Stereotyping and Prejudice II
What are the conditions under which contact
reduces prejudice and stereotyping?
• What is the jigsaw technique?
• Give an example of this method.
• Explain how the 6 conditions required for
contact to reduce prejudice are met in the
jigsaw method.
Three Types of Prejudice
• Old fashioned prejudice/racism
– Blatant negative stereotypes
– Open opposition to racial equality
• Modern prejudice/racism
– Outwardly acting unprejudiced while inwardly
maintaining prejudiced attitudes
• Implicit prejudice/racism
– Hold automatic biases, often without
conscious awareness
Old-fashioned racism
• On the decline
• Survey responses show shift from
1950’s/1960’s to more recent years
– Majority of white/Caucasian people show less
blatantly prejudiced responses
• Ex: 78% (1996) say they would not move if
Black/African-Amer people moved into their
neighborhood vs. only 25% (1960)
Other survey responses by White
participants (not on outline)
Report willing to admit Blacks to:
1949 1968
• Employment in
my occupation
78% 98%
Club as personal
friends
51% 97%
Close kinship by
marriage
0% 66%
1992
99%
96%
74%
How can we interpret this change
in survey responses over time?
• Prejudice may have decreased
• Social desirability
How can we study modern
prejudice/racism?
• Issues to address
– May not express because socially undesirable
– May truly believe fairness is better, but still
harbor ambivalent feelings
– May be unaware of biases
• Automatic processing
– Everyone knows cultural stereotypes for different groups,
even if they don’t endorse them
– Cultural stereotype can be automatically activated when
encounter a group member or stereotypical statement.
How can we measure more covert
prejudice?
• Bogus pipeline: A fake lie detector test
where participants are wired with
electrodes that supposedly record their
true feelings.
– White students express more negative views
of Black students when the bogus pipeline is
used.
How can we measure more covert
prejudice?
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•
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Assess behavior (Rogers & Prentice-Dunn,1981)
IV1: Confederate: Insulted or did not insult
IV2: Confed: Caucasian or African-American
DV: Strength and duration of shocks participants thought they were
administering to the confederate (as part of a “biofeedback experiment”)
• Results:
• Insulting confederate: Ps gave more intense shocks when
he was Black than when he was White.
• Non-insulting confederate: Ps gave less intense shocks
when he was Black than when he was White.
Modern racism
• Supports theories of modern racism which
suggest that discrimination against
minorities/underrepresented groups is
especially likely to surface when it seems
safe, socially acceptable, and easy to
rationalize.
Implicit Association Test
• Greenwald & Banaji, 1995
– Class exercise
IAT
• https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
If people are unaware of their prejudices,
are they unable to control their behavior?
– It depends.
• Under what conditions will people be able to ignore
cultural stereotypes?
– Controlled processing: Occurs with your awareness – for
example, when you choose to ignore or counter
stereotypes that have been brought to mind. More likely
when:
» we are highly motivated to be accurate
» we make judgments based on the individuals’
characteristics rather than their group membership.
Under what conditions are people not able
to ignore an activated stereotype?
• Ironic processes – tired, multiple tasks,
time pressure (automatic processing)
Stereotype suppression and the “rebound” effect
Macrae, Bodenhausen, Milne, & Jetten, 1994
• IV: Warned perceptions often biased by stereotypes and
asked to inhibit bias (suppression instruction) or did not
receive these instructions
• Dv: Negativity/positivity of paragraph description after
seeing the 1st photo of male skinhead and then after
seeing a new photo of a 2nd male skinhead
• Results:
1. After 1st photo, less stereotyping by those warned
than not warned.
2. After 2nd photo, previously warned group stereotyped
more. (rebound effect)
Rebound effect
• Conscious efforts to suppress a
stereotype may backfire; instead, focus
on the unique characteristics of the
person.
Stereotype threat
• What is stereotype threat?
• How does it work?
• How does making a stereotype salient
affect test performance for the target
group?
• What were your reactions to these
findings? Do you think they would apply to
other groups? Which groups and for
which contexts?
• How might we apply these findings in the
real world?
How can we apply these findings to
educational settings?
• "Wise" educational environments (Steele) applied in
Univ. of Michigan program:
– positive student-teacher relationships
– feedback that is clear but affirming (“Look, we’re using high
standards in evaluating this work. But, I have looked at your
work, and I think you can meet those standards.”
– challenge, not remediation
– stressing intelligence's expandability
– group study
– leadership of university clearly expresses (and supports)
the value of diversity
•
(Recommended video: “Stand & Deliver” Jaime
Escalante)