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Perception, Prejudice, and Bias. Attribution Theory – Basic Covariation. Explain the behavior of other people by breaking down our understanding/explanation of their behaviours to factors about them, and factors related to their environment/surroundings.  Internal (dispositional attribution) – about them  External (situational attribution) – environment  When we consider our own behaviours, we are more likely to blame our behaviour on external factors. • This is called attribution theory – explaining behaviours around us. Optimism bias is belief bad things happen to others, but not to us. Covariation model – 3 cues of Kelley’s covariation model: • Consistency (time) • Distinctiveness (situation) • Consensus (people)  Ex. Take flaky friend, friend forever cancels. Consistent behavior over time. High level of consistent behavior over time, we are more likely related to them as opposed to situation. • When consistency is high = internal factors  Ex. Very nice friend Jim, but one day he gets so mad at the pizza place. Out of character and distinctive. So much more likely to be related to the environment. Distinctiveness = situational.  Third factor in covariation model – “group lateness” – if you arrive late at meeting but if 20 other people are late too, high degree of consensus. When a lot of people demonstrate same behavior, we are more likely to attribute behavior to situational cause. Attribution Theory – Attribution Error and Culture. We look at behaviour as coming from person’s internal attributes, and as being fuelled by situation/external factors  If in middle, we are a neutral judge and see a combination as both. But often when we look at behaviour of others, we’re more likely to attribute their behaviour to internal factors instead of considering complex external factors.  We term this the fundamental attribution error. • Problematic when looking at complex patients – we under-recognize the situational and social problems, and healthcare barriers they can have, blaming them for their own problems. Actor-Observer Bias: we are victims of circumstance, but others are wilful actors. ******* • Actor • Observer There’s also a cultural component: the fundamental attribution error occurs more in individualistic societies (NA and Europe), collectivist (Africa and Asia)  Cultures have different ways they explain success and failure  In individualistic cultures (Western), success is attributed to internal and failure to external  In collectivist cultures (Eastern), success is attributed to external and failure to external (favour situational attributions when situational factors are emphasized) Self-serving bias: preserving our self-esteem, more common in individualistic cultures. If we succeed it’s due to our internal qualities, but if we fail no hit on self-esteem because likely to do with things outside of our control. Stereotypes: Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies. Stereotyping is attributing a certain thought/cognition to a group of individuals, and overgeneralizing (COGNITIVE ACTION)  Can involve race, gender, culture, religion, shoe size.  Disadvantages: it’s inaccurate  Advantages: allows us to rapidly assess large amounts of social data Stereotype threat – self-fulfilling fear that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype.  Ex. Blue and red students, both perform equally. Next time, implement negative stereotype about blue students, blue students perform worse.  What stereotype threat is – exposure to a negative stereotype surrounding a task can actually cause decrease in the performance of an individual. It threatens performance. Self-fulfilling prophecy – stereotypes can lead to behaviours that affirm the original stereotypes.  “City dwellers are rude” (cognition, stereotyping) -> I don’t like them (affective component, prejudice) -> I will avoid them (behavioural component, discrimination)  They think I’m rude (cognition) -> They may not like me (affective)-> They avoid me (behavioural) -> City dwellers are rude • Continuous circle that feedbacks on itself. Emotion and Cognition in Prejudice. All attitudes have 3 components: affect, behavioural, and cognition.  At the core of prejudice is often fear of frustration.  Scapegoats are group of people towards whom the aggression is directed, ex. Jews during World War II. There are types of personality more subject to prejudice – the authoritarian personality.  They’re obedient to superiors, but don’t have much sympathy for those they deem inferior to themselves – oppressive. And rigid thinkers, inflexible with their viewpoints.  They use prejudice to protect their ego and avoid confronting aspects of themselves because they’re always focussed on others.  Personality type is hard to change. Frustration Aggression Hypothesis – not personality based, but more emotional.  Ex. Someone getting frustrated can lead to prejudice. When someone’s frustrated, frustrations turn to aggressive impulses, and direct that towards the employer. But you may lose your job, so you keep bottling up the aggression – and rechannel it somewhere else. Often towards minorities.  Display aggression towards other people – scapegoating. Often seen in times of economic hardship. Hypothesis of Relative Deprivation –upsurge in prejudice when people are deprived of something they feel entitled to.  Leads to collective unrest, upsurge in prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice and Discrimination Based on Race, Ethnicity, Power, Social Class, and Prestige. Prejudice and discrimination usually talked about in relation to racial and ethnic groups.  Physical characteristics with social significance – some have more meanings than others. Ex. skin color, but not eye color. Attached meaning to skin color.  Ethnicity – ex. Puerto Rican, Irish, Japanese. Also include groups like Jews defined more by cultural practices than country of origin. Can also be based on power, social class, or prestige.  Power – political power, economic (unfair hiring policies to minorities), personal (laws can limit where someone lives/etc.)  Social Class – status is relative, often sets stage for prejudice (people on top maintain differences between themselves and lower class – the Just World Phenomenon contributes to prejudice).  Prestige – often based on occupation. Stigma – Social and Self. Extreme disapproval/discrediting of individual by society – 2 forms: social stigma and self-stigma  Social stigma can be fuelled or associated with several other key concepts: stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination. Relationship between stigma and these is unclear. • Stigma against mental health is big problem – ex. stereotype is mentally ill are violent (cognition), I become scared of mentally ill (affect, prejudice), so may not want to live with them or hire them (behavior, discrimination)  Self-stigma is individual can internalize all the negative stereotypes, prejudices, and discriminatory experiences they’ve had, and may feel rejected by society. • Ex. someone who has HIV/AIDS and feels the stigma may go into denial that they have the condition, experiences hits from self-esteem and suffer from depression, and display behaviours that isolate themselves from society.