Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination:
A Social Psychological Perspective
Keith Maddox
Department of Psychology
Tufts University
University of Texas at Austin
November 3, 2011
Overview
• Definitions:
• Social Psychology / Social Cognition
• Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
• Who is Biased?
Explicit & Implicit Associations
• Demonstration
• How Bias Affects Us
• Perceiver and Target Perspectives
• Conclusion
Definitions
DEFINING SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Definitions
• Social Psychology
– The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave
in a social context.
• It’s all in the Method
• , (A)ffect, (B)ehavior, and (C)ognition
• Real or imagined presence of other people
• Social Cognition
– The study of how people make sense of themselves and
others
• Focus on process in addition to content
• Informed from research in cognitive psychology
Tenets of Social Psychology
• The Social Construction of Reality
– The way a person construes a person situation dictates our
thoughts, feelings, and behavior
• The Determinants of Behavior
– Person × Situation = Behavior
• The Power of the Situation
– Situations often have a large, underappreciated influence
on our thoughts, feelings, and behavior
– Personality is often overemphasized
Pick a number...
• Pick a number
between 1 and 9
• Subtract 5
• Multiply by 3
• Square the number
• Add the digits
• If number is less than
5, add 5 to it. If the
number is greater than
5, subtract 4
• Take the absolute
value
• Multiply by 2
• Subtract 6
Pick a number...
• Map your number to its corresponding letter
in the alphabet (A=1, B=2, C=3…)
• Pick the name of a country that begins with
that letter
• Take the second letter of that country and
pick a mammal that begins with it.
• Think of a common color of that animal
Grey Elephant from Denmark
Brown Orangutan from the
Dominican Republic
Yellow or Orange Jaguar from
Djbouti
WTF?!?
• The Availability Heuristic
– Making judgments based on the
ease with which information comes
to mind.
• Countries:
– Denmark, Dominican Republic,
Djbouti
• Mammals:
– Elephant, Orangutan , Jaguar
• Colors
– Grey, Brown, Orange
The ABCs of SP&D
• Stereotypes (C)
– Endorsed or unendorsed knowledge about the
attributes associated with a group of people.
• Prejudice (A)
– An positive or negative attitude toward others
based on group membership.
• Discrimination (B)
– Unjustifiable negative behavior toward others
based on group membership.
Who Is Biased?
EXPLICIT & IMPLICIT
ASSOCIATIONS
Two “Modes” of (Social) Cognition
CONTROLLED PROCESSING
AUTOMATIC PROCESSING
•
•
•
•
Fast
Unconscious
Mandatory
Efficient
•
•
•
•
Slow
Conscious
Optional
Effortful
An Example
MEASURING IMPLICIT
ASSOCIATIONS
caress
freedom
health
love
peace
cheer
heaven
pleasure
diamond
gentle
honest
lucky
rainbow
miracle
sunrise
family
happy
laughter
paradise
vacation
abuse
filth
sickness
accident
death
grief
poison
stink
disaster
hatred
pollute
tragedy
divorce
jail
ugly
cancer
evil
kill
rotten
vomit
AIESHA
LASHELLE
SHEREEN
TEMEKA
EBONY
LATISHA
SHANIQUA
TAMEISHA
LATONYA
TANISHA
LAKISHA
SHARISE
LATOYA
TASIKA
YOLANDA
LASHANDRA
MALIKA
NIKISHA
TAWANDA
YVETTE
AMANDA
COURTNEY
HEATHER
MELANIE
SARA
AMBER
KATIE
MEREDITH
BETSY
KIRSTIN
NANCY
STEPHANIE
BOBBIE-SUE
ELLEN
LAUREN
PEGGY
EMILY
MEGAN
RACHEL
WENDY
LEFT side if
UNPLEASANT
cancer
health
corpse
diamond
truth
devil
assault
triumph
glory
brutal
talent
agony
kindness
family
divorce
stink
pleasure
torture
bomb
peace
RIGHT side if
PLEASANT
LEFT side if
