Lecture on Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination

Introduction

• The lecture begins with the story of Amadou Diallo, a young Guinean immigrant shot by police officers in New York.
• Malcom Gladwell's "Blink" explores Diallo's case as an example of implicit bias influencing human behavior.
• Focus on understanding non-conscious, automatic biases and their effects on behavior.

Key Concepts

Prejudice

• Defined as unjustified, typically negative attitude towards an individual or group.
• Often directed along lines of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or culture.
• Different from stereotyping and discrimination but related.

Stereotyping

• Over-generalized beliefs about a group.
• A general cognitive process that can be negative or sometimes accurate.

Discrimination

• Combination of prejudicial attitudes and emotions leading to behavior.
• Examples include apartheid and Nazi policies.

Changes in Prejudice Over Time

• Overt prejudice has decreased in many cultures.
• Subtle forms still exist and can influence social patterns, like wage inequality.

Implicit Bias

• Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures non-conscious, automatic attitudes.
• Reveals implicit associations that affect behavior.
• Example: Age-related IAT shows implicit associations between youth and goodness.

Discrimination Studies

• Science faculty study: Gender biases against female science students were prevalent.
• Prejudices can exist even within the group being discriminated against.

Causes of Prejudice

• Just-world phenomenon: Belief that people get what they deserve.
• Ingroup-Outgroup phenomenon: Divides groups into "us" vs. "them," leading to prejudice.
• Ingroup Bias: Favoring one's own group irrationally.

Social Experiments

• Experiments illustrating the effects of ingroup-outgroup bias.
• Arbitrary group divisions can lead to irrational in-group favoritism and conflict.

Conclusion

• Prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination shape social interactions.
• Non-conscious prejudices can be revealed and measured using tools like IAT.
• Ingroup-outgroup phenomena lead to strong biases and potential conflicts.

Acknowledgments

• Sponsored by Shane Barr, author of "Reset."
• Written by Kathleen Yale, edited by Blake de Pastino.

This lecture summarizes the understanding of how implicit biases affect social behavior and the social psychology underlying prejudice and discrimination.