Presentation on Social relations and prejudice in Social Psychology

1. Prejudice The dislike of diversity

2. Terms that often overlap

4. To stereotype is to categorize

6. A problem with stereotypes arises when they are overgeneralized or just plain wrong.

8. Roots of Prejudice

9. Social Sources of Prejudice

10. Masters view slaves as lazy, irresponsible, lacking ambition—as having those traits that justify slavery Once these inequalities exist, prejudice helps justify the economic and social superiority of those who have wealth and power People view enemies as subhuman and depersonalize them with labels Unequal Status

11. negative beliefs predict negative behavior (or problems in life) If a person thinks we are clever or stupid or whatever, they will treat us that way. If we are treated as if we are clever, stupid or whatever, we will act, and even become, this way. The person has thus had their prophecy about us fulfilled! This is also known as the Pygmalion Effect. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

12. a self-conforming apprehension that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group (Steele & Aronson, 1995) Black college freshmen and sophomores performed more poorly on standardized tests than White students when their race was emphasized. When race was not emphasized, however, Black students performed better and equivalently with White students. The results showed that performance in academic contexts can be harmed by the awareness that one's behavior might be viewed through the lens of racial stereotypes. Stereotype Threat

13. Self-concept—our sense of who we are—contains not just personal identity (our sense of personal attributes and attitudes) but also a social identity Example: A person may identify his self a man, a Filipino, a psychology student of USJ-R, a member of the school’s student council, a chess player, and so on.. Social Identity

15. The group definition of who you are—your race, religion, gender, academic major—implies a definition of who you are not. The circle that includes “us” (the ingroup) excludes “them” (the outgroup) Thus, a mere experience of being formed into groups may promote ingroup bias. Due to human quest for a positive self-concept Ingroup Bias

16. If prejudice is socially accepted, many people will follow the path of least resistance and conform to fashion They will act not so much out of a need to hate as out of a need to be liked and accepted. Conformity

17. Emotional Sources of Prejudice

18. Pain and frustration (a blocking of a goal) often evoke hostility. When the cause of our frustration is intimidating or unknown, we often redirect our hostility (displaced aggression) Frustration and Aggression(The Scapegoat Theory)

20. "On the Day of Atonement a live goat was chosen by lot. The high priest, robed in linen garments, laid both his hands on the goat's head, and confessed over it the iniquities of the children of Israel. The sins of the people thus symbolically transferred to the beast, it was taken out into the wilderness and let go. The people felt purged, and for the time being, guiltless.

21. Personality Dynamics

22. Adorno identified the authoritarian personality type as having these characteristics: The authoritarian personality does not want to give orders, their personality type wants to take orders. People with this type of personality seek conformity, security, stability. They become anxious and insecure when events or circumstances upset their previously existing world view. They are very intolerant of any divergence from what they consider to be the normal (which is usually conceptualized in terms of their religion, race, history, nationality, culture, language, etc.)

23. Cognitive Sources of Prejudice

24. One way we simplify our environment is to categorize—to organize the world by clustering objects into groups (Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000) Perceived similarities and differences Categorization

25. Distinctive people and vivid or extreme occurrences often draw attention and distort judgment. We define people by their most distinctive traits and behaviors Distinctiveness

26. In explaining others’ actions, we frequently commit the fundamental attribution error. We attribute people’s behavior so much to their inner dispositions that we discount important situational forces. The error occurs partly because our attention focuses on the persons, and not the situation. Essentially, the fundamental attribution error involves placing a heavy emphasis on internal personality characteristics to explain someone's behavior in a given situation, rather than thinking about external situational factors. Fundamental Attribution Error (Lee Ross)

27. Imagine yourself walking down a crowded sidewalk, carrying loaded bags from shops. If someone bumps into you, you are probably inclined to think “what an idiot! That person has no respect for others, he clearly saw me!” In this assessment of the person's behavior, you fail to consider situational factors like someone else bumping into that person, or your failure to realize that your bags are taking up more room than you think they are, thus forcing people to bump into you as they try to get around you. Fundamental Attribution Error Examples

28. On a specific day a waitress is talking rude to her customers. The customers now think that she is a really bad person. What the customers don't realize is that usually most people find the waitress friendly but today the waitress is experiencing one of the hardest days in her life. Her husband just left her for another woman, and she just lost her son in a car wreck. If the customers were aware of the problems the waitress just had, they actually wouldn't mind her negative attitude as much considering her current state. Fundamental Attribution Error Examples

29. the belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get (Melvin Lerner,1977) Attributing failures to dispositional causes rather than situational causes, which are unchangeable and uncontrollable, satisfies our need to believe that the world is fair and we have control over our life. We are motivated to see a just world because this reduces our perceived threats, gives us a sense of security, helps us find meaning in difficult and unsettling circumstances, and benefits us psychologically. Unfortunately, the just world hypothesis also results in a tendency for people to blame and disparage victims of a tragedy or an accident, such as victims of rape and domestic abuse to reassure themselves of their insusceptibility to such events. People may even go to such extremes as the victim's faults in "past life" to pursue justification for their bad outcome. Just-World Phenomenon(Linda Carli et.al,1999)

30. The end. Prepared by: Jeel Christine C. de Egurrola