Deck 11: Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Question 1

Based on the results of the Robbers Cave experiment, which of the following environments is most likely to foster cohesion across racial groups, and why?

A) low SES neighborhoods, because resources are scarce
B) the US military, because soldiers cooperate to accomplish the shared goal of defending the nation
C) Online social media users, because they feel more distanced from their racial identities.
D) college campuses, because curved grading can create competition among students

Answer 1

the US military, because soldiers cooperate to accomplish the shared goal of defending the nation

Question 2

In experiments employing the minimal group paradigm, a majority of participants are more interested in maximizing their ________ than in maximizing their ________.

A) relative gain; absolute gain
B) absolute gain; relative gain
C) group harmony; competitive edge
D) competitive edge; group harmony

Answer 2

relative gain; absolute gain

Question 3

Sarah took the implicit association test (IAT) and found that she responded faster when "strong" words were paired with male names, compared with when "strong" words were paired with female names. What does this finding suggest?

A) Sarah holds an implicit belief that women are stronger than men.
B) Sarah holds an implicit belief that men are stronger than women.
C) Sarah holds an implicit belief that male names are more attractive than female names.
D) Sarah does not have any stereotypes about gender and strength.

Answer 3

Sarah holds an implicit belief that men are stronger than women.

Question 4

Realistic group conflict theory posits that prejudice and discrimination arise from

A) deficits in self-control.
B) erroneous categorizing and subtyping processes.
C) threats to self-esteem.
D) competition over limited resources.

Question 5

Bill's belief that all African Americans are good at sports exemplifies ________. Bill's refusal to hire African Americans exemplifies ________.

A) discrimination; ethnocentrism
B) prejudice; stereotyping
C) stereotyping; discrimination
D) racism; modern racism

Question 6

Which of the following scenarios illustrates "basking in reflected glory"?

A) feeling happy when you receive an A on your paper
B) congratulating a friend on a job well done
C) exaggerating how much effort you put into a group project
D) wearing your school's T-shirt whenever its football team wins

Question 7

According social identity theory, Jason is more likely to stereotype others and express prejudice when

A) he receives praise from outgroup members.
B) his own self-esteem is threatened.
C) he receives praise from ingroup members.
D) he tries hard not to use stereotypes to judge others.

Question 8

When experimental groups are created using the minimal group paradigm, which of the following characteristics do these groups have?

A) Participants are separated by gender, with males in one group and females in another group.
B) Participants are separated by race, with white participants in one group and black participants in another.
C) Groups are created using meaningless and arbitrary criteria so that there is no real difference between the groups.
D) Groups are created by allowing participants to choose with whom they would rather work.

Question 9

Modern racism in the United States is characterized by

A) prejudice directed at other racial groups that coexists alongside a rejection of explicitly racist beliefs.
B) possessing explicitly racist beliefs that encourage outgroup favoritism.
C) competition between racial groups that results from scarce resources.
D) discrimination against majority group members.

Question 10

Mr. Biggs sets up his fifth grade classroom so that students need to teach each other and cooperate in order to do well. Mr. Biggs is applying

A) the subcategorization procedure.
B) intergroup classroom theory.
C) the minimal group paradigm.
D) the jigsaw classroom technique.

Question 11

Recall that Peter Glick and Susan Fiske studied positive and negative stereotypes about women in nineteen different countries. They found that

A) benevolent sexism cannot coexist with hostile sexism.
B) negative stereotypes have troublesome consequences, but positive stereotypes do not.
C) positive stereotypes can have troublesome consequences.
D) ambivalent sexist attitudes are easy for people to change.

Question 12

Which of the following real-world examples is most consistent with the predictions of realistic group conflict theory?

A) Working-class Americans exhibited the most anti-black prejudice in the wake of the civil rights movement because their jobs were most at risk.
B) Members of the Nazi party in WWII Germany believed that they belonged to a superior race.
C) After the San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 World Series, Giants fans set fires, shattered windows, and committed other violent acts.
D) Millions of people have fled Darfur, Sudan, since 2003 because of the ongoing civil war.

