Lesson 10 - STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION

Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many
differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These
differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward
people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based
solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice
is common against people who are members of an unfamiliar cultural group. Thus, certain types
of education, contact, interactions, and building relationships with members of different cultural
groups can reduce the tendency toward prejudice. In fact, simply imagining interacting with
members of different cultural groups might affect prejudice. Indeed, when experimental
participants were asked to imagine themselves positively interacting with someone from a
different group, this led to an increased positive attitude toward the other group and an increase
in positive traits associated with the other group. Furthermore, imagined social interaction can
reduce anxiety associated with inter-group interactions (Crisp & Turner, 2009). What are some
examples of social groups that you belong to that contribute to your identity? Social groups can
include gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, social class, religion, sexual orientation, profession,
and many more. And, as is true for social roles, you can simultaneously be a member of more
than one social group. An example of prejudice is having a negative attitude toward people who
are not born in the United States. Although people holding this prejudiced attitude do not know
all people who were not born in the United States, they dislike them due to their status as
foreigners.

Can you think of a prejudiced attitude you have held toward a group of people? How did
your prejudice develop? Prejudice often begins in the form of a stereotype—that is, a specific
belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless
of their individual characteristics. Stereotypes become overgeneralized and applied to all
members of a group. For example, someone holding prejudiced attitudes toward older adults,
may believe that older adults are slow and incompetent (Cuddy, Norton, & Fiske, 2005; Nelson,
2004). We cannot possibly know each individual person of advanced age to know that all older
adults are slow and incompetent. Therefore, this negative belief is overgeneralized to all
members of the group, even though many of the individual group members may in fact be spry
and intelligent.

Another example of a well-known stereotype involves beliefs about racial differences

among athletes. As Hodge, Burden, Robinson, and Bennett (2008) point out, Black male
athletes are often believed to be more athletic, yet less intelligent, than their White male
counterparts. These beliefs persist despite a number of high profile examples to the contrary.
Sadly, such beliefs often influence how these athletes are treated by others and how they view
themselves and their own capabilities. Whether or not you agree with a stereotype, stereotypes
are generally well-known within in a given culture (Devine, 1989).

Sometimes people will act on their prejudiced attitudes toward a group of people, and
this behavior is known as discrimination. Discrimination is negative action toward an individual
as a result of one’s membership in a particular group (Allport, 1954; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004).
As a result of holding negative beliefs (stereotypes) and negative attitudes (prejudice) about a
particular group, people often treat the target of prejudice poorly, such as excluding older adults

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from their circle of friends. An example of a psychologist experiencing gender discrimination is
found in the life and studies of Mary Whiton Calkins. Calkins was given special permission to
attend graduate seminars at Harvard (at that time in the late 1880s, Harvard did not accept
women) and at one point was the sole student of the famous psychologist William James. She
passed all the requirements needed for a PhD and was described by psychologist Hugo
Münsterberg as “one of the strongest professors of psychology in this country.” However,
Harvard refused to grant Calkins a PhD because she was a woman (Harvard University,
2019). Have you ever been the target of discrimination? If so, how did this negative treatment
make you feel?

The discussion of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination most often uses negative
and problematic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. However, people can hold positive thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors toward individuals based on group membership; for example, they
would show preferential treatment for people who are like themselves—that is, who share the
same gender, race, or favorite sports team.

Types of Prejudice and Discrimination

When we meet strangers we automatically process three pieces of information about

them: their race, gender, and age (Ito & Urland, 2003). Why are these aspects of an unfamiliar
person so important? Why don’t we instead notice whether their eyes are friendly, whether they
are smiling, their height, the type of clothes they are wearing? Although these secondary
characteristics are important in forming a first impression of a stranger, the social categories of
race, gender, and age provide a wealth of information about an individual. This information,
however, often is based on stereotypes. We may have different expectations of strangers
depending on their race, gender, and age. What stereotypes and prejudices do you hold about
people who are from a race, gender, and age group different from your own? Find out your
implicit associations by taking an Implicit Association Test here!

Racism

Racism is prejudice and discrimination against an individual based solely on one’s

membership in a specific racial group (such as toward African Americans, Asian Americans,
Latinos, Native Americans, European Americans). What are some stereotypes of various racial
or ethnic groups? Research suggests cultural stereotypes for Asian Americans include cold, sly,
and intelligent; for Latinos, cold and unintelligent; for European Americans, cold and intelligent;
and for African Americans, aggressive, athletic, and more likely to be law breakers (Devine &
Elliot, 1995; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002; Sommers & Ellsworth, 2000; Dixon & Linz, 2000).

Racism exists for many racial and ethnic groups. For example, Blacks are significantly
more likely to have their vehicles searched during traffic stops than Whites, particularly when
Blacks are driving in predominately White neighborhoods, (a phenomenon often termed “DWB,”
or “driving while Black.”; Rojek, Rosenfeld, & Decker, 2012).

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 Mexican Americans and other Latino groups also are targets of racism from the police
and other members of the community. For example, when purchasing items with a personal
check, Latino shoppers are more likely than White shoppers to be asked to show formal
identification (Dovidio et al., 2010).

In one case of alleged harassment by the police, several East Haven, Connecticut,
police officers were arrested on federal charges due to reportedly continued harassment and
brutalization of Latinos. When the accusations came out, the mayor of East Haven was asked,
“What are you doing for the Latino community today?” The Mayor responded, “I might have
tacos when I go home, I’m not quite sure yet” (“East Haven Mayor,” 2012). This statement
undermines the important issue of racial profiling and police harassment of Latinos, while
belittling Latino culture by emphasizing an interest in a food product stereotypically associated
with Latinos.

