Early Adulthood:Stereotypes and Prejudice

Dialectical Thought, Moral Reasoning, College Cognitive Growth

Cognitive Development – Ch. 18

Mar 22-26, 2010Class #22-22

Postformal Thought

Adult thinking and adolescent thinking differ in 3 ways, with adult thinking more:

practicalflexibledialectical

A Fifth Stage of Cognitive Development?

Postformal thought often viewed as fifth stage of Piaget’s theoryIn it, adults consider every aspect of a situation

Use of intellectual skills for real lifework and relationships

Better understanding that conclusions and consequences matter

Adult thought requires flexible adaptation, which allows adults to:

Cope with unanticipated eventsCome up with more than one solution to problem

Flexible Problem Solving

The possibility that one’s appearance or behavior will be misused to confirm another person’s oversimplified, prejudiced attitude

3 ways young minority people cope with prejudice:Identification

Identifying with their own group

DisidentificationDeliberately refusing to identify with their own group

CounteridentificationIdentifying with majority and believing stereotype to be accurate

Stereotype Threat

Stereotype threat…

Can you see how a stereotype threat can develop…

You go to ATM and woman in front looks at you and seems nervous

Stereotypes and Prejudices

Stereotypes The generalized perceptions, beliefs, and expectations a person has about members in some groupSchemas about entire groups of peopleEffects of stereotypes on behavior can be automatic and unconscious

PrejudiceA negative attitude toward an individual based solely on the person’s membership is some groupIn one word…prejudgment

Can race influence how a given behavior is interpreted?

Bottom-up processingPerceptions influenced by the visual field itselfCan be referred to as “true object” perceptions – making sense from our sensations

Top-down processingThese perceptions are influenced by what the person expects or has experienced before Our experiences memories, and expectations are what's important hereCan lead to biases and misperceptions…

Duncan (1976)See next slide

“The ambiguous shove”

Duncan (1976)Participants were divided and placed randomly in on of two groups These white undergraduates viewed two nearly identical videos

Group 1: A black person is seen shoving a white person

Group 2: A white person is seen shoving a black person

“Please tell me what is going on here”

Instructions: On a scale of 1-5 rate the behavior…1 = “Horsing around”5 = Violent behavior

Other examples (flaws) of top-down processing…

Allport (1954)Found evidence for the stereotype that “fat people are jolly”

Dion et al. (1972)Attractive people are perceived as being more honest than unattractive people

Who has the razor???

Allport and Postman (1947) Subjects were shown a picture depicting two men, one black and one white, confronting each other on a subway carThe white man has a straight razor in his hand

See next slide

Adapted from Allport & Postman, 1947.

Categorization

The classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributesCan bias our perceptions

Stone (1997)Radio broadcastShown a photograph of the player to be analyzedEither a black player or a white player

“The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners”

Motivational Theories of Prejudice and Stereotyping

Prejudice serves to meet certain needs and increases one’s sense of securityPrejudice especially more likely among those high in authoritarianism who have:

An acceptance of very conventional or traditional valuesA willingness to unquestioningly follow orders of authority figuresAn inclination to act aggressively towards those identified by authority figure as a threat to one’s values or well-being

Cognitive Theories of Prejudice and Stereotyping

People use schemas and other cognitive shortcuts to organize and make sense of their social worldSometimes these processes lead to inaccurate stereotypesFor example:

We tend to simplify our perceptions by seeing group members as similar to one anotherWe also see illusory correlations between an individual’s behavior and group membership

Need For Structure

Some people like their lives to be simple and organized…

Can this attitude lead to stereotyping?

Who is more likely to get harassed at an airport security check???

Learning Theories of Prejudice and Stereotyping

Prejudices can be learned…Classical Conditioning

Suggests that our parents and media may have started an early process that has now become automaticMight explain how one can develop negative attitudes towards never encountered groups

Operant ConditioningOne can be directly reinforced for expressing prejudice

Social Learning TheoryPrejudice can be the result of observational learning (Bandura’s theory again)

Realistic group conflict theory

Competition for valuable but limited resources breeds hostility…

Loser: becomes frustratedWinner: becomes threatened

Result: Much conflictExample: Women and immigrants joining the workforceWhen conflict arises there is a higher tendency to rely on stereotypes…“they’re all the same”

How Stereotypes Form: In-groups vs. Out-groups

Strong tendency to divide people into ingroups and outgroups Such group identifications can promote an ingroup bias…

Often it becomes an “Us vs. Them” attitude

ConsequencesExaggerate differences between ingroups and other outgroups.Outgroup homogeneity effect

Reducing Prejudice

Contact HypothesisStereotypes and prejudice toward a group will diminish as contact with the group increasesGetting to know and hopefully to understand a groupGet two groups to work towards a common goal

Cooperation helps; competition hurts

Adult Moral Reasoning

Ethical issues often present themselves Taking responsibility for one’s own actions perceived by young adults of all ethnic groups as marker of adulthood

Life Choices parenthoodlife events

New and different qualities of moral reasoning appearGilligan (1981, 1990) took into consideration that life experiences contribute to a broader understanding of moral reasoning

Addressing Specific Dilemmas

Addressing Specific Dilemmas

Every young adult must make choices aboutsexuality reproduction marriage and child rearingissues caused by increasing globalization and immigration

Dilemmas also arise from popular culturetelevisionThe Internetpopular music

Measuring Moral Growth: Lawrence Kohlberg

(1927-1987)