BLACK name
SARA
AIESHA
MEREDITH
KATIE
SHEREEN
BOBBIE-SUE
TAWANDA
NIKISHA
AMANDA
MEGAN
MALIKA
LATOYA
WENDY
TEMEKA
RACHEL
LASHANDA
COLLEEN
KIRSTIN
TAMEISHA
EBONY
RIGHT side if
WHITE name
LEFT side if
UNPLEASANT
or
BLACK name
WENDY
health
LAUREN
diamond
AIESHA
devil
SHARISE
triumph
LINDA
brutal
LATOYA
agony
SHANEKA
family
KATIE
stink
HEATHER
torture
LASHELLE
peace
RIGHT side if
PLEASANT
or
WHITE name
LEFT side if
UNPLEASANT
truth
ugly
assault
cheer
glory
cancer
health
corpse
diamond
filth
talent
divorce
stink
pleasure
torture
pollute
peace
agony
diploma
rainbow
RIGHT side if
PLEASANT
LEFT side if
WHITE name
AIESHA
LASHELLE
AMANDA
HEATHER
TEMEKA
BETSY
SHEREEN
LAKISHA
ELLEN
SARA
MALIKA
YOLANDA
LAUREN
TANISHA
DONNA
EBONY
STEPHANIE
EMILY
NICHELLE
TAWANDA
RIGHT side if
BLACK name
LEFT side if
UNPLEASANT
or
WHITE name
AMBER
health
COURTNEY
diamond
TEMEKA
devil
SHANIQUA
triumph
ELLEN
brutal
LATOYA
agony
PEGGY
family
COLLEEN
stink
NANCY
torture
EBONY
peace
RIGHT side if
PLEASANT
or
BLACK name
LEFT side if
UNPLEASANT
or
BLACK name
RIGHT side if
PLEASANT
or
WHITE name
Implicit Associations Test
http://implicit.harvard.edu
LEFT side if
UNPLEASANT
or
WHITE name
RIGHT side if
PLEASANT
or
BLACK name
Implicit Associations
• Associations like these are everywhere
o
Age, Race, Gender, Political Affiliation, etc…
• They are pervasive
o
We are usually unaware but they can influence
judgment and behavior
• Can we stop them?
How Bias Affects Us
PERCEIVER & TARGET
PERSEPCTIVES
Why are stereotypes pervasive?
• Stereotypes guide:
Perceiver Perspective
• Confirmation Bias
– We tend to see what we already believe (stereotypes)
• Particularly when behavior is ambiguous
• Attribution Bias
– We ignore the role that the situation plays in shaping a
person’s behavior, and instead blame their disposition
(traits)
• Female athletes and Title IX
• Cross-Race Recognition Deficit
– We more easily confuse people who belong to racial
outgroups
• Contributes to wrongful conviction/incarceration rates for
minorities.
Cross Race Recognition Deficit
Jenni
Keith Maddox
Sam Sommers
Reg Adams
Sarah
K-Madd
Chip Gidney
T-Pain
The Target’s Perspective
• Attributional Ambiguity
– Uncertainty about whether treatment (feedback) is based on group
or personal attributes
– Implications for self-knowledge
• Uncertainty about aptitude and abilities
• Stereotype Threat
– Debilitating concern over confirming a negative group stereotype
through one’s own behavior.
– Implications for performance
• Leads to impaired performance on stereotype-relevant tasks.
Conclusions
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
What can you do about it?
• Potential strategies
– Colorblindness?
– Suppression?
– Consciousness raising?
A Caveat
• Racism, Sexism, Heterosexism, Classism,
Anti-Semitism, etc.
• “isms”
– 1. An individual’s prejudicial attitudes, beliefs, and
discrimination toward people of a given group.
– 2. Institutional practices (even if not seemingly
motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of
a given group.
• Lack of wheelchair access to buildings?
• English exam for LPGA Tour?
• Night clubs with dress codes?
Conclusion
• Making Implicit Processes Explicit
– Acknowledge that people are different, but;
– Recognize that stereotypes can cloud and
exaggerate those differences, and;
– Strategize to minimize their impact on personal and
institutional levels.
Thank You!
What are the effects of stereotypes?
Number of Correct Answers
12
10
8
Black Ps
6
White Ps
4
2
0
Diagnostic
Non-Diagnostic
Steele & Aronson (1995)