treat targets of prejudice favorably
“modern” racism
Characterizing Intergroup Bias
1. Modern Racism and Sexism
Modern racism - prejudice directed at other racial
groups that exists alongside a rejection of
explicitly racist beliefs
a. Benevolent Racism and Sexism
Characterizing Intergroup Bias
2. Measures to Assess True Attitudes
a. Implicit Association Test (IAT)
technique for revealing unconscious prejudices
toward particular groups
b. Priming and Implicit Prejudice
Priming - procedure used to increase the accessibility of a
concept or schema (for example, a stereotype)
Implicit Attitudes

Are automatically activated evaluations
outside of a person’s awareness
(unconscious)
–
–

Formed slowly through experience
Very resistant to extinction
Changing implicit attitudes
–
Can be changed without subject’s conscious
awareness

Prime subjects with counterstereotypes
Being a Member of a Stigmatized
Group
1. Attributional Ambiguity
2. Stereotype Threat
- fear that one will confirm the stereotypes that
others have regarding some salient group of
which one is a member
Reducing Prejudice

Social Learning
–

Increase intergroup contact
–
–
–

teach parents to socialize children to be tolerant
contact must involve cooperation and interdependence
norms favoring group equality must exist
focus on individual-based (vs. category) processing
Extended Contact Hypothesis
–
knowing that members of in-group have formed friendships with
out-group members may reduce prejudice
Reducing Prejudice (con’t)



Have groups work on superordinate goals
Focus on similarities between in-group and
nonthreatening out-group
Recategorization
–

reset boundaries between “us” and “them”, so former
out-group is now included in in-group
Focus on others’ specific traits and outcomes
(attribute-driven processing) rather than on group
stereotypes (category-driven processing)
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
http://www.wwnorton.com/socialpsych
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