Question 13

Recall that Muzafer Sherif and his colleagues conducted the Robbers Cave experiment, which generated conflict between two groups of boys. This study showed that

A) a superordinate goal reduced intergroup conflict.
B) outgroup favoritism occurred.
C) simple noncompetitive contact reduced intergroup conflict.
D) ingroup cohesion is unlikely to occur when resources are scarce.

Question 14

Which of the following research findings provides the best evidence that a person's responses on the IAT are likely to be predictive of discriminatory behavior?

A) IAT scores and scores on the Modern Racism Scale tend not to be highly correlated.
B) IAT scores are significantly correlated with neural activation of the amygdala.
C) IAT scores are significantly correlated with the degree to which participants speak to and smile at a white versus black experimenter.
D) Both young and older participants show prejudice in favor of the young on the IAT.

Question 15

Recall that one study asked prejudiced and unprejudiced white participants to evaluate black and white college applicants (identified by photos attached to their applications) whose qualifications varied. What did this study show?

A) Both prejudiced and unprejudiced participants rated black applicants with excellent qualifications less favorably than white applicants with excellent qualifications.
B) When the applicants had mixed qualifications (that is, they excelled at some things and did not excel at others), prejudiced participants rated the black applicants less favorably than the unprejudiced participants.
C) Even when the applicants had excellent qualifications, prejudiced participants rated the white applicants more favorably than they rated the black applicants.
D) Prejudiced and unprejudiced participants did not differ in their ratings of white and black applicants, regardless of applicants' qualifications.

Question 16

According to the economic perspective, intergroup hostility is particularly likely to occur when

A) groups must work together to meet a superordinate goal.
B) material resources are scarce.
C) the economy is thriving.
D) groups value different types of material resources.

Question 17

Stereotypes are

A) unspoken feelings of animosity toward certain groups.
B) negative behaviors directed toward members of particular groups.
C) negative affective responses toward certain groups.
D) generalizations about groups that are often applied to individual group members.

Question 18

The ________ test has been shown to reveal unconscious prejudices of people who say they advocate universal equality for all groups.

A) implicit association
B) draw-a-person
C) internal attitudes
D) true beliefs

Question 19

Janet believes that all Asians are polite and good at math. Janet is engaging in

A) discrimination.
B) stereotyping.
C) prejudice.
D) hostile racism.

Question 20

Experiments that employ the minimal group paradigm show that groups that are created on the basis of arbitrary and seemingly meaningless criteria tend to show

A) ingroup favoritism.
B) outgroup favoritism.
C) neither ingroup nor outgroup favoritism.
D) greater ingroup favoritism compared to groups created on the basis of meaningful criteria.

Question 21

According to the concepts of distinctiveness and illusory correlation, ________ behaviors on the part of members of ________ groups are particularly distinctive and memorable.

A) negative; majority
B) positive; majority
C) negative; minority
D) positive; minority

Question 22

Patricia Devine and her colleagues conducted a study where participants were subliminally exposed to neutral words (e.g., number, animal) or words stereotypically associated with African Americans (e.g., welfare, jazz). Participants then read a story about a person who acted in an ambiguous manner and rated the hostility of this person. Results showed that ________ participants who had been exposed to the stereotypical words rated the person in the story as more hostile than did participants who had been exposed to the neutral words.

A) both prejudiced and nonprejudiced
B) prejudiced (but not nonprejudiced)
C) nonprejudiced (but not prejudiced)
D) male (but not female)

Question 23

The American journalist Walter Lippmann stated that "the real environment is altogether too big, too complex, and too fleeting, for direct acquaintance. . . . We have to reconstruct it on a simpler model before we can manage with it." By a "simpler model," he is referring to

A) priming.
B) discrimination.
C) paired distinctiveness.
D) stereotypes.

Question 24

Tanner believes that women are needy and unintelligent. When he meets Leslie, an independent and intelligent woman who does not match his stereotype, he is likely to conclude that

A) Leslie would make a good wife.
B) Leslie must be putting on an act.
C) women may not be needy and unintelligent after all.
D) Leslie must be a special exception to the rule.

