Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination

Individual Differences and Prejudice

Prepared by S.SaterfieldWhitley & Kite, (2006) The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination

Study of Individual Differences

Researchers began to study why people differ from one another and related to variable such as prejudice after World War II

•Nazi Anti-Semitism

•Holocaust

Individual differences theories of prejudice-

•Authoritarian personality

•Social dominance orientation

•Empathy

The Big 3

Authoritarianism Personality

•Fascism—political philosophy that those who hold power know what is best for society, people should do what their government tells them to do

•Popular belief in the 1930’s

A personality type that is especially susceptible to unthinking obedience to authority

The Big 3

Authoritarianism Personality

-Nine characteristic patterns—5 related to prejudice

-Ideologies—set attitudes and beliefs that predispose people to view the world in certain ways and to respond in ways consistent with those viewpoints

-Rigid adherence to conventional thinking leads people to view the world in stereotypical terms

The Big 3

Authoritarianism Personal

5 Characteristic patterns—related to prejudice1. Conventionalism—rigid adherence to conventional, middle-class

values

2. Authoritarian submission—submissive uncritical attitude toward idealized moral authorities

3. Authoritarian aggression—tendency to be on the lookout for, and to condemn, reject, and punish people who violate conventional values

4. Stereotypy—The disposition to think in rigid categories

5. Projectivity—The disposition to believe that wild and dangerous things go on in the world: The projection outwards of unconscious emotional impulses.

The Big 3

Authoritarianism Personality

Right-wing authoritarianism—RWA

Set of attitudes rather than as a personality type

Tend to be:

•Mentally inflexible

•See the world in simple terms

•Have a high need for closure

•Not interested in experiencing new things

•Place a high value on security

•Self-righteous

The Big 3

Authoritarianism Personality

Right-wing authoritarianism—RWAThree Clusters of attitudes:

Authoritarian submission—high degree of submission to authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in society

Authoritarian aggression—general aggressiveness, directed against various persona, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities

Conventionalism—high degree of adherence to social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society and established authorities.

The Big 3

Social Dominance Orientation—SDO

Individual difference variable that reflects

“the extent to which one desires that one’s in-group dominate and be superior to out-groups”

Reflects the belief that one’s group ought to be at the top of societal ladder and that other groups ought to be on the bottom

Opposition to equality reflects belief that group on bottom ought to stay there

The Big 3

Social Dominance Orientations

•Concept of legitimizing myths—sets of attitudes and beliefs that people used to justify their dominant position in society

•Belief that groups they identify with (racial, ethnic, professional, socioeconomic status) should have a superior position in society and control over resources

The Big 3

Social Dominance Orientations/Prejudice

Motivational effect of social dominance orientation

Personal Characteristics:

•Competitive juggle characteristics

•Ruthless and amoral

•Winning is everything

•Tough-minded

•Low in empathy, sympathy and benevolence

The Big 3

Social Dominance Orientations/Prejudice

Legitimizing myths—set of attitudes and beliefs that people high in SDO can use to justify their dominant position in society

•Group stereotyping—used to denying equality to other groups

•Endorse stereotypes of outgroups, especially negative ones

•Tend to stereotype to a greater extent than other people

•Use stereotypes to justify their prejudices

The Big 3

Social Dominance Orientations and Authoritarianism

•Dominance over outgroups regardless of the views of ingroup authority figures

•Focus on relations between groups

•Stronger group identity motivates people to make stronger distinctions between their group and others

•Focus on quashing competition for resources from other groups

•Maintaining ingroup’s dominance in society

The Big 3

Empathy—’an other-oriented emotional response congruent with another’s perceived welfare

Affect prejudice through a three-step process:

(a)Adopting the perspective of a member of a stigmatized group

(b)Lead to perception of increased valuing of this individual’s welfare

(c)Assuming that this individual’s group membership is a salient component of his or her plight

The Big 3

Empathy—

Empathic feelings include sympathy, compassion, tenderness—an individual difference variable

(a)Perspective taking—tendency to spontaneously adopt psychological point of view of others in every day life

(b)Empathic concern—tendency to experience feelings of sympathy and compassion for unfortunate others

(c)Personal distress—tendency to experience distress and discomfort in response to extreme distress in others

The Big 3

Empathy—

• Oriented emotional response congruent with another’s perceived welfare

• Affect prejudice through a three-step process:

(a)Adopting the perspective of a member of a stigmatized group

(b)Lead to perception of increased valuing of this individual’s welfare

(c)Assuming that this individual’s group membership is a salient component of his or her plight

The Self

•Our awareness of ourselves as living beings who interact with the world and the people in it.

•Our beliefs about what we are like, our characteristic behavior, or abilities and shortcomings

•Our evaluation of those characteristics as good or bad, positive or negative

The Self

• Theorist relate the self to prejudice—

• People low in self-esteem use prejudice to boost their self-images by looking down on others

• People respond to threats to self-esteem with prejudice as a way of warding off the threat

• Intergroup anxiety—feeling of discomfort while interacting with or anticipating an interaction with members of outgroups

The Self

Self-Esteem refers to people’s evaluation of their personal characteristics and behavioral patterns

• Self-enhancement: looking down on others might make one feel better about oneself

• Self-protection—if one’s self-esteem is threatened, looking down on others might again made one feel better about oneself

The Self

Intergroup anxiety—the feelings of discomfort many people experience when interacting with, or anticipating and interaction with members of other groups

Relates to minority group members’ attitudes toward the majority group as well as majority group members’ attitudes toward minority groups/

Personal Values

Values Orientations

Individualism—values emphasizing importance of self-reliance

Egalitarianism—emphasizes the importance of all people being treated equally and fairly

Personal Values

Perceived Values Differences

• Values dissimilarity

•symbolic beliefs

•symbolic threats

• Family values

• Terror management theory

Social Ideologies

Ideologies—set attitudes and beliefs that predispose people to view the world in certain ways and to respond in ways consistent with those viewpoints

Religion

• Religious involvement

• Intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation

• Religious fundamentalism

Social Ideologies

Political Orientation

•Conservatism

•Liberalism

•Social policy attitudes