INTERGROUP RELATIONS & PREJUDICE

Social Psychology

 Implicit attitudes & associations have implications for prejudice Doctor and preventative care (Green et al., 2007) Participants: 220 medical doctors vignette of 50 y/o patient Measured implicit bias Independent variable: Race of Patient (Black vs. White) Dependent variable: Recommendations of patient Results: Doctors with higher implicit bias against Blacks were less likely to recommend thrombolysis (preventative procedure for heart disease) for Black patient, compared to White Patient Police & Decision to Shoot (Correll et al., 2007)
Participants: Police Officers Watched video of armed suspect Independent Variable: Race of suspect (Black vs. White) Dependent Variable: Decision to shoot Results:

Intergroup relations & Prejudice

I. Identity Matters
Remember this.

Personal identity: Aspects of ones self-concept

unique to the individual and not connected to group memberships Social identity: Aspects of ones self-concept connected to group memberships In-group: a social group which an individual perceives herself or himself (Us) Out-group: a social group to which an individual does not perceive herself or himself as belonging to (them)

I. Identity Matters
Social identity theory (Taijfel & Turner, 1979):

Three aspects relevant to our discussion 1. Social identity, self-concept, & self-esteem: To the extent that we define ourselves in terms of a group membership, our sense of self-esteem attaches to the fate of the group (and also the fate of fellow group members) 2. Need for positive group distinctiveness: People are motivated to distinguish the groups they belong to from the groups they do not belong to.
Who we are is partly defined in reference to who we are not

3. We seek group distinctiveness through differentiation along

valued dimensions of comparison: Within a given context, people will be motivated to differentiate their group from other groups in a way that maintains/increases their self-esteem

I. Identity Matters
Motivation to differentiate our groups in a positive way Minimal Group Experiments People are assigned to groups based on arbitrary criteria (coin flip)
Randomly put each person into heads / tails groups with coin-flip

publically Dependent variable: Allocation of money to other they did not know (included both in-group members and out-group members)
Regardless of what participants decided, they would personally get $5.

Results: People gave more money to unidentified in-group

members than to out-group members, often at the cost of maximizing absolute gains to the in-group
Choice between 20-19 (for in favor for in-group) vs. (10-5 in favor for in-

group). People would choose the 10-5 to maximize gain over out-group

II. Relational nature of group relations

II. Relational nature of group relations Bias occurs for the in-groupthus, how we is defined is

critical In-group favoritism & Help (Levine et al., 2006) Participants Manchester United fans Study 1 Beginning of study stressed Manchester United Identity Independent variable: Group membership of person needing help (Manchester United; Liverpool; or Ordinary shirt) Results: Manchester United victim received more help, than Liverpool and ordinary shirt victims

II. Relational nature of group relations

II. Relational nature of group relations Bias occurs for the in-groupthus, how we is defined is

critical
In-group favoritism & Help (Levine et al., 2006)
Participants Manchester United fans Study 2

Beginning of study stressed being a Football (Soccer) Fan Independent variable: Group membership of person needing help

(Manchester United; Liverpool; or Ordinary shirt) Results:

 We is not static, but dynamic and often related to context Context changes relevant social identity for people
CUNY conference?

II. Relational nature of group relations

Majors at John Jay?
Occurs for all groupsRace/Religion/Sexual Orientation/Age/etc

Shifting context & Definition of We (David & Turner, 1999) Participants were moderate feminists exposed to radical pro-feminist message Independent variable: Context
Just women Men & Women

For moderate feminists, who was the we/they in each condition?

Results: When just women, moderate feminists moved away from the radical pro-feminist message, but when men and women, moderate feminists moved toward the pro-feminist message. Different context meant different We

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Devines two step model of stereotype processing: High prejudice-person: Stereotype activated -> persons belief matches stereotype = bias occurs

Low prejudice-person: Stereotype activated ->

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

The ease of stereotype maintenance Out-group homogeneity: The perception that members of the outgroup are more similar (homogenous) to each other than they really are (e.g.,Religion/political orientation/etc.) Self-fulfilling prophecy: originally false stereotypes of

others often lead to behavior that confirms stereotypes Sub-typing:

Hypothesis-testing search: Expectancies (stereotypes)

function as hypotheses and people an expectationconfirmation approach to information

Works through selective weighting of information & selective recall of

evidence. Can work against out-groups, but also in favor of in-groups-

Motivated cognition & evaluation of prejudice Threat & competition: Increases stereotype endorsement

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Stereotypes often live longer because of a lack of contact

Intergroup Contact (Allport, 1954)

Theory: Positive contact between members of different

groups can effectively reduce intergroup prejudice Positive contact works through: (a) Reducing anxiety associated with the out-group and (b) reducing stereotypic views of the out-group Contact often takes one or two forms Interventions: Contact that occurs within a structured environment Interpersonal: Contact that occurs within day to day interactions between people
Quality vs. quantity