Question 25

In one study, white participants had to decide as quickly as possible whether an object depicted in a photograph was a handgun or a hand tool. Each photograph was immediately preceded by a picture of either a black face or a white face. Results showed that participants were faster to identify the

A) handgun when it was preceded by a black face.
B) handgun when it was preceded by a white face.
C) hand tool when it was preceded by a white face.
D) Both a and c are correct.

Question 26

Research suggests that people tend to perceive ________ variability of habit and opinion among members of the ingroup than they do among members of the outgroup because people are ________.

A) more; motivated to feel dissimilar to ingroup members
B) less; more likely to notice the idiosyncrasies of outgroup members
C) more; more likely to notice the idiosyncrasies of ingroup members
D) less; motivated to feel similar to ingroup members

Question 27

Which of the following scenarios is most consistent with the predictions of social identity theory?

A) Oliver's sense of self was shaped by his mother's parenting style.
B) Laura's sense of self depends primarily on her personal achievements.
C) Jason's sense of self is shaped by the triumphs and tribulations of his fraternity.
D) Mimi's sense of self is shaped by her physical attractiveness in the eyes of others.

Question 28

Research on the principle of paired distinctiveness has shown that people tend to ________ how often a negative behavior is performed by members of a minority group and ________ how often a negative behavior is performed by members of a majority group.

A) underestimate; overestimate
B) overestimate; underestimate
C) overestimate; overestimate
D) underestimate; underestimate

Question 29

In one study, participants listened to a play-by-play account of a college basketball game. Results showed that participants who thought one of the players (Mark) was black, compared to participants who thought he was white, believed that Mark

A) had less innate ability.
B) was more athletic and played better.
C) showed less hustle and performed worse overall but still played a savvier game.
D) Both b and c are correct.

Question 30

Research indicates that automatic, negative associations with members of various stigmatized groups appear to be more easily activated among ________ than among ________.

A) high-school educated people; college-educated people
B) children; adults
C) prejudiced individuals; nonprejudiced individuals
D) men; women

Question 31

When is Kyle, a so-called morning person, more likely to use stereotypes when forming judgments of others?

A) in the morning
B) at night
C) after he has just eaten a meal
D) None of the above-morning people are more likely than night owls to use stereotypes at all times.

Question 32

In one study, white participants were faster to identify a weapon as a weapon when it was preceded by a picture of an African American face as opposed to a white face. Subsequent research suggests that this effect is due to

A) a stereotypical association between handguns and African Americans.
B) generally negative attitudes toward African Americans.
C) controlled processing of information about African Americans.
D) motivated inattention to stereotype-inconsistent information.

Question 33

Patricia Devine's research indicates that the activation of stereotypes is typically a(n) ________ process, and thus stereotypes ________.

A) automatic; have only weak effects on people's behavior
B) controlled; rarely lead to prejudice or discrimination
C) controlled; influence social judgments in everyday life
D) automatic; are difficult for people to control

Question 34

In one study participants were divided into two groups using the minimal group paradigm. Participants then filled out an attitude questionnaire twice-once to record their own attitudes and once to record how they thought another ingroup or outgroup member might respond. Results showed that participants tended to

A) assume that their beliefs were more similar to those of fellow ingroup members than to those of outgroup members.
B) infer ingroup members' beliefs more accurately than outgroup members' beliefs.
C) overestimate variability in outgroup attitudes but underestimate variability in ingroup attitudes.
D) assume that ingroup members held more socially desirable beliefs than outgroup members.

Question 35

________ theory posits that a person's self-concept and self-esteem are based in part on group membership and group success or failure.

A) Self-perception
B) Social verification
C) Minimal group
D) Social identity

Question 36

The ________ perspective emphasizes that stereotypes can be useful categories that allow us to process information efficiently.

A) economic
B) emotional
C) motivational
D) cognitive

Question 37

In one study, participants were presented with a list of traits about a hypothetical person while simultaneously watching a video about Indonesia. In one condition, the traits were accompanied by an applicable stereotype (e.g., skinhead); in the other condition, the traits were presented without a stereotype. Results showed that participants in the________ condition remembered the trait information better and performed ________ on a surprise multiple-choice quiz about Indonesia.

