Stereotypes & Prejudice
•	Stereotypes
•	Prejudice
•	Discrimination
Stereotypes about stereotypes
•	They are inaccurate
•	They are held only by prejudiced people
•	They are supported primarily by cultural forces
•	They are negative
•	And rigidly held
A brief history
•	Originally proposed as a link (Katz & Braly)
–	Between corrupt culture
–	And ignorant minds
•	The with Authoritarian Personality
–	Became product of diseased minds
–	And prejudice
•	Justification for
•	Produced by
•	The social cognition perspective
–	Just like other generalizations
What are stereotypes
•	Generalizations about groups of people
•	Held by all people
•	Dimensions
–	What features are included
–	Assumptions about homogeneity
–	Articulation
•	How conscious?
•	Implicit stereotypes
Are they accurate
•	Some are, some are not
•	Like any other generalization
•	The homogeneity problem 
–	Applications to individuals
–	But we do this constantly
–	Over-generalization
The problem of perceived accuracy
•	People think their stereotypes are accurate
•	Reasons for this
–	Some let their prejudices dictate reality
–	But for the rest of us
•	selective exposure
•	Biased thinking
•	Self-fulfilling prophecies
Are stereotypes negative?
•	Some are, some are not
•	Those that are positive tend not to be labeled as stereotypes
•	No reason to believe positive and negative generalizations differ
Are they rigidly held?
•	Some are, some are not
•	Most people are fairly tentative in their person generalizations
•	Ought not take racists as prototypic
Are they supported by culture?
•	Most are but the same is true of most generalizations
•	Little evidence that media and parental teaching have the huge effects most people imagine
•	However,
–	Cultural effects are everywhere
–	And often subtle
•	Most seem based on experiences – often corrupt
Relationships to prejudice 
•	Some prejudice based on stereotypes
•	But also the reverse
•	And prejudice may have other sources
Similarly discrimination is multi-caused
•	Deliberate straight-line discrimination
•	More subtle forms
Stereotype threat
•	Idea that some groups under perform academically
–	Over prediction
–	Women & most minorities
•	Some may result from discouragement by teachers
•	But seems to be mental attitudes
Conditions
•	Must be member of group and identified with that group
•	Must be negative stereotype of group about particular performance
•	Person in that group must identify with performance – must want to do well
•	Must be difficult test 
Several studies
•	Pick blacks and whites of equivalent ability
•	Take ability test
•	Make group membership salient
•	Members of stereotyped group perform less well.
•	Perform equally if group membership not salient
Works for different groups
•	Blacks and Hispanics on math tests
•	Women on math tests
•	White males compared to Asian males on math tests
•	Blacks and whites on athletic performance
Prejudice
•	Means prejudging
•	And hence something we do all the time
•	Psychology of racial or general prejudice 
–	Similar in some ways to other kinds of prejudging
–	But often more affect and ego-involvement
Prejudice as an attitude
•	Based to some extent on beliefs about people
•	With associated affect
•	Hence often quite complex
–	Our beliefs about important things are usually
•	Positive and negative
•	Changeable over time
–	So prejudice levels often change
Implicit prejudice
•	People may have hidden feelings
•	Not fully conscious
•	Automatically activated
•	How to measure
•	Importance
–	Not more important that explicit
–	More important for uncontrolled (automatic) behaviors
Discrimination
•	Straight-line
•	Usually more subtle
•	Institutional
•	Affirmative action