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Stereotypes often live longer because of a lack of contact

Role of Anxiety in Intergroup Relations

(Plant, 2004)

Theory: Expectations & Anxiety are critical determinant of racial

interactions for people with little intergroup contact with target out-group Method: Asked Black and White participants to report on interracial interactions (with other group) Results:
Outcome Expectations Anxiety Avoid Interactions

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Stereotypes often live longer because of a lack of contact

Role of Anxiety in Intergroup Relations

Outcome Expectations Anxiety

(Plant, 2004)
Avoid Interactions

Results: Quality intergroup contact can reduce anxiety

Positive Contact
Change Outcome Expectancy

Decrease Anxiety

Approach Interactions

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Less Intergroup contact & Whites behavior toward Blacks

Aversive racism

Aversive racists have a conflict between (a) feelings and beliefs associated with egalitarian values and (b) negative feelings about Black, which are often unacknowledged Aversive racists are often will intentioned (and dont regard themselves as prejudiced), but still sometimes show bias Theory:
(Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986):

When norms for appropriate behavior are clear, aversive racists act on their

egalitarian beliefs behave in a non-prejudiced manner (egalitarian values)

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Less Intergroup contact & Whites behavior toward Blacks Aversive racism (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986) White participants witness an emergency Independent variables:
(a) Number of bystanders with the White person: Alone vs. with Others (b) Race of victim: White or Black

Dependent variable: % of time helped Norms?

% of time victim helped
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Alone Others Present Participant

"White Victim" "Black Victim"

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Less Intergroup contact & Whites behavior toward Blacks Aversive racism (Dovidio et al., 2000) White participants asked to evaluate Black and White applicants Independent variable: Qualifications of the applicants
Black and white applicants who were strongly qualified Black and white applicants who were weakly qualified Black and white applicants with ambiguous qualifications

Dependent variable: Who was hired

Results: When qualifications were strong or weak, there was no discrimination against Black applicants When qualifications were ambiguous (norms unclear), black applicants were hired significantly less than all other applicants Less contact makes it so even well intentioned people can have

bias

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Intergroup contact can not solve everything though Problems with intergroup contact: (1) Interventions & optimal contact is rare
Segregation can occur via different neighborhoods and sometimes by

choice
(2) Minority group members are less affected by intergroup contact

within interventions

Why? The goals of group members in contact situation may be different based on identity and social power
Classroom intergroup conflict
Deciding who gets what grades Three parties

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Intergroup contact discussion & preferences of minority

and majority groups (Saguy et al., 2008)

Results: Majority group members: Desire contact discussion to be focused on commonality/harmony
Minority group members: Desire contact discussion to be focused

on both commonality and discussion of inequality

To Die in Jerusalem

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Beyond individual-to-individual discrimination Members of stereotyped groups have knowledge about

the stereotypes against them

Women & math? Whites & sports?

What happens if a person is really invested in the domain

and is reminded of the stereotype?

Stereotype threat: for members of a stereotyped group

highly invested in the domain, the threat of being judged and treated stereotypically or possibly fulfilling the stereotype leads them to preform worse in the domain
Only applies to those highly motivated to do well in the domain

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Beyond individual-to-individual discrimination Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) Black and White students asked to complete the GRE Independent Variable: Description of test
IQ test
14 13

Problem-solving test 12

Dependent variable:

11 10

Number of items correct 9

8 7 6 5 4

White Black

Prob Solve

IQ test

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Beyond individual-to-individual discrimination Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) Black and White students asked to complete the GRE Independent Variable: When Identify Race?
Before
12 10

After

Number of items correct

# items correct

Dependent variable:

8 6 4 2 0

White Black

race after

race before

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Beyond individual-to-individual discrimination Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) Gender & math performance Independent Variables: Gender Differences
Gender differences
Correct answers

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 No gender differences Gender Differences Females Males

No Gender differences

Dependent variable:
Performance on test

II. Far reaching consequences of stereotypes

Beyond individual-to-individual discrimination Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995)
Latinos on intelligence tests; Women on math tests

Low SES students on intelligence tests; Elderly and memory

Whites and athletic performance ;Whites and math performance when competing against Asians

Stereotype threat is a situational threat that can affect anyone in a

domain where a negative stereotype applies Overcoming Stereotype Threat & Mentors Stereotype inoculation model (Dasgupta, 2011): Contact with
successful in-group experts and peers can function as a social vaccine that inoculates individuals from stereotype threat effects Necessary criteria: Contact is most beneficial when individuals feel a sense of subjective connection or identification with the in-group expert Contact and exposure to in-group experts results in: positive attitudes towards achievement in the domain, greater identification with the domain, increased self-efficacy and motivation to pursue goals in the