A) stereotype; better
B) stereotype; worse
C) no stereotype; better
D) no stereotype; worse

Question 38

Basking in reflected glory refers to a tendency to

A) overestimate our own contributions to a group effort.
B) take pride in the accomplishments of those with whom we are associated.
C) mistakenly believe that we are responsible for someone else's accomplishments.
D) underestimate our own contributions to a group effort.

Question 39

A class is divided randomly into two teams for a game of Jeopardy. Tamara, the captain of the winning team, is informed that as a prize she can either get twenty pieces of candy for her team, with the losing team getting ten pieces, or she can get fifteen pieces while the losing team gets none. Based on research using the minimal group paradigm, what prize is Tamara most likely to select?

A) twenty pieces for her team and ten for the losing team
B) fifteen pieces for her team and zero for the losing team
C) She is likely to request that the two teams split the candy evenly.
D) She will have no preference between the two prize options.

Question 40

Research suggests that stereotyping can sometimes be ________ because it can ________ our social environment.

A) justified; increase our attention to the details of
B) useful; decrease the time and effort needed to deal with
C) destructive; lead us to introspect too much about
D) harmful; decrease the predictability of

Question 41

________ is the fear that one will confirm the stereotypes that others have regarding one's own group.

A) Self-fulfilling prejudice
B) Scapegoating
C) Prejudice
D) Stereotype threat

Question 42

Members of stigmatized groups often cannot tell whether many of their experiences have the same origins as those of nonstigmatized groups or whether these experiences are the result of prejudice. Research on this attributional predicament in performance-based contexts has shown that

A) black participants' self-esteem was affected by negative feedback but not by positive feedback.
B) black participants were more likely to seek negative feedback than positive feedback.
C) black participants' self-esteem was more strongly affected by both positive feedback and negative feedback, compared to white students.
D) black participants' self-esteem was not affected by positive or negative feedback if they knew that their evaluators could see them.

Question 43

Evaluate the claim that positive stereotypes such as "Asians are good at math" are not harmful. Describe research presented in the textbook to support your arguments.

Question 44

Recall that Steele and Aronson (1995) showed that black participants performed relatively poorly on a test when they were led to believe it was a particularly good measure of intellectual ability. This finding can be explained by

A) illusory correlation.
B) attributional ambiguity.
C) stereotype threat.
D) paired distinctiveness.

Question 45

Which of the following is NOT one of the requirements for a situation in which contact between members of different groups will reduce prejudice?

A) clear penalties if group members show prejudice toward each other
B) one-on-one interactions between members of equal status
C) cooperative pursuit of superordinate goals
D) contact supported by social norms

Question 46

Jim, who is prejudiced against Jewish people, is likely to attribute a Jewish person's stereotype-inconsistent actions, such as an act of philanthropy, to ________. In contrast, Jim is likely to attribute a Jewish person's stereotype-consistent actions, such as self-interested behavior, to ________.

A) situational causes; dispositional causes
B) dispositional causes; situational causes
C) global causes; specific causes
D) personality traits; internal dispositions

Question 47

Alec thinks that members of a particular group are hostile, and therefore he acts toward them in a guarded manner. As a result, Alec may elicit a coldness in members of that group that he sees as proof of their hostility. This scenario is an example of

A) the self-fulfilling prophecy.
B) ingroup homogeneity.
C) paired distinctiveness.
D) illusory correlation.

Question 48

Define and distinguish between stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Give an example of a situation in which these three processes might NOT co-occur.

Question 49

Imagine that you want to design an IAT to assess prejudice toward people who are overweight. Describe how you might design such a test, and explain what response patterns would indicate greater prejudice.

Question 50

What advantage do indirect measures of prejudice, such as the IAT, have over direct self-report measures, such as the Attitudes toward Blacks Scale?

Question 51

Consider the following quote from the work of the social psychologist Dan Gilbert: "Stereotypic beliefs about women's roles, for example, may enable one to see correctly that a woman in a dark room is threading a needle rather than tying a fishing lure, but they may also cause one to mistakenly assume that her goal is embroidery rather than cardiac surgery." This quote illustrates the fact that

A) stereotypes bias how we construe behaviors.
B) discrimination leads to self-fulfilling prophecies.
C) stereotyping is mentally demanding.
D) prejudiced beliefs are often unconscious.

