The Individual and the Group Stereotyping and Social

The Individual and the Group – Stereotyping and Social Identity Theory Pages 229 -249

Social Cognition – What is social cognition? • Social cognition is the study of how people understand their social world: their thinking, their actions and the environment in which their behavior occurs. • According to Baron and Byrne (1997), we are required to engage in three cognitive processes in order to make sense of the world. • We must first interpret the information that we receive about other people by examining it within its social context and giving it meaning alongside our previous knowledge of the person or situation. • We must then analyze the initial appraisal and modify it accordingly. • Finally, you must be able to recall previous knowledge and experiences at the appropriate time.

Attribution • At the most basic level, when interpreting the behavior of others we tend to attribute the cause of the action to personal (dispositional) and situational (external) factors. • We look for consistency, intentionality and the most simple or accessible explanation. • This can explain the way in which many stereotypes are formed as we generalize an individual’s behavior to a whole population based on a false or erroneous attribution.

Errors in Attribution • The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) • Refers to the tendency to overestimate the importance of dispositional factors and underestimate the importance of external or situational factors when attempting to explain the behavior of others (Ross and Nisbett, 1991). • Ross, Amabile and Steinmetz (1977): • Participants played a quiz game and were assigned roles of ”questioner” and “contestant”. • Questioners could create their own questions, drawing on their own personal knowledge. • When asked to rate levels of general knowledge at the end of the study, participants rated the questioners as having higher levels of general knowledge than the contestants. • Both uninvolved observers and the contestants themselves made this dispositional attribution

Errors in Attribution • The Ultimate Attribution Error (UAE) • Similar to FAE, but at the group level. • The UAE may serve as a more appropriate account for how stereotypes are formed and maintained at an intergroup level where contact is less frequent, and the stereotypes are often negative. • If an outgroup member is seen acting in a positive manner that doesn’t conform to the existing negative stereotype, it is most likely going to be seen as an exception to the norm, or a product of luck. • Duncan (1976) • White American college students viewed a video recording of a violent interaction where one participant pushed the other. • Researchers manipulated the race of the “protagonist” and the “victim”. • Participants were required to attribute the violent behavior to either situational factors, dispositional factors, related specifically to the topic under discussion or a combination of all these factors. • Results highlighted a strong inter-group effect. • With a black protagonist, his behavior was attributed more to dispositional factors than when the protagonist was white.

Stereotypes • The term was first used in a psychological sense by Lippmann (1922) who defined stereotypes as “little pictures in our heads that help us interpret what we see”. • The fact is that stereotypes are inevitable and should not be considered a bad thing. • We place people/things into categories based upon our previous experiences with similar people/things using our existing schemas. • Using our schemas can allow us to respond to new or unexpected situations more quickly. • More commonly however, we consider stereotyping to be a negative process as it can cause us to ignore differences between individual members of a group and can lead to biased or unfair treatment in the form of prejudice and discrimination. • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=KDBco. RLkut 8

Stereotypes • Where do stereotypes come from? • The grain of truth hypothesis: • You have one experience with a person/group and talk about that experience with someone else. • You have shaped their view of a group of people by sharing your personal experiences with them. • Illusory Correlations: • It is common for people to see two variables as related when they are not. • Ex. A student believing that all Asians are good at math because he/she sits next to a very able Asian student in class • Ex. A person believing that all pit bulls are dangerous because they have read one article on an aggressive pit bull.

Stereotypes • Hamilton and Gifford (1976) • A classic study that researched how our expectations of events can distort how we process the information • Participants had to read descriptions of various people from two imaginary groups: Group A and Group B • Group A was considerably larger than Group B • The readings contained descriptions of the individual’s group membership and a specific behavior • Behaviors were either helpful or harmful behaviors • When asked to give their impressions of a typical group member, participants considered the behavior of Group B (the minority) to be considerably less desirable than members of Group A. • There was no actual correlation between group membership and desirability and so participants were making an illusory correlation.

Effects of Stereotypes • Self-fulfilling prophecy: • Schemas and stereotypes can cause people to change the way they think about themselves and influence their behavior. • In some instances, people can unconsciously change their behavior, causing the schema to become true. • This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. • People have a perception about how others will behave and as such, treat them differently • The way that they treat those individuals causes those individuals to change their behaviors in such a way that the original expectation becomes true.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) • Classic study that demonstrated the self-fulfilling prophecy • Teachers in an elementary school were told by researchers that certain students were likely to be academic “bloomers” in the next academic year based upon results of an academic test. • The test never existed and the students who were supposed to be “bloomers” were chosen at random by the researchers. • Researchers observed the classroom dynamics throughout the year and at the end of the year the students were given an IQ test. • Students that were labeled as “bloomers” demonstrated an increase in IQ, gaining higher scores than their peers. • The teachers’ perception of the students’ ability affected the way that the teachers interacted with the students, making the predictions become true. • Teachers created a warmer environment for “bloomers”, allowing them more time to answer questions. • They also gave them more and better feedback on their completed assignments. • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=uz. KBGtf 0 i 0 M

Social Identity Theory • Based on three assumptions: • Individuals strive to maintain or enhance their self-esteem. • Membership to social groups can have both positive and negative associations. • An individual’s identity will therefore be viewed in light of the collective value of the groups to which the person belongs • An individual will assess the value of his/her own ingroup (us) membership via a process of social comparison with an outgroup (them). • When an individual perceives his/her ingroup more favorably than the outgroup, this will result in more value being placed upon membership to the ingroup and a more positive social identity

Social Identity Theory • Tajfel et al (1971): • Aimed to demonstrate that when individuals are allocated to groups based upon minimal characteristics – merely belonging to an ingroup or an outgroup – it is possible to create discrimination despite there being no existing prejudice. • Study involved 64 boys, between 14 and 15 years old, from Bristol, UK. • They were assigned to groups based on minimal criteria • In the study, boys were placed into groups based upon their estimates of the number of dots on a screen. • they were placed on either the “over-estimator” or “under-estimator” group based upon their estimates • The boys were told that they were going to be involved in a task that involved giving rewards and penalties to others in the form of real money. • They were given specially designed booklets that contained matrices that enabled ingroup choices, outgroup choices or intergroup choices • The findings from the study highlighted that when the boys were required to make an intergroup choice (that is, either allocate rewards or penalties to one of their own group or a member of the outgroup) they displayed ingroup favoritism and allocated more rewards to members of their own group. • When faced with allocating rewards or penalties to two members of the same group, the boys opted for a decision that would ensure maximum fairness • These results support the claims made by Tajfel that discrimination can be created by merely being allocated to a group. • In short, when we are aware that an outgroup exists, we will discriminate in favor of the ingroup.