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Stereotypes

Stereotypes. Lippmann (1922). Term coined by political commentator, Walter Lippmann (1922) Preconceived ideas; simplifications ‘Picture in the head’ – schema theory Dangerous: unfair treatment and misperception. Early research. Katz and Braly (1933); content

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Stereotypes

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  1. Stereotypes

  2. Lippmann (1922) • Term coined by political commentator, Walter Lippmann (1922) • Preconceived ideas; simplifications • ‘Picture in the head’ – schema theory • Dangerous: unfair treatment and misperception

  3. Early research • Katz and Braly (1933); content • 100 Princeton students; asked to identify traits that best described 9 ethnic groups; consistent national stereotypes • Replicated in 1951 and 1969: lower consensus, more positive stereotypes

  4. Formation of stereotypes • Mann (1967) asked Pps whether they believed that every member of a stereotyped group possessed the traits associated with that stereotype • Naturally the answer was “no”; • Pps believed individuals from stereotyped social groups were more likely to possess stereotypical traits than people belonging to other social groups • A correlation

  5. Shared distinctiveness account • Chapman and Chapman (1967): If 2 distinctive or rare events sometimes occur at the same time, we will come to believe that they ‘generally’ go together; ‘illusory correlation’ • Hamilton and Gifford (1976) created a laboratory experiment to test this idea in relation to stereotypes

  6. Evaluation of SDA • Does not account for the selectivity of stereotypes, i.e. Selecting negative traits rather than positive • Illusory correlation is not inevitable; when Pps are motivated to pay greater attention to information they are presented with they are less likely to make errors, however, in reality we are operating with limited cognitive capacity with regards to processing incoming information (cognitive miser) • Also while there may indeed be a real correlation between a minority group and a deviant behaviour, such as crime the reasons may be more complex and linked to other factors such as oppression from out-group; ethnic minority groups may face greater discrimination, poor employment, housing etc and thus crime rate may be disproportionately high

  7. Out-group homogeneity account: Quattrone (1986) • We tend to stereotype out-groups, as opposed to our own in-group • Making generalisations from individuals to a whole group makes sense so long as we hold the view that out-groups are generally homogeneous (all members are similar) • Unlikely to have stereotype of our own group if we believe the in-group to be heterogeneous; in-group differentiation hypothesis Linville et al (1989)

  8. Why does ‘out-group homogeneity’ occur? • We are more likely to meet and interact with members of in-group; • more likely to perceive differences; • simpler social representations of out-group due to less information about them • Evaluation; does not explain the differing content of the stereotypes, other than that we conform to the group norm of the in-group and take on the in-group’s social representation of the out-group (Rwanda propaganda) – see Rogers and Frantz (1962)

  9. Research example of OHA:Quattrone and Jones (1980) • Pps either Rutgers or Princeton Uni • Shown video of another Pp (confederate) either choosing to wait alone or with other Pps while experimenters fixed broken equipment • Led to believe that the confederate was either a member of their own uni or the other uni • Asked to what percentage of other people from the confederates uni would behave like this • If Pps believed the confederate was from their own uni (in-group) they predicted a lower percentage of similar behaviour from others than if they thought the confederate was from the opposing (out-group) uni; seen to be homogeneous

  10. Effects of holding stereotypes • Positive effect on cognition- Macrae et al (1994) p489 Fundamentals • Biased processing of information • Bodenhausen (1988), p491 fundamentals • Buckhout (1974), Duncan (1976) Gross p. 388 • Rothbart et al (1979), p158-9 Sabini • Snyder and Uranowitz (1978) p.159 Sabini • Differential treatment/interaction; Snyder and Swann (1978) p109 Course companion

  11. Mediating factors • Strength of stereotype • Stangor and McMillan, (1992) p.492 fundamentals • Frame of reference, current world events • p490 Haslam et al (1992) p491 fundamentals • Degree of identification with ‘in-group’, • Rogers and Frantz (1962) Course companion

  12. Effects of being stereotyped • Stereotype threat and spotlight anxiety Course Companion p. 108 • Steel and Aronson (1995) • Spencer (1977) • Self fulfilling prophecy : Rosenthal and Fode (1963), p45 Gross and Snyder et al 1977, p.481 Gross

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