CiteULike: Tag prejudice

Controlling Racial Prejudice: Social-Cognitive Goals Affect Amygdala and Stereotype Activation

Mary Wheeler — 2005-01-07T16:22:43-00:00

Psychological Science, Vol. 16, No. 1., 56.

The malleability of stereotyping matters in social psychology and in society. Previous work indicates rapid amygdala and cognitive responses to racial out-groups, leading some researchers to view these responses as inevitable. In this study, the methods of social-cognitive neuroscience were used to investigate how social goals control prejudiced responses. Participants viewed photographs of unfamiliar Black and White faces, under each of three social goals: social categorization (by age), social individuation (vegetable preference), and simple visual inspection (detecting a dot). One study recorded brain activity in the amygdala using functional magnetic resonance imaging, and another measured cognitive activation of stereotypes by lexical priming. Neither response to photos of the racial out-group was inevitable; instead, both responses depended on perceivers' current social-cognitive goal.

Automatic stereotypes vs. automatic prejudice: Sorting out the possibilities in the weapon paradigm

CM Judd — 2004-12-28T16:58:08-00:00

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 1. (January 2004), pp. 75-81.

Payne (2001) has documented that African-American faces automatically facilitate the categorization of handguns, relative to White faces. We suggest that these provocative results could derive from either the automatic activation of prejudice (negative evaluations) or the automatic activation of stereotypes (both positively and negatively valenced associations). In an extension of Payne’s procedure, we show that African-American faces facilitate the categorization of both handguns and sports-related objects, but not the categorization of insects or fruits. Additionally, both handguns and sports objects are more likely to be miscategorized following a White face prime than an African-American one. These results suggest that when perceivers are attempting to identify objects, automatic stereotypic associations, both positively and negatively valenced ones, are more influential than general negative sentiments towards African-Americans.

Stigma as Ego Depletion: How Being the Target of Prejudice Affects Self-Control

Michael Inzlicht — 2006-02-25T19:08:06-00:00

Psychological Science, Vol. 17, No. 3. (March 2006), pp. 262-269.

Evidence for racial prejudice at the implicit level and its relationship with questionnaire measures.

B Wittenbrink — 2005-07-24T03:42:54-00:00

J Pers Soc Psychol, Vol. 72, No. 2. (February 1997), pp. 262-274.

The content of spontaneously activated racial stereotypes among White Americans and the relation of this to more explicit measures of stereotyping and prejudice were investigated. Using a semantic priming paradigm, a prime was presented outside of conscious awareness (BLACK or WHITE), followed by a target stimulus requiring a word-nonword decision. The target stimuli included attributes that varied in valence and stereotypicality for Whites and African Americans. Results showed reliable stereotyping and prejudice effects: Black primes resulted in substantially stronger facilitation to negative than positive stereotypic attributes, whereas White primes facilitated positive more than negative stereotypic traits. The magnitude of this implicit prejudice effect correlated reliably with participants' scores on explicit racial attitude measures, indicating that people's spontaneous stereotypic associations are consistent with their more controlled responses.

Terror and Ethnocentrism: Foundations of American Support for the War on Terrorism

Kam — 2007-04-14T12:44:47-00:00

The Journal of Politics, Vol. 69, No. 2. (May 2007), pp. 320-338.

The Malleability of Automatic Stereotypes and Prejudice

Irene Blair — 2007-11-12T16:21:40-00:00

Pers Soc Psychol Rev, Vol. 6, No. 3. (1 August 2002), pp. 242-261.

The present article reviews evidence for the malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice. In contrast to assumptions that such responses are fixed and inescapable, it is shown that automatic stereotypes and prejudice are influenced by, (a) self- and social motives, (b) specific strategies, (c) the perceiver's focus of attention, and (d) the configuration of stimulus cues. In addition, group members' individual characteristics are shown to influence the extent to which (global) stereotypes and prejudice are automatically activated. This evidence has significant implications for conceptions of automaticity, models of stereotyping and prejudice, and attitude representation. The review concludes with the description of an initial model of early social information processing. 10.1207/S15327957PSPR0603_8

The New Racism

Paul Sniderman — 2007-08-31T19:36:11-00:00

American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 35, No. 2. (1991), pp. 423-447.

