In-Class Activity (Part I)

Read the article you have been assigned, and be prepared to answer the questions associated with that article (see below).  Please at least skim the other articles.

These questions are drawn both from your textbook and the article you were asked to focus on for today. Some of the questions have “right” answers and some don’t. Every person in your group needs to understand and be able to explain the issues associated with this topic... In Part II of this exercise, each of you will be summarizing the main points for members of other groups.

Note that everyone will have to eventually read all 5 articles (after Part II of this exercise).

The articles are posted on Moodle. The links below take you to the Reading Guide Questions for the article.

Assignments:

Dovidio, On the Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: The Third Wave (JSI: Journal of Social Issues)

1. What is aversive racism? Focus on the helping study beginning in the 2nd column of page 68. Explain the study and the way in which it illustrates aversive racism. Focus on the selection decision study on page 69. Explain the study and the way in which it illustrates aversive racism.

2. Compare and contrast the following forms of prejudice: overt/blatant racism and aversive racism. Are all these forms of racism equally undesirable, or does one form seem more pernicious than another?

3. How is the second wave of aversive racism research different from the third wave of aversive racism research?

4. Were you surprised by your IAT results? What do you think of the IAT as a measure of implicit attitudes?

5. Carefully read and discuss the Dovidio, Kawakami and Gaertner (in press) study presented beginning on page 72 (including Figure 1).

6. Answer question #3 at the end of the article. What conclusions can you draw about inter-racial interactions from this study?

Identity Changing Interracial Evaluations and Behavior: The Effects of a Common Group. (Nier et al., 2001)

1. Review (from your textbook) the concept of ingroup favoritism (or ingroup bias).  Explain "decategorization" and "recategorization."

2.  According to the Common In-Group Identity Model, people from different groups will get along better if recategorization has occured. Using ingroup favoritism, explain why this would happen.

3. Explain what a dual identity is.  Explain what the authors mean by a separate-groups representation.

4.  For Study 1: who were the participants? What were the independent variables? The key dependent variables were the positive evaluations and feelings the participant had for the confederate. What were the findings?  (You can skip page 305 if you wish.)

5. For Study 1, why did the categorization variable have a big impact on perceptions of the Black confederate, but relatively weak impact on perceptions of the White confederate?

6.  What was the key finding from Study 2?

7.  Do you think the people in both of these studies were "color-blind"?  Why or why not?  Do you think being color-blind is an effective way to end racial bias?

The non-verbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction. Word, Zanna & Cooper (1974).

1. Explain what Word et al. meant by the term “immediacy.”

2. The entire cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy is demonstrated in this research by considering the two studies together (the first study shows step one and two; the second study shows step three). Walk through each of the steps of self-fulfilling prophecy and point out how the Word et al. research tests each step.

3.  According to Study 1, do Whites suceed in their desire to be color-blind? Why does it matter whether or not Whites can successfully be color-blind?  Is the intention to be color-blind enough?

4. What other groups might face similar situations when they are interviewed for a job, internship or college admission?

5. Review stereotype threat theory in your textbook. What does this line of research suggest about the notion that SAT score or G.P.A. is a fair way to make college admissions decisions?

6. My father ran his own business. He once said to me “I am not a prejudiced person, I will hire the best candidate… I don’t need rules to force me to treat anyone more fairly. I am fair.” Integrate the Word et al. findings and stereotype threat findings to predict what I (the eager, slightly obnoxious social psychology student) said in response.

Johns et al. Knowing is Half the Battle… Psychological Science.

1. One consequence of stereotypes for members of stereotyped groups is “attributional ambiguity.” Using your textbook, define attributional ambiguity, and discuss the logic of the study cited as an example.

2. Using your textbook and the reading, define stereotype threat. Some argue that stereotype threat is just a fancy name for “choking” or “evaluation apprehension” – phenomena that everyone faces; explain why this view is wrong. Some people argue that stereotype threat places the “blame” or responsibility for underperformance in the hands of the minority group member; explain why this view is wrong.

3. Discuss the specific methodology of the study. What was the independent variable? Which condition was expected to display typical stereotype threat effects? How were the effects of stereotype threat measured? What was the key (unique, new) condition?

4. Explain what Figure 1 means – that is, what are the results of the study? How do the researchers know that it is specifically stereotypes that were interfering with performance (rather than general evaluation apprehension)? Some students are just nervous test takers – how can we be sure the results aren’t due to individuals being nervous about the test… Similarly, what reassurance do we have that the women in the stereotype threat condition weren't just coincidentally all bad at math (and the women in the other condition all good at math)?

5. So, in summary – this study provides support for a simple but effective way to counteract stereotype threat. Explain what that technique is (that is, the overall conclusion of the study). Do you think this technique would also work for African-Americans who face stereotype threat on all sorts of standardized tests because of the stereotype that Blacks are less intelligent than Whites?

The impact of multiculturalism versus color-blindness on racial bias. Richeson & Nussbaum (2004)

1.  Define a multicultural approach to studying race and ethinicity.  Define a color-blind approach.

2.  Why, according to the study authors (see p. 418), is a color-blind approach an ineffective way to end racial bias?

3.  What were the researchers' two hypotheses?  Who were the participants in their sample? Explain the independent variable (that is, the ideological prompt). One dependent variable (implicit racial attitudes) was measured via an IAT.  The other dependent variable (explicit racial attitudes) was measured with a paper and pencil survey asking how warmly participants felt toward different racial groups. What were the findings? Did those findings support the hypotheses?

4.  The researchers suggest that their findings demonstrate how "malleable" implicit attitudes can be.  What do they mean by this?

5. The two different ideologies studied here are found in society as well as the social psychological literature. If a person thinks being color-blind is the best way to avoid being racist, how do you think that person would feel about having conversations like the ones we are having right now in this activity?  What about a person who thinks being multicultural is the best way to avoid being racist?

6. If being color-blind actually creates more racial bias rather than reducing it, why do you think so many White people still endorse the idea? That is, why do so many White people think being color-blind is socially normative and virtuous?