Lecture 9: Perceiving Groups

Question 1

What are stereotypes?

Answer 1

*Beliefs that associate groups of people with certain traits (e.g. England supporters are hooligans).

Question 2

What is the meaning of a Prejudice?

Answer 2

*Negative feelings towards person’s based solely on their connection to a certain group (A english supporter… Probably a hooligan).

Question 3

What is discrimination?

Answer 3

*Any behaviour directed against persons because of their connection to certain groups. (We don’t allow England supporters in our country).

Question 4

What was Broverman et al’s (1970) study on gender stereotypes find?

Answer 4

• Asked 79 male and female nurses to describe males and females on the basis of 122 items.
• No differences emerged between male and female participants.
• Description of males:
• Independant
• Not emotional
• Objective
• Logical
• Leader qualities
• Ambitious
• Description of females:
• Talkative
• Tactful
• Gentle
• Emotional
• Neat in habits.

Question 5

What are the US labour stereotypes statistics for men?

Answer 5

• Airline pilots 94%
• Auto mechanic 99%
• Childcare worker 3%
• Dentist 90%
• Dental assistant 1%
• Lawyer, judge 77%
• Nurse 6%

Question 6

What is social categorisation?

Answer 6

• The classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes.
  e. g. gender, country, profession, ethnicity.

Question 7

What is the Outgroup homogeneity effect?

Answer 7

*The tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than of ingroups.

Question 8

What is the effect of outgroup homogeneity effect?

Answer 8

• One example is enough to form an impression about the entire group.
• Caused by:
  1) lack of familiarity with the outgroup
  2) lack of diversity in experiences with the outgroup
  3) When perceiving unknown faces of ingroup and outgroup members, greater neural activity in the brain when perceiving the ingroup members.

Question 9

What is Illusory correlations?

Answer 9

• An overestimate of the association between variables that are slightly or not at all correlated.
• Overestimation of distinctive words lead to stereotypes (e.g. black person commits a crime).

Question 10

What is the social identity theory?

Answer 10

• Stereotypes are usually negative

* People favour ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self - esteem.

Question 11

What are the implications of the social identity theory?

Answer 11

• Emphasising differences/increasing competition between groups leads to negative evaluation of outgroup.
• olympic games
• Explaining cultural habits/customs
• Religious clothing

Question 12

What did Vrij et al’s (1987) study?

Answer 12

*40 participants were showed newspapers headings in which black and white offenders were associated with different types of crime.
*Black man convicted for rape
*White man convicted for rape
*Participants were asked to estimate how many headings they saw.
Results: overestimation: - 38% of theft expected for black offenders whilst only 10% of white offenders.
Whilst 58% of drugs for black offenders and only 4% for white offenders.
*Overestimation of distinctive words leads to stereotypes.

Question 13

What features are used for a good campaign?

Answer 13

• Be explicit
• Be positive
• Use many examples.

Question 14

Why is reducing prejudice policy not working?

Answer 14

• Lack of insight
• Lots of money
• Policy makers believe campaigns don’t work
• They don’t communicate with researchers
• Campaigns can harm people
• Campaigns should be tested before implemented.

Question 15

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 15

*The tendency to seek and interpret information that seems to support existing beliefs.

Question 16

What is the self - fulfilling prophecies?

Answer 16

• Your own ideas guide your behaviour

* Your behaviour influences the other person’s behaviour in such a that your ideas are supported.

Question 17

What is the contact hypothesis?

Answer 17

• Equal status
• personal interaction
• Co - operative activities