SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Stereotypes and Prejudice Cognitive schemas can

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Stereotypes and Prejudice Cognitive schemas can result in stereotypes and contribute to prejudice. Prejudice = a mixture of beliefs (stereotypes) and emotions

Stereotypes/Prejudice Are beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group? Stereotypes can be positive, negative, or neutral. Stereotypes based on gender, ethnicity, or occupation are common in many societies. Examples: People may stereotype women as nurturing or used car salespeople as dishonest. .

Dangers Stereotypes can lead to distortions of reality for several reasons: �They cause people to exaggerate differences among groups. �They lead people to focus selectively on information that agrees with the stereotype and ignore information that disagrees with it. �They tend to make people see other groups as overly homogenous, even though people can easily see that the groups they belong to are heterogeneous

Evolutionary Perspectives Evolutionary psychologists have speculated that humans evolved the tendency to stereotype because it gave their ancestors an adaptive advantage. Being able to decide quickly which group a person belonged to may have had survival value, since this enabled people to distinguish between friends and enemies.

Prejudice means “prejudgment. ” It is an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group—often a different cultural, ethnic, or gender group. like all attitudes, prejudice is a mixture of beliefs (in this case called stereotypes), emotions (hostility, envy, or fear), and predispositions to action (to discriminate)

Functions Prejudice is a destructive phenomenon, and it is pervasive because it serves many psychological, social, and economic functions: Prejudice allows people to avoid doubt and fear. Example: Rachel’s parents came from a working-class background but are now wealthy business owners. Rachel might develop a dislike of the working class because she does not want to be identified with working-class people. She believes such an association would damage her claim to upper-class social status.

Functions Prejudice gives people scapegoats to blame in times of trouble. Example: Glen blames his unemployment on foreign nationals whom he believes are incompetent but willing to work for low wages.

Functions Evolutionary psychologists suggest that prejudice allows people to bond with their own group by contrasting their own groups to outsider groups. Example: Most religious and ethnic groups maintain some prejudices against other groups, which help to make their own group seem more special.

Functions Prejudice legitimizes discrimination because it apparently justifies one group’s dominance over another. Example: Pseudoscientific arguments about the mental inferiority of African Americans allowed whites to feel justified in owning slaves.

Ingroups and Outgroups People’s social identities depend on the groups they belong to. From a person’s perspective, any group he belongs to is an ingroup, and any group he doesn’t belong to is an outgroup. People generally have a lower opinion of outgroup members and a higher opinion of members of their own group. People who identify strongly with a particular group are more likely to be prejudiced against people in competing outgroups. (this is called ingroup bias)

Aggression Let's be really simple with this term. . . aggression is any form of behavior that is intended to harm or injure some person, oneself, or an object.

Frustration Aggression Principle First, we need to explain frustration (not that we don't all already know what this is). Frustration is a feeling of tension that occurs when our efforts to reach some goal are blocked. When this occurs, it can produce feelings of anger, which in turn can generate feelings of aggression and aggressive behavior. This theory has been utilized to explain a lot of violent behavior over time. For example, some have stated that people who become frustrated with their jobs because they don't like their work, can't get the raise they want, etc. , but can't take out their aggressions at work (can't yell at the boss, can't punch annoying co-workers), will redirect this frustration and act aggressively toward others (like a husband, wife, children, etc. )

The Self-Serving Bias The self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to situational factors. This bias tends to increase as time passes after an event. Therefore, the further in the past an event is, the more likely people are to congratulate themselves for successes and to blame the situation for failures.

The Self-Serving Bias Example: Chad wins a poetry competition but fails to get the poem published in a magazine he sent it to. He attributes his success in the competition to his talent. He attributes his failure to get it published to bad luck.

The Just World Hypothesis The just world hypothesis refers to the need to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve. The just world hypothesis gives people a sense of security and helps them to find meaning in difficult circumstances. People are less generous about other people than about themselves. Other people’s successes tend to be attributed to situational factors and their failures to internal factors

The Just World Hypothesis Example: Chad’s friend Diana does manage to get a poem published in a magazine. However, she did not receive a prize in a poetry competition she entered. Chad attributes Diana’s publication success to good luck and her failure to her underdeveloped writing abilities.

The Just World Hypothesis Unfortunately, the just world hypothesis also leads to a tendency to blame the victim. When something tragic or terrible happens to someone, people often reassure themselves by deciding that the person must have done something to provoke or cause the event. Example: Anthony gets into a car wreck. His friends believe that Anthony must have been driving drunk.

Attitudes are evaluations people make about objects, ideas, events, or other people. Attitudes can be positive or negative. Explicit attitudes are conscious beliefs that can guide decisions and behavior. Implicit attitudes are unconscious beliefs that can still influence decisions and behavior. Example: Jane believes that smoking is unhealthy, feels disgusted when people smoke around her, and avoids being in situations where people smoke.

Central Route Persuasion The Central Route Processing (also known as Central Route to Persuasion) is a method of persuasion (i. e. , a way to persuade others). This method focuses on facts and the content of the message in order to convince the listener, as opposed to relying on peripheral factors like the personality of the speaker, or how the message was delivered. For example, a TV ad that presents laboratory findings to demonstrate the effectiveness of an acne treatment would be using the Central Route to Persuasion, as opposed to one that only uses a celebrity endorser.

