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 1992

• Employment in my occupation 78% 98% 99%Club as personalfriends 51% 97% 96%Close kinship bymarriage 0% 66% 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?

• 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)