Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination: A Social Psychological Perspective

1. Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination: A Social Psychological Perspective Keith Maddox Department of Psychology Tufts University University of Texas at Austin November 3, 2011

2. Overview Definitions: Social Psychology / Social Cognition Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination Who is Biased? Explicit & Implicit Associations Demonstration How Bias Affects Us Perceiver and Target Perspectives Conclusion

3. DEFINING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Definitions

4. Definitions • Social Psychology • The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context. • It’s all in the Method • , (A)ffect, (B)ehavior, and (C)ognition • Real or imagined presence of other people • Social Cognition • The study of how people make sense of themselves and others • Focus on process in addition to content • Informed from research in cognitive psychology

5. Tenets of Social Psychology • The Social Construction of Reality • The way a person construes a person situation dictates our thoughts, feelings, and behavior • The Determinants of Behavior • Person × Situation = Behavior • The Power of the Situation • Situations often have a large, underappreciated influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behavior • Personality is often overemphasized

6. Pick a number... • Pick a number between 1 and 9 • Subtract 5 • Multiply by 3 • Square the number • Add the digits • If number is less than 5, add 5 to it. If the number is greater than 5, subtract 4 • Take the absolute value • Multiply by 2 • Subtract 6

7. Pick a number... • Map your number to its corresponding letter in the alphabet (A=1, B=2, C=3…) • Pick the name of a country that begins with that letter • Take the second letter of that country and pick a mammal that begins with it. • Think of a common color of that animal

8. Grey Elephant from Denmark Brown Orangutan from the Dominican Republic Yellow or Orange Jaguar from Djbouti

9. WTF?!? The Availability Heuristic Making judgments based on the ease with which information comes to mind. Countries: Denmark, Dominican Republic, Djbouti Mammals: Elephant, Orangutan , Jaguar Colors Grey, Brown, Orange

10. The ABCs of SP&D Stereotypes (C) Endorsed or unendorsed knowledge about the attributes associated with a group of people. Prejudice (A) An positive or negative attitude toward others based on group membership. Discrimination (B) Unjustifiable negative behavior toward others based on group membership.

11. EXPLICIT & IMPLICIT ASSOCIATIONS Who Is Biased?

12. CONTROLLED PROCESSING Two “Modes” of (Social) Cognition • Fast • Unconscious • Mandatory • Efficient • Slow • Conscious • Optional • Effortful AUTOMATIC PROCESSING

13. MEASURING IMPLICIT ASSOCIATIONS An Example

14. caress freedom health love peace cheer heaven pleasure diamond gentle honest lucky rainbow miracle sunrise family happy laughter paradise vacation

15. abuse filth sickness accident death grief poison stink disaster hatred pollute tragedy divorce jail ugly cancer evil kill rotten vomit

16. AIESHA LASHELLE SHEREEN TEMEKA EBONY LATISHA SHANIQUA TAMEISHA LATONYA TANISHA LAKISHA SHARISE LATOYA TASIKA YOLANDA LASHANDRA MALIKA NIKISHA TAWANDA YVETTE

17. AMANDA COURTNEY HEATHER MELANIE SARA AMBER KATIE MEREDITH BETSY KIRSTIN NANCY STEPHANIE BOBBIE-SUE ELLEN LAUREN PEGGY EMILY MEGAN RACHEL WENDY

18. cancer health corpse diamond truth devil assault triumph glory brutal talent agony kindness family divorce stink pleasure torture bomb peace LEFT side if UNPLEASANT RIGHT side if PLEASANT

19. SARA AIESHA MEREDITH KATIE SHEREEN BOBBIE-SUE TAWANDA NIKISHA AMANDA MEGAN MALIKA LATOYA WENDY TEMEKA RACHEL LASHANDA COLLEEN KIRSTIN TAMEISHA EBONY LEFT side if BLACK name RIGHT side if WHITE name

20. WENDY health LAUREN diamond AIESHA devil SHARISE triumph LINDA brutal LATOYA agony SHANEKA family KATIE stink HEATHER torture LASHELLE peace LEFT side if UNPLEASANT or BLACK name RIGHT side if PLEASANT or WHITE name

21. truth ugly assault cheer glory cancer health corpse diamond filth talent divorce stink pleasure torture pollute peace agony diploma rainbow LEFT side if UNPLEASANT RIGHT side if PLEASANT

22. AIESHA LASHELLE AMANDA HEATHER TEMEKA BETSY SHEREEN LAKISHA ELLEN SARA MALIKA YOLANDA LAUREN TANISHA DONNA EBONY STEPHANIE EMILY NICHELLE TAWANDA LEFT side if WHITE name RIGHT side if BLACK name

23. AMBER health COURTNEY diamond TEMEKA devil SHANIQUA triumph ELLEN brutal LATOYA agony PEGGY family COLLEEN stink NANCY torture EBONY peace LEFT side if UNPLEASANT or WHITE name RIGHT side if PLEASANT or BLACK name

24. LEFT side if UNPLEASANT or BLACK name RIGHT side if PLEASANT or WHITE name Implicit Associations Test http://implicit.harvard.edu LEFT side if UNPLEASANT or WHITE name RIGHT side if PLEASANT or BLACK name

25. Implicit Associations Associations like these are everywhere Age, Race, Gender, Political Affiliation, etc… They are pervasive We are usually unaware but they can influence judgment and behavior Can we stop them?

26. PERCEIVER & TARGET PERSEPCTIVES How Bias Affects Us

27. Why are stereotypes pervasive? What we see • Stereotypes guide: What we remember What we believe How we act towards others How we explain behavior

28. Confirmation Bias We tend to see what we already believe (stereotypes) Particularly when behavior is ambiguous Attribution Bias We ignore the role that the situation plays in shaping a person’s behavior, and instead blame their disposition (traits) Female athletes and Title IX Cross-Race Recognition Deficit We more easily confuse people who belong to racial outgroups Contributes to wrongful conviction/incarceration rates for minorities. Perceiver Perspective

29. Cross Race Recognition Deficit Chip Gidney Keith Maddox Sam Sommers Reg Adams Sarah Jenni K-Madd T-Pain

30. The Target’s Perspective • Attributional Ambiguity • Uncertainty about whether treatment (feedback) is based on group or personal attributes • Implications for self-knowledge • Uncertainty about aptitude and abilities • Stereotype Threat • Debilitating concern over confirming a negative group stereotype through one’s own behavior. • Implications for performance • Leads to impaired performance on stereotype-relevant tasks.

31. WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? Conclusions

32. What can you do about it? • Potential strategies • Colorblindness? • Suppression? • Consciousness raising?

33. A Caveat • Racism, Sexism, Heterosexism, Classism, Anti-Semitism, etc. • “isms” • 1. An individual’s prejudicial attitudes, beliefs, and discrimination toward people of a given group. • 2. Institutional practices (even if not seemingly motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given group. • Lack of wheelchair access to buildings? • English exam for LPGA Tour? • Night clubs with dress codes?

34. Conclusion • Making Implicit Processes Explicit • Acknowledge that people are different, but; • Recognize that stereotypes can cloud and exaggerate those differences, and; • Strategize to minimize their impact on personal and institutional levels.

35. Thank You!

36. What are the effects of stereotypes? Steele & Aronson (1995)