The Influence of Behavior on Attitudes Behavior also affects attitudes. Evidence for this comes from the foot-in-the-door phenomenon and the effect of role playing.

The Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon People tend to be more likely to agree to a difficult request if they have first agreed to an easy one. This is called the foot-in-the-door phenomenon. Example: Jill is more likely to let an acquaintance borrow her laptop for a day if he first persuades her to let him borrow her textbook for a day.

The Effect of Role Playing and the “Prison Study” People tend to internalize roles they play, changing their attitudes to fit the roles. In the 1970 s, the psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted a famous study called the prison study.

Altruism refers to unselfish behaviors or actions done for the sake of someone else. For example, if you volunteer at a nursing home, or give money to someone in need, etc. , you are helping someone else without receiving benefit. However, there is debate about altruism - some people who say altruism doesn't "really" exist because you do get something out of unselfish acts - you feel good about yourself. I'll leave it to you to decide if altruism exists.

Social Norms and Social Roles Social norms are a society’s rules about appropriate behavior. Norms exist for practically every kind of situation. Some norms are explicit and are made into laws, such as the norm While driving, you may not run over a pedestrian. Other norms are implicit and are followed unconsciously, such as You may not wear a bikini to class.

Social Norms and Social Roles Social roles are patterns of behavior that are considered appropriate for a person in a particular context. For example, gender roles tell people how a particular society expects men and women to behave. A person who violates the requirements of a role tends to feel uneasy or to be censured by others. Role requirements can change over time in a society.

Social Exchange Theory There are many different theories about why we help each other. According to social exchange theory people help each other when there is a positive cost-benefit analysis; when the benefits outweigh the costs. The benefits can be tangible or intangible, physical or psychological. All that really matters is that the person perceives the benefits to be greater than the costs.

Social Responsibility Norm In our relations with others of similar status, the reciprocity norm compels us to give (in favors, gifts, or social invitations) about as much as we receive. We also learn a socialresponsibility norm: that we should help those who need our help—young children and others who cannot give as much as they receive—even if the costs outweigh the benefits.

Social Influence When a person or group uses any type of social power to change the attitudes or behavior of others in a particular direction, they have used social influence. For example, a persuasive argument might be even more effective if your teacher (an authority figure with social power) is an expert on a topic as opposed to just having some knowledge about the topic. If the teacher is able to change your attitude in the direction of the argument, they have used a type of social influence.

Manipulation of the Reciprocity Norm The reciprocity norm is an implicit rule in many societies that tells people they should return favors or gifts given to them. A person or group can manipulate this norm to make it more likely that people will buy a product or make a donation.

Manipulation of the Reciprocity Norm Example: If a wildlife preservation organization sends Harry a pad of notepaper personalized with his name, he may feel obligated to send them the donation they want.

Groups Social psychologists consider a group to be composed of two or more people who interact and depend on each other in some way. Examples of groups include a baseball team, an Internet listserv, a college psychology class, and a cult.

Features of Groups usually have the following features: �Norms that determine appropriate behavior �Roles that are assigned to people that determine what behaviors and responsibilities people should take on �A communication structure that determines who talks to whom within the group �A power structure that determines how much authority and influence group members have

Social Loafing Social loafing, which contributes to declines in the productivity of a group, is the reduced effort people invest in a task when they are working with other people. Diffusion of responsibility contributes to social loafing. A person does not feel as responsible for working on a task if several others are also present, since responsibility is distributed among all those present.

Group Polarization The dominant point of view in a group often tends to be strengthened to a more extreme position after a group discussion, a phenomenon called group polarization. When a group starts out with a dominant view that is relatively risky, the group is likely to come to a consensus that is even riskier. This phenomenon is called risky shift.

Minority Influence A committed minority viewpoint can change the majority opinion in a group. Group members are more likely to be influenced by a minority opinion when the minority holds the opinion firmly

Deindividuation When people are in a large group that makes them feel aroused anonymous, they may experience deindividuation. When people become deindividuated, they lose their inhibitions and their sense of responsibility and are not self-conscious about their behavior. Deindividuation is a major reason for the violence that sometimes happens in mobs

Social Facilitation Norman Triplett, way back in 1898, noticed that people in bicycle races went faster when they were competing against each other directly than when they were racing individually (e. g. , an individual time trial). This observation was the basis for social facilitation, which states that people perform certain tasks better when they are in the presence of other people. This is true for simple tasks, tasks people are good at already, or already learned tasks, but not for difficult or novel tasks.

Personal Space refers to the physical space around our bodies that we like to keep free; we tend to only let close family and friends, pets, and intimate partners enter our personal space. When anyone else enters, we feel uncomfortable and possibly threatened, so we tend to move or back away to increase the distance.

Personal Space The exact amount of personal space we need depends on personal preference and cultural background. According to Edward T. Hall, the average radius of intimate space is 1. 5 feet. In densely populated areas, people may be used to a smaller amount of space. If you've traveled internationally, you may have noticed that different countries have different norms for personal space.