Lawrence Kohlberg was, for many years, a professor at Harvard UniversityHe became famous for his work there beginning in the early 1970sHe started as a developmental psychologist and then moved to the field of moral education

Adolescents and Morality:Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral

Reasoning

Kohlberg believed...and was able to demonstrate through studies...that people progressed in their moral reasoning (ethical behavior) through a series of stages

He believed that there were six identifiable stages which could be more generally classified into three levels

Level I: Preconventional Morality

Level I: Typical of most children under the age of nine – behavior tends to be selfish in nature

Stage 1:Moral values reside in external events (bad acts)The child is responsive to rules and evaluative labels, but views them in terms of pleasant or unpleasant consequences of actions, or in terms of the physical power of those who impose the rulesVery selfish – may do things just to stay out of troubleObedience and punishment orientation or to gain concrete rewards

Stage 2:Basically the same as in stage one as bottom line is to satisfy one’s own needs but occasionally others as well

Level II: Conventional Morality

Level II: By early adolescence, moral values reside in performing the right role, in maintaining the conventional order and expectancies of others as a value in its own right – uphold laws and social order

Stage 3: Good-boy/good-girl orientationOrientation to approval, to pleasing and helping others Conformity to stereotypical images of majority or natural role behavior Action is evaluated in terms of intentions

Stage 4: Authority and social-order-maintaining orientation

Orientation to "doing duty" and to showing respect for authority and maintaining the given social order for its own sake

Level III: Postconventional Morality

Level III: Abstract reasoning that not everyone develops…

Stage 5: Morality is defined in terms of institutionalized rules that have a rational basisSociety vs. Individual (any conflict favors society)

Stage 6: The standards conformed to are internal, and action-decisions are based on an inner process of thought and judgment concerning right and wrongSocial laws are very important but conscience is what dictates behavior – not what others might thinkSociety vs. Individual (any conflict favors individual)

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 1

A woman was near death from a unique kind of cancer. There is a drug that might save her. The drug costs $4,000 per dosage. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000. He asked the doctor scientist who discovered the drug for a discount or let him pay later. But the doctor scientist refused.Should Heinz break into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 2

Heinz broke into the laboratory and stole the drug. The next day, the newspapers reported the break-in and theft. Brown, a police officer and a friend of Heinz remembered seeing Heinz last evening, behaving suspiciously near the laboratory. Later that night, he saw Heinz running away from the laboratory.

Should Brown report what he saw? Why or why not?

The Heinz Dilemma: Scenario 3

Officer Brown reported what he saw. Heinz was arrested and brought to court. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison. Heinz was found guilty.

Should the judge sentence Heinz to prison? Why or why not?

Dilemma II: The case of the promised rock

concert…

Scene 1:Judy is a 16-year-old girl. Her mother promised her that she could go to a special rock concert coming to their town if she saved up from baby-sitting and lunch money to buy a ticket to the concert.Judy managed to save up the fifteen dollars (the ticket cost) plus another twenty dollars and proudly told her mother she had enough saved to have a “good time at the concert”. Her mother said great, this shows what you can do when you put your mind to it. But later that same evening her mother read a front page article on the dangers of the upcoming concert…how there would be a “bad element” present doing drugs. It was also mentioned that tattoos and piercings would be taking place as well. She called Judy and Judy’s 17 year-old sister in for a “family meeting” and for nearly an hour lectured on the evils of drugs, sex, and rock and roll. She told Judy that she had to spend the money on new clothes for school instead.

What Kohlberg stage is Judy’s mother at??? Why??

Dilemma II: The case of the promised rock

concert…

Scene 2:The next day Judy screamed at her mother calling her a liar that should never be trusted The strong-willed Judy later decided to go to the concert anyway. That Saturday she told her mother she was forgiven that she was spending the day with a friend going shopping.In reality, Judy and her friend went to the performance and had a great timeA week passed without her mother finding out. In confidence, Judy then told her older sister, Louise, that she had gone to the concert and had lied to her mother about it. Louise wonders whether to tell their mother what Judy did.

What Kohlberg stage is Judy at??? Why???If Judy’s sister was at the top level what would her actions be??? Why???

Limitations to Kohlberg’s Theory

Cross-Cultural StudiesLevels 1 and 2 appear universal; Level 3 does not Moral judgments in some cultures do not fit into Kohlberg’s stages

Gender and MoralityMen concerned with the abstract, impersonal concept of justiceFemales concerned with protecting enduring caring relationships and fulfilling human needs

Measuring Moral Growth

Defining Issues Test developed by James Restrespondents rank their priorities, from personal benefits to higher goals; this in contrast to Kohlberg’s open-ended questionsranking items leads to number scorescores generally rise with age and education which make people less rigid and more flexible

The Effects of College

Education powerfully influences cognitive development

improves verbal and quantitative skills, and specific subject knowledge while enhancing reasoning, reflection, and flexibility of thought

The sheer numbers have increased greatly, worldwideIn all nations, increased student diversity

more women studentsmore older studentsmore culturally diverse students in United Statesmore low-income studentsmore working students

Change in the Students

Changes in the Institutions

Structure of higher education changing with student population changesAlmost twice as many U.S. institutions of higher learning today than in 1970

community college enrollment up 144 percentmore career programsmore part-time facultymore women and minority instructors

CreditsPortions of slides on Kohlberg taken from: http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/kohlberg.dilemmas.html