Outline of Lecture Sessions Regarding Prejudice and Discrimination

Definition of the concepts of prejudiceand discrimination.

Prejudice: A negative prejudgement of a group and its individual members. Prejudice is an attitude..

Prejudice: A negative prejudgement of a group and its individual members. Prejudice is an attitude..

Stereotype: A belief about the personal attributes of a group of people.

Prejudice: A negative prejudgement of a group and its individual members. Prejudice is an attitude..

Stereotype: A belief about the personal attributes of a group of people.

Discrimination: Unjustifiable negative behaviour toward a group or its members.

Attribute prejudice and discrimination to thoughts and acts of stupidity or immorality

Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey, baseball, and the Kiwanis Music Festival in Montreal, 1946.

Components of prejudice and therelation of prejudice (attitude) todiscrimination (behaviour).

Prejudice as an Attitude

Components of prejudice (attitude)

1. Beliefs (may include stereotypes)

2. Emotions

3. Intended actions

The question of the relation of prejudice (as attitude) to discrimination (as behaviour)

By definition, a positive attitude toward your group is not prejudice.

Should we be concerned, nevertheless

(and the role of social identity theory).

neutral unfavourable: ____________________________________:favourable

Attitudes Towards Ingroup and Outgroup

Outgroup Outgroup Ingroup

The Power of Ingroup Favouritism

Majeed(1982)

Participants: 13 to 18 years old from a rural district of India.

Trait Adjective Ratings

Ingroup OutGroup

High Caste Adolescents

Low Caste

Trait Adjective Ratings

Ingroup OutGroup

High Caste Adolescents 8.5

Low Caste 4.6

Trait Adjective Ratings

Ingroup OutGroup

High Caste Adolescents 8.5 -1.8

Low Caste 4.6

Trait Adjective Ratings

Ingroup OutGroup

High Caste Adolescents 8.5 -1.8

Low Caste 4.6 3.5

Perdue (1990)

Study was presented as a lexical decision making task.

For example: XEH paired always with us or we or ours (ingroup words).

YOF paired always with them or they or theirs (outgroup words)

Participants were asked to rate the nonsense syllables on:

Unpleasant : : : : : : : : pleasant

Result:

Nonsense syllables paired with ingroup words were rated more pleasant than nonsense syllables paired with outgroup words.

A study of systemic (institutional)discrimination.

Report of the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System

Community Summary

(1995)

Question police, lawyers, and judges.

Is there discrimination in the criminal justice system?

General Response was No.

Archival data (public records:

a) Release and detained data for total sample

Released by police: White -- 29% Black -- 18%

Detained to trial: White -- 23% Black -- 30%

b) Release and detained data for drug charges only

Released by police: White -- 60% Black -- 30%

Detained to trial: White -- 10% Black -- 31%

c) Imprisonment after conviction

Drug charge: White -- 36% Black -- 66%

All charges: White -- 57% Black -- 69%

d) Imprisonment after conviction by criminal record

0 convictions: White -- 38% Black -- 52%

1 to 5 convictions: White -- 52% Black -- 71% 6 or more convictions: White -- 77% Black -- 88%

Research by Esses

On the individual contribution of three components of attitude to the overall attitude we have toward some group.

The Components Studied Were:

i) stereotypes,

ii) emotions,

and an added component

iii) beliefs about the degree to which somegroup facilitates or blocks your cherishedvalues in society

Overall attitude was measured using a “thermometer” scale

Favourable 100

Neutral 50

Unfavourable 0

Target groups studied

English CanadianFrench CanadianNative IndianPakistaniHomosexual

Components of Attitude towards Group

1.Measuring the Stereotype Component

On a blank piece of paper, list the characteristics that you would use to describe typical members of the group

Components of Attitude towards Group

1.Measuring the Stereotype Component

Indicate the value of each attribute:

if negative, indicate two minus signs or one minus sign;

if positive, indicate two plus signs or one plus sign;

if neutral indicate zero

Components of Attitude towards Group

1.Measuring the Stereotype Component

Indicate the percentage of the group to which each characteristic applies (0% to 100%)

2. Measuring the Symbolic beliefs Component

List values, customs and traditions that you believe are blocked or facilitated by the group.

Indicate the extent to which each was blocked or facilitated:

if blocked, indicate two minus signs or one minus

sign;if facilitated, indicate two plus signs or one plus sign

Indicate the percentage of the group to which this applies (0% to 100%)

3. Emotions

List emotions and feelings that you experience when you see, meet, or think about members of the group.

Indicate the valence of each emotion: if negative, indicate two minus signs or one minus

sign; if positive, indicate two plus signs or one plus sign

Indicate the percentage of the group that make you feel this way (0% to 100%)

Target group Mean Attitude (as measured on the thermometer scale

English Canadian 81.4

French Canadian 69.1

Native Indian 66.2

Pakistani 58.9

Homosexual 44.1

Stereotype with Attitude

Symbolic Beliefs with Attitude

Emotions with AttitudesTarget group

English Canadian

French Canadian

.11

.49***

.09

.49**

.25*

.59**

Native Indian .24* 17 .44***

Pakistani .30* .58*** .32**

Homosexual .48*** .50*** .43***

The Relations between Individual Stereotypes, Symbolic Beliefs, and Emotions with Attitudes toward the Groups

For Judgements about the Target Group "Pakistani," the Correlation Coefficient between the Symbolic Belief Component and Overall Attitude was +.58

Overall Attitude Symbolic Belief Score Score (0-100) (Higher the score, the more the group is seen to facilitate cherished values)

Subject 1 63 12 2 42 05 3 54 07 4 82 16 5 68 12 and so on

Which Components Contributed to the Prediction of Overall Attitude?

Target Group Component

English Canadians no component was a unique predictor

Which Components Contributed to the Prediction of Overall Attitude?

Target Group Component

French Canadians a) emotions and

b) symbolic beliefs were unique predictors

Which Components Contributed to the Prediction of Overall Attitude?

Target Group Component

Native Indians a) emotions were unique predictor

Which Components Contributed to the Prediction of Overall Attitude?

Target Group Component

Pakistanis a) symbolic beliefs was unique predictor

Which Components Contributed to the Prediction of Overall Attitude?

Target Group Component

Homosexuals a) symbolic beliefs was unique predictor

Components of a Stereotype and Meaning

The same trait term, for example, may have a different meaning depending on the group being referred to.

My earlier example with judgements of French-Canadians-in-general when discussing stereotypes.

Components of a Stereotype and Meaning

Saenger (1954) -- there was overlap in terms ascribed by university students to Americans (own-group) and to Jews (outgroup).

Yet, common terms such as aggressive and materialistic were evaluated more unfavourably in reference to the category Jews.

Mood and Meaning of Components of a Stereotype

Victoria Esses (1995) found that the meaning of a term ascribed to a particular outgroup can vary with the mood of the individual making the judgements.

Mood was experimentally manipulated.

In a negative mood, the evaluations of terms associated with outgroups were more unfavourable.