This study combines the methodological advantages of a fully experimental design and a genuinely representative survey sample to explore the nature and workings of contemporary racial prejudice. The correlational results both replicate and extend the findings of earlier work. Political conservatism, for example, was found once again to be correlated with opposition to policies to assist blacks and with support for negative images of blacks as lazy and irresponsible. The experimental results, however, pose fundamental challenges to symbolic and modern racism theories, which contend that there is a new kind of racism in America that takes the form of racial prejudice plus traditional, conservative values. The experimental results demonstrate, on the one hand, that conservatives are not more likely to refuse government help to blacks who have violated traditional values; on the other hand, the results demonstrate that conservatives are more likely to favor government help for blacks who have acted in accord with traditional values. The experimental results, moreover, identify a key condition for the expression of discrimination--a focus on group rather than individual claimants--and demonstrate that discrimination is not encouraged by a particular ideological outlook, conservative or liberal, but rather is most common in the absence of any ideological stance.

White Americans' Genetic Lay Theories of Race Differences and Sexual Orientation: Their Relationship with Prejudice toward Blacks, and Gay Men and Lesbians

Toby Jayaratne — 2006-10-18T14:18:23-00:00

Group Processes Intergroup Relations, Vol. 9, No. 1. (1 January 2006), pp. 77-94.

This study examined the relationship between White Americans' genetic explanations, conceptualized as genetic lay theories, for perceived racial differences and for sexual orientation, and attitudes toward Blacks, and gay men and lesbians, respectively. Considering contrasting public discourse surrounding race and sexual orientation, we predicted that genetic lay theories would be associated with greater prejudice toward Blacks, but less prejudice toward gay men and lesbians. The findings, based on a representative sample of 600 White Americans, were consistent with expectations. Results are discussed in relation to the literature on essentialism and implicit theories of the malleability of traits. The present research broadens our view of lay theories by showing how they support either prejudice or tolerance, depending on the target group. 10.1177/1368430206059863

Taking the Watchdog Off Its Leash: Personal Prejudices and Situational Motivations Jointly Predict Derogation of a Stigmatized Source

Stephen Livingston — 2008-01-23T01:40:54-00:00

Pers Soc Psychol Bull, Vol. 34, No. 2. (1 February 2008), pp. 210-223.

Lower- and higher-prejudiced individuals may strategically derogate negatively stereotyped individuals. Regardless of degree of prejudice, participants with a directional goal to discredit a threatening message and its source were more likely to do so when the source belonged to a negatively stereotyped group. They also were less persuaded by that stigmatized source. When this directional goal was negated by making the message nonthreatening, lower-prejudiced individuals evaluated the stigmatized and nonstigmatized sources, and their messages, similarly and were equally persuaded by both sources. When an accuracy goal was simultaneously introduced, lower-prejudice participants again rated the stigmatized and nonstigmatized sources comparably yet continued to derogate the stigmatized speaker's message and were less persuaded by him. Removing the directional goal or adding the accuracy goal did not affect higher-prejudiced participants' evaluations. The importance of examining situational goals and individual differences when studying biased responding is discussed. 10.1177/0146167207310028

More Than "Just a Joke": The Prejudice-Releasing Function of Sexist Humor

Thomas Ford — 2008-01-23T01:39:38-00:00

Pers Soc Psychol Bull, Vol. 34, No. 2. (1 February 2008), pp. 159-170.

The results of two experiments supported the hypothesis that, for sexist men, exposure to sexist humor can promote the behavioral release of prejudice against women. Experiment 1 demonstrated that hostile sexism predicted the amount of money participants were willing to donate to a women's organization after reading sexist jokes but not after reading nonhumorous sexist statements or neutral jokes. Experiment 2 showed that hostile sexism predicted the amount of money participants cut from the budget of a women's organization relative to four other student organizations upon exposure to sexist comedy skits but not neutral comedy skits. A perceived local norm of approval of funding cuts for the women's organization mediated the relationship between hostile sexism and discrimination against the women's organization. 10.1177/0146167207310022

The Emotional Side of Prejudice: The Attribution of Secondary Emotions to Ingroups and Outgroups

Jacques-Philippe Leyens — 2007-12-03T04:37:02-00:00

Pers Soc Psychol Rev, Vol. 4, No. 2. (1 May 2000), pp. 186-197.

