Perception, Prejudice, and Bias

• Stereotype


  Cognitive component (an idea - "I think city dwellers are rude")
• Prejudice


  Affective component (a feeling - "I don't like city dwellers")
• Discrimination


  Behavioral component (an action - "I avoid them")
• Attribution theory


  The way that we explain the behavior of others around us (i.e. whether we attribute their behaviors to internal or external causes)
• Explaining the behavior of other people

  Break down our understanding/explanation of their behaviors to factors about them, and factors related to their environment/surroundings
• Internal (dispositional attribution)


  About them
• Kelley's Covariation model


  • Consistency (time)
  • Distinctiveness (situation)
  • Consensus (people)
• Consistency


  We are more likely to attribute internal factors when a person has a high level of consistent behavior over time
• Distinctiveness


  We are more likely to attribute external factors when a person acts out of character / distinctively
• Consensus


  We are more likely to attribute external factors when a group of people show a consensus in their behavior
• Cognitive bias


  The tendency to think in certain ways, often causing deviations from a standard of rationality or good judgment
• Actor-Observer bias


  Tendency to attribute one's own actions to external causes (ego-preservation), while attributing other people's behaviors to internal causes (fundamental attribution error)
• Fundamental attribution error


  The tendency to assign too much weight on internal causes while underestimating the influence of external factors when attributing the cause of other people's behavior
• Ego-preservation


  The tendency to assign too much weight on external causes while underestimating the influence of internal factors when attributing the cause of our own behavior
• Self-serving bias


  Mechanism of preserving our self-esteem - if we succeed, we attribute it to internal factors; if we fail, we attribute it to external factors
• Optimism bias


  Causes a person to believe that they are at a lesser risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others
• Individualist cultures (Western cultures) are more likely to be subject to the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias
• Stereotype


  Attributing and overgeneralizing a certain thought/cognition to a group of individuals
• Stereotype threat


  Exposure to a negative stereotype surrounding a particular task can decrease/threaten the performance of an individual performing said task
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  Stereotypes can lead to behaviors that affirm the original stereotypes
• Stereotype -> Prejudice -> Discrimination


  Cognitive component -> Affective component -> Behavioral component
• Prejudice


  An attitude made up of 3 components: Cognition, Affect, Behavior
• Personality-based explanation of prejudice


  Suggests that there are types of personality that are more subject to prejudice, e.g. authoritarian personality
• Frustration Aggression Hypothesis


  Suggests that prejudice is emotionally based rather than personality based, with frustration leading to aggressive impulses and prejudice
• Relative Deprivation Theory


  Suggests that prejudice arises when people feel that they are deprived of something they feel entitled to
• Individual discrimination


  Individual person acting to discriminate based on something (sex, religion, race, age etc.)
• Institutional discrimination


  Organization discriminating - including governments, banks, schools etc.
• Unintentional (structural) discrimination


  System, rules, regulations, policies, or arrangements have unintentionally not taken into account the needs of a group
• Side-effect discrimination


  Practices in one institutional area that have a negative impact because they are linked to practices in another area
• Past-In-Present discrimination


  Discrimination from the past that is still affecting people in the present, even if said discrimination is no longer legal
• Bases of prejudice and discrimination

  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Power
  • Social Class
  • Prestige
• Stigma


  Extreme disapproval/discrediting of a person based on some behavior or quality of that person
• Social stigma


  Calls attention to how certain individuals or groups face social disapproval
• Prestige


  Often based on occupation
• High prestige jobs (ex. doctor, lawyer) often go to dominant group members
• Lower prestige jobs (ex. sanitation industry, janitors) often go to minority group members
• Typical reasons for stigma

  • Overt physical deformations (physical disability)
  • Deviant personal traits (drug addiction)
  • Deviation from accepted norms of the ethnic group (being a "loose" woman in a traditional Latino subculture)
• Social Stigma


  Calls attention to how certain individuals or groups face social disapproval. Often, the social disapproval is associated with a behavior, identity, or other attribute that is considered deviant or devalued by others
• Social stigma


  Can be fueled or associated with stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination
• Social stigma surrounding mental health

  • Cognition (stereotype – "I think that mentally ill are violent")
  • Affect (prejudice – "I am scared of mentally ill people")
  • Behavior (discrimination – "I don't want to live with them or hire them")