Question 52

Surveys of participants in the Seeds of Peace program, which brings together Israeli and Palestinian teenagers for a three-week summer camp experience, showed that participation in the program led to more favorable intergroup attitudes. Nine months after the program, these attitudes

A) became even more favorable.
B) waned a bit but were still more favorable than they had been at the beginning of the program.
C) became less favorable than they had been at the beginning of the program.
D) remained just as favorable as they were at the end of the program.

Question 53

Callie, a college student, believes that all male professors think alike, act alike, and look alike. Callie is demonstrating the ________ effect.

A) paired distinctiveness
B) outgroup homogeneity
C) group generalization
D) subtyping

Question 54

Jenny asks herself, "Did my officemate get the promotion instead of me because I am overweight or because I am really less qualified?" This sort of thought illustrates the ________ that members of stigmatized groups are likely to experience in everyday life.

A) stereotype threat
B) fundamental attribution error
C) attributional ambiguity
D) self-fulfilling prophecies

Question 55

According to the textbook, all of the following are changes that can be made on a societal level to reduce stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination EXCEPT to

A) honor and enforce civil rights laws.
B) strive to reduce biased media portrayals of stigmatized groups.
C) foster competition between groups so that each group is motivated to improve.
D) give groups more opportunities to work together to achieve common goals.

Question 56

Define modern racism and give an example of one method that researchers have used to measure it.

Question 57

Bob believes that the "typical" African American is good at sports and bad at business. Research suggests that if Bob encounters an African American who is bad at sports but an excellent businessman, he is likely to

A) believe even more strongly in the accuracy of his stereotype about the "typical" African American.
B) abandon his stereotypical beliefs about the "typical" African American.
C) assume that there is a subtype of African Americans who can be good at business.
D) question his stereotypical beliefs about the "typical" African American.

Question 58

While sitting in a restaurant with a friend, John looks across the street and sees a black man and a white man fighting. Research suggests that if John is white, he is likely to assume that the

A) white man made a racist remark.
B) black man made a racist remark.
C) white man was behaving aggressively.
D) black man was behaving aggressively.

Question 59

Research on stereotype threat has shown that female students performed

A) better on a verbal test when they took it in the presence of male students.
B) worse on a math test when they were told beforehand that men tend to score higher.
C) worse on a verbal test when they had to indicate their gender on a demographic questionnaire.
D) better on a math test when they were threatened with punishment for doing poorly.

Question 60

Research shows that even if schools are integrated, if children's parents do not encourage and support that integration, children will be less likely to meet and play with children from different backgrounds. In this case, which condition for reducing prejudice is NOT met?

A) clear penalties if group members show prejudice toward each other
B) one-on-one interactions between members of equal status
C) cooperative pursuit of superordinate goals
D) contact supported by social norms

Question 61

Evaluate the claim that racial diversity is sufficient to create positive intergroup relations. What conditions are necessary for contact between diverse groups to be beneficial?

Question 62

Give an example of how superordinate goals could be used to improve intergroup relations on a college campus.

Question 63

Imagine that you are a teacher and want to put the principles of the jigsaw classroom into practice. Describe a class activity that you could use and explain how it should help promote more positive intergroup attitudes.

Question 64

Define stereotype threat and give an example of a situation in which a person may experience it.

Question 65

Give an example of an experiment that uses the minimal group paradigm and explain how the use of this paradigm contributes to our understanding of how an "us versus them" mentality is formed.

Question 66

Give a real-world example of ethnocentrism and describe how it affects behavior toward ingroup and outgroup members.

Question 67

Describe two characteristics of college campuses that may undermine positive intergroup contact. Then, list one approach that educators have used to try to promote positive contact.

Question 68

Give an example of the outgroup homogeneity effect and explain why it occurs.

Question 69

How do threats to self-esteem impact people's attitudes toward outgroup members? Provide one example of a relevant study. According to social identity theory, why do self-esteem threats have this effect?

Question 70

Give an example of a situation where a person might maintain his or her stereotypes about an outgroup through the use of abstract versus concrete construals of an outgroup member's behavior. Under what circumstances would someone be likely to use one type of construal over the other?