If people favor their ingroup, are especially concerned with their own group, and attribute different essences to different groups, it follows that their essence must be superior to the essence of other groups. Intelligence, language, and certain emotions are all considered to be distinctive elements of human nature or essence. The role of inteligence and language in discrimination, prejudice, and racism has already been largely investigated, and this article focuses on attributed emotions. Specifically, we investigate the idea that secondary emotions are typically human characteristics, and as such, they should be especially associated with and attributed to the ingroup. Seondary emotions may even be denied to outgroups. These differential associations and attributions of specifically human emotions to ingroups versus outgroups should affect intergroup relations. Results from several initial experiments are summarized that support our reasoning. This emotional approach to prejudice and racism is contrasted with more classic, cognitive perspectives. 10.1207/S15327957PSPR0402_06

Perceived Racism and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in African American College Students

Labarron Hill — 2007-11-30T20:16:44-00:00

Journal of Black Psychology, Vol. 33, No. 4. (1 November 2007), pp. 404-421.

Experiences with racial discrimination may contribute to stress-induced blood pressure (BP) elevations among African Americans. It was reported that perceived racism was associated with ambulatory BP (ABP) during waking hours. This study examined perceived racism and ABP among 40 African American college students, who completed an ABP assessment from which daytime and nighttime averages were computed. Perceived frequency of experiences with racism and racial discrimination was measured using the Perceived Racism Scale. Controlling for gender and body mass index, perceived racism in academic settings was associated with higher diastolic BP (DBP) during waking hours and nighttime sleep. Systolic BP (SBP) was unrelated to perceived racism, and perceived racism in the public realm and in statements from Whites was unrelated to ABP. Perceived racism in academic settings predicted ambulatory DBP among college students. Previous laboratory research has found stronger effects of perceived racism for DBP than SBP. The hemodynamic regulation of BP may explain this phenomenon. Future laboratory and ambulatory studies should assess the contributions of vascular resistance and cardiac output to BP elevations associated with perceived racism. 10.1177/0095798407307042

Ashamed to be an American? The role of identification in predicting vicarious shame for anti-Arab prejudice after 9-11

Michael Johns — 2005-10-07T11:58:42-00:00

Self and Identity, Vol. 4, No. 4. (October 2005), pp. 331-348.

Responses to Discrimination: The Role of Emotion and Expectations for Emotional Regulation

Ritu Gill — 2008-03-11T02:56:05-00:00

Pers Soc Psychol Bull, Vol. 32, No. 2. (1 February 2006), pp. 149-161.

The present study examined the role of emotion in women's perceptions of discrimination and their endorsement of behavioral responses to change the status quo. In an experimental simulation involving a situation of sex discrimination, women (N = 108) were primed to experience a particular emotion (sad, angry, control condition) and were subsequently instructed to either suppress or express (or neither) their emotional responses. Women primed to feel sad and told to suppress their emotions reported the least discrimination, whereas angered women who were permitted to express themselves reported the greatest discrimination. Furthermore, when encouraged to express their emotions, women primed to feel sad were more likely to endorse normative actions to rectify the situation, whereas women induced to feel angry were more likely to endorse collective actions to change the status quo. These findings have implications for the role of emotions and expectations regarding their expression on collective action taking. 10.1177/0146167205279906

Does materialism predict racism? materialism as a distinctive social attitude and a predictor of prejudice

Arne Roets — 2007-08-31T17:33:07-00:00

European Journal of Personality, Vol. 20, No. 2. (2006), pp. 155-168.

Previous research reported that Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) constitute the individual's ideological space and are strong dispositional determinants of racism. In the present study, materialism was examined as a third social attitude and a potential predictor of racism. In a student (N = 183) and heterogeneous adult sample (N = 176) analyses revealed that RWA, SDO and materialism constitute three separate dimensions and that each of them explains a unique part of the variance in racism. In addition, Structural Equation Modelling showed that the relationship between materialism and racism was largely mediated by selfish motives. In the discussion we go further into the role of materialism as a third social attitudinal dimension. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.