Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination

Stereotyping,
Prejudice, and
Discrimination…read more

Stereotype - an oversimplified, generalised set of ideas that we have about others.
Most stereotypes are negative, though they can sometimes be positive.
Some examples of stereotypes are:
· Blondes are stupid
· All black people can run fast
· Football fans are hooligans
There are advantages and disadvantages of having stereotypes:
· They help us to react in the right way · They can stop us from seeing the real
when meeting people for the first time person when we meet someone for
· They can help us fit in and have a the first time
sense of belonging · We can make mistakes about people…read more

Rubin conducted a study that testes how we gender stereotype new born
babies.
Aim ­ To see if parents stereotype their babies.
Method ­ He approached parents and asked them to describe their
babies within 24 hours of them being born.
Results ­ Girls were described as being more delicate, less strong, and
more gentle than the boys.
Conclusion ­ Parents stereotype their babies before any characteristics
are shown. He also concluded that parents stereotype their babies
before they're born.
Practical Implications :
- More gender neutral programmes are appearing on television due to research on gender stereotyping children
-Its more acceptable for men to do the jobs that were traditionally done by women, because of how society has
changed.…read more

Williams and Best also conducted a study into gender stereotyping.
Aim ­ To investigate gender stereotyping across 30 different countries.
Method ­ They asked participants from 30 different countries to look at
300 different characteristics and decide if they were male, female, or
both.
Results ­ Across the 30 countries, the same characteristics were
associated with males and females. Males were considered more
reckless and determined, while females were emotional and warm.
Conclusion ­ They concluded that there are commonly held stereotypes
of male and female characteristics.…read more

Prejudice is a rigid set of attitudes or beliefs that we have
towards particular groups of people.
Discrimination is the way that an individual behaves towards
a person or group of people as a result of our prejudiced
views. An example of discrimination is paying women less
than men.…read more

Many psychologists have come up with theories describing the different
causes of discrimination. The causes of discrimination that we need to
know for GCSE psychology are:
· Personality
· This was tested by Adorno in 1950
· Competition for scarce resources
· Tested by Sherif in 1961
· In and out groups
· Tested by Tajfel in 1970…read more