PSYC12H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Psychopathology, Social Neuroscience
Chapter 1: Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination: Theoretical and Empirical Overview
Abstract
Intergroup bias: the tendency to evaluate one’s own membership group (the ingroup) or its members more
favorably than a non-membership group (the outgroup) or its members.
• In recent years, research on prejudice and stereotyping has rapidly expanded in both quantity and
perspective.
• Approaches to understanding prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination have significantly broadened.
Early theorists focused on individual differences, and associated prejudice with psychopathology. In the
1970s and 1980s it was emphasized that normal psychological and social processes foster and maintain
prejudice and stereotyping.
• The study of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination represents a well-established area
incorporating traditional and emerging perspectives that have consistently attracted significant
empirical and theoretical attention.
• This chapter focuses on 3 types of social bias towards a group and its members:
Prejudice: a biased evaluation of a group based on imagined characteristics of the group.
Stereotypes: associations and attributes of specific characteristics to a group. A tendency of people to think of
someone something in similar terms.
Discrimination: biased behavior toward, and treatment of a group or its members.
Prejudice
• Prejudice is conceptualized as an attitude that like other attitudes, has a cognitive component (beliefs
about a target group), an affective component (dislike), and a conative component (behavioral
disposition to behave negatively toward the target group) (CAC)
• Psychologists have assumed that, like other attitudes, prejudice organizes people’s environment and
positions them to objects and people within it.
• Prejudice also serves other psychological functions such as enhancing self-esteem and providing
material advantages. However, psychologists have focused on prejudice as an intrapsychic process (an
attitude held by an individual), whereas sociologists have emphasized its group-based functions.
• Prejudice can be seen as a mechanism that maintains status and role differences between groups but
also emphasizes how individuals’ reactions contribute to this process. People who deviate from their
group’s traditional role arouse negative reactions, those who exhibit behaviors that reinforce the status
quo elicit positive responses.
• Since prejudice represents an individual level psychological bias, members of traditionally disadvantaged
groups can also hold prejudices toward advantaged groups and their members.
• It is difficult to formulate a single definition of prejudice, however based on extensive social-
psychological research the following definition is suggested; “Prejudice is an individual-level attitude
(whether subjectively positive or negative) toward groups and their members that creates or maintains
hierarchical status relations between groups.”
Stereotypes
• Stereotypes are cognitive schemas used by social perceivers to process information about others.
• Stereotypes also contain information about other qualities such as social roles, the degree to which
members of the group share specific qualities and influence emotional reactions to group members.
Document Summary
Chapter 1: prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination: theoretical and empirical overview. Intergroup bias: the tendency to evaluate one"s own membership group (the ingroup) or its members more favorably than a non-membership group (the outgroup) or its members. In recent years, research on prejudice and stereotyping has rapidly expanded in both quantity and perspective: approaches to understanding prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination have significantly broadened. Early theorists focused on individual differences, and associated prejudice with psychopathology. Prejudice: a biased evaluation of a group based on imagined characteristics of the group. Stereotypes: associations and attributes of specific characteristics to a group. A tendency of people to think of someone something in similar terms. Discrimination: biased behavior toward, and treatment of a group or its members. Warmth (associated with cooperative groups and denied to competitive groups). Competence (associated with high status groups and denied to low status groups). Stereotypically warm and competent groups (ex; the ingroup, close allies) produce pride and admiration.