Racism is prevalent toward many other groups in the United States including Native
Americans, Arab Americans, Jewish Americans, and Asian Americans. Have you witnessed
racism toward any of these racial or ethnic groups? Are you aware of racism in your
community?

One reason modern forms of racism, and prejudice in general, are hard to detect is
related to the dual attitudes model (Wilson, Lindsey, & Schooler, 2000). Humans have two forms
of attitudes: explicit attitudes, which are conscious and controllable, and implicit attitudes, which
are unconscious and uncontrollable (Devine, 1989; Olson & Fazio, 2003). Because holding
egalitarian views is socially desirable (Plant & Devine, 1998), most people do not show extreme
racial bias or other prejudices on measures of their explicit attitudes. However, measures of
implicit attitudes often show evidence of mild to strong racial bias or other prejudices
(Greenwald, McGee, & Schwartz, 1998; Olson & Fazio, 2003).

Sexism

Sexism is prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex. Typically,
sexism takes the form of men holding biases against women, but either sex can show sexism
toward their own or their opposite sex. Like racism, sexism may be subtle and difficult to detect.
Common forms of sexism in modern society include gender role expectations, such as
expecting women to be the caretakers of the household. Sexism also includes people’s
expectations for how members of a gender group should behave. For example, women are
expected to be friendly, passive, and nurturing, and when women behave in an unfriendly,
assertive, or neglectful manner they often are disliked for violating their gender role (Rudman,
1998). Research by Laurie Rudman (1998) finds that when female job applicants self-promote,
they are likely to be viewed as competent, but they may be disliked and are less likely to be
hired because they violated gender expectations for modesty. Sexism can exist on a societal
level such as in hiring, employment opportunities, and education. Women are less likely to be
hired or promoted in male-dominated professions such as engineering, aviation, and
construction (Blau, Ferber, & Winkler, 2010; Ceci & Williams, 2011). Have you ever experienced
or witnessed sexism? Think about your family members’ jobs or careers. Why do you think there

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are differences in the jobs women and men have, such as more women nurses but more male
surgeons (Betz, 2008)?

Ageism

People often form judgments and hold expectations about people based on their age.
These judgments and expectations can lead to ageism, or prejudice and discrimination toward
individuals based solely on their age. Typically, ageism occurs against older adults, but ageism
also can occur toward younger adults. Think of expectations you hold for older adults. How
could someone’s expectations influence the feelings they hold toward individuals from older age
groups? Ageism is widespread in U.S. culture (Nosek, 2005), and a common ageist attitude
toward older adults is that they are incompetent, physically weak, and slow (Greenberg,
Schimel, & Martens, 2002) and some people consider older adults less attractive. However,
some cultures, including some Asian, Latino, and African American cultures, both outside and
within the United States afford older adults respect and honor.

Ageism can also occur toward younger adults. What expectations do you hold toward
younger people? Does society expect younger adults to be immature and irresponsible? How
might these two forms of ageism affect a younger and older adult who are applying for a sales
clerk position?

Homophobia

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 Another form of prejudice is homophobia: prejudice and discrimination of individuals
based solely on their sexual orientation. Like ageism, homophobia is a widespread prejudice in
U.S. society that is tolerated by many people (Herek & McLemore, 2013; Nosek, 2005).
Negative feelings often result in discrimination, such as the exclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) people from social groups and the avoidance of LGBT neighbors and
co-workers. This discrimination also extends to employers deliberately declining to hire qualified
LGBT job applicants. Have you experienced or witnessed homophobia? If so, what stereotypes,
prejudiced attitudes, and discrimination were evident?

Why Do Prejudice and Discrimination Exist?

Prejudice and discrimination persist in society due to social learning and conformity to
social norms. Children learn prejudiced attitudes and beliefs from society: their parents,
teachers, friends, the media, and other sources of socialization, such as Facebook (O’Keeffe &
Clarke-Pearson, 2011). If certain types of prejudice and discrimination are acceptable in a
society, there may be normative pressures to conform and share those prejudiced beliefs,
attitudes, and behaviors. For example, public and private schools are still somewhat segregated
by social class. Historically, only children from wealthy families could afford to attend private
schools, whereas children from middle- and low-income families typically attended public
schools. If a child from a low-income family received a merit scholarship to attend a private
school, how might the child be treated by classmates? Can you recall a time when you held
prejudiced attitudes or beliefs or acted in a discriminatory manner because your group of friends
expected you to?

WATCH:

Prejudice and Discrimination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P0iP2Zm6a4

Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jfVFdDAqCQ

Prejudice and Discrimination based on Race, Ethnicity, Power, Social Class and Prestige
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug2FXcEurOo

READ:

Chapter 7 – Prejudice and Intergroup Relations

Essentials of Social Psychology by Michael Hogg and Graham Vaughan

Understanding Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://kidshelpphone.ca/get-info/understanding-stereotypes-prejudice-and-discrimination/

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Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.jove.com/science-education/11069/stereotypes-prejudice-and-discrimination

ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENT:

GUIDE QUESTION/s:

1. Take a look at the picture below, and consider your thoughts and feelings about each person.
What are your stereotypes and prejudices about them? Do you think your stereotypes are
accurate?

2. Have you ever confronted or failed to confront a person who you thought was expressing
prejudice or discriminating? Why did you confront (or not confront) that person, and how did
doing so make you feel?

Social Psychology/ Compiled by: Minera Laiza C. Acosta 6