11: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
- Page ID
- 257133
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Chapter Overview
Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination influence how we perceive, evaluate, and interact with other people and social groups. This chapter examines the social psychological processes that contribute to these responses and considers how understanding them can help reduce bias and discrimination. The chapter begins with social categorization and stereotyping, exploring how we organize people into social categories and how those categories can influence our thoughts, feelings, expectations, and behavior. You will examine what stereotypes are, how psychologists measure them, and how stereotypes can shape social interactions. Next, the chapter explores ingroup favoritism and prejudice, focusing on why people often evaluate members of their own groups more positively than members of other groups. You will examine social identity processes, Henri Tajfel’s minimal group research, and individual and cultural factors that can influence ingroup favoritism. Finally, the chapter considers reducing discrimination. You will examine the factors that contribute to discriminatory behavior and explore strategies for reducing prejudice and improving relationships between groups, including the conditions under which intergroup contact is most effective. Throughout the chapter, you will apply social psychological principles to better understand how stereotypes and prejudice develop, how they can influence behavior, and how individuals and societies can work toward reducing discrimination.
Chapter Learning Objectives
- Social Categorization and Stereotyping
- Describe the fundamental process of social categorization and its influence on thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
- Define stereotypes and describe the ways that stereotypes are measured.
- Review the ways that stereotypes influence our behavior.
- Ingroup Favoritism and Prejudice
- Review the causes and outcomes of ingroup favoritism.
- Summarize the results of Henri Tajfel’s research on minimal groups.
- Outline the personality and cultural variables that influence ingroup favoritism.
- Reducing Discrimination
- Review the causes of discrimination and the ways that we can reduce it.
- Summarize the conditions under which intergroup contact does or does not reduce prejudice and discrimination.
- 11.1: Prelude to Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
- This page examines state-sanctioned homophobia in Russia, detailing discriminatory laws and societal violence against the LGBT community. It highlights the impact of negative media portrayals and makes historical comparisons to Jewish persecutions during the Nazi era. The text discusses the effects of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination on individuals and society, emphasizing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components.
- 11.2: Social Categorization and Stereotyping
- This page explores social categorization, illustrating how it leads to stereotypes that influence thought and behavior, often exaggerating group differences and fostering unfair treatment. Concepts like perceptual accentuation and outgroup homogeneity highlight cognitive biases that reinforce stereotypes through media and cultural norms. Stereotypes affect social judgments and can result in self-fulfilling prophecies.
- 11.3: Ingroup Favoritism and Prejudice
- This page explores ingroup favoritism, emphasizing the natural tendency to prefer one's own group over others. It references Henri Tajfel's research on arbitrary group divisions and discusses how this bias forms early in children and persists across diverse social situations. Factors influencing ingroup favoritism include self-enhancement, social identity, and personality traits like authoritarianism.
- 11.4: Reducing Discrimination
- This page outlines strategies to reduce prejudice and discrimination, emphasizing the negative impact on individuals and the importance of intergroup contact and education. It discusses the contact hypothesis, showing that proximity can improve attitudes between diverse groups, and highlights research, like the Robbers’ Cave Experiment, illustrating how cooperation fosters positive relationships.
- 11.5: Thinking Like a Social Psychologist about Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination
- This page examines intergroup relations, addressing perceptions and interactions between different social groups. It discusses the prevalence of both positive and negative feelings, including prejudice and stereotyping, and the tendency to categorize individuals. Benefits like ingroup favoritism are acknowledged alongside drawbacks.
- 11.6: Chapter Summary
- This page discusses social categorization's influence on stereotypes and prejudices, their detrimental effects on intergroup relations, and the self-enhancing nature of ingroup favoritism. It highlights the challenges in changing established stereotypes and underscores the importance of education in reducing prejudice through new social norms.
- 11.7: Additional Learning Opportunities
- This page covers application activities focused on social categorization, stereotyping, ingroup favoritism, and bias reduction strategies. Students engage in real-world observations, stereotype analyses, and evaluations of the contact hypothesis to foster critical thinking. A video by Paul Bloom discusses the psychological roots of prejudice and the need for regulation.
- 11.8: References
- This page compiles academic references centered on social psychology, emphasizing intergroup bias, stereotypes, and prejudice. It encompasses notable studies on group favoritism in children, the influence of socialization on racial attitudes, and methods to mitigate bias.
Thumbnail: Reducing Prejudice Through Contact. (CC BY 4.0; via Wikimedia Commons).