Exploring Stereotypes, Prejudices and Social Categorization- Reflections on Bias and Fairness

Exploring Stereotypes, Prejudices and Social Categorization- Reflections on Bias and Fairness

Question 1: Stereotypes and Prejudices

Stereotypes tend to arise from social categorization (Shaver, 2015). In the first photo, my stereotype about refugees is that they are poor and needy. In the second photo, my stereotype about tattooed individuals is that they are reckless, rebellious, and often involved in criminal activities or gangs. My stereotype about Caucasians is that they are hardworking, smart, and civilized. Lastly, my stereotype about individuals with disabilities is that they are pitiable and incapable of performing tasks, as well as persons without disabilities. I do not think that my stereotypes are accurate. For instance, I have a friend with a disability whose abilities are simply impeccable, and one easily gets impressed by his smartness, which overshadows his disability.

Question 2: Social Categories

I tend to categorize others into social groups. In doing so, Shaver (2015) claims that we begin to react to such individuals based on their membership in the social group as opposed to their individuality. I tend to categorize individuals based on gender and race. Doing this makes it easier for me to obtain specific information about the people belonging to specific social groups. For instance, by categorizing individuals on the basis of their race, I am able to become more culturally sensitive, as this enhances my understanding of their culture, beliefs, and values. I believe that my behavior is fair to the people I categorize since such categories form an important part of their identity and enhance understanding of individuals and their social groups.

Question 3: Cultural Stereotypes

One of the common stereotypes assigned to men is that they are poor at languages and good at mathematics. This stereotype has greatly influenced my performance in both of these tasks. I have always been very good at mathematics, and whereas my performance in languages has not been very bad, it has not been as good as in mathematics. As an African American, I am also highly skilled in sports like basketball. My membership in the team was not exactly consensual. I had gone to watch a match with the basketball coach, and when the coach saw me, he just assumed that I was good at the sport, and that is how I began practicing and got really good at it; even though I do not play as much as I would love to these days.

Question 4: Ingroup Favoritism

My membership in the social group that I belong to tends to bring about ingroup favoritism. We tend to have an ingroup kind of brotherhood that is not exactly shared among individuals outside the group. This makes us consult each other more often or seek help from each other more often. Even though the group is diversified, including members of different races, which helps us enhance our cultural competence, it is often clear to others that there is some sort of ingroup favoritism. Everett, Faber, and Crockett (2015) claim that this kind of ingroup favoritism enables individuals to have a social identity that boosts and preserves collective self-esteem as group members. We believe that individuals from our inner circle are able to understand certain things better than the rest.

Question 5: Group Identity

Shaver (2015) asserts that belonging to a social group (whether trivial or meaningful) with positive traits increases feelings of social identity and makes people feel better about themselves. In the US, issues of racism, racial prejudices, and stereotypes are common. African Americans are commonly stereotyped as violent. In our group, we strive to motivate each other to be the best versions of ourselves and become respectable members of society. However, on one occasion, one of our members was involved in a gang robbery, and this reflected poorly on us, confirming this negative stereotype. This caused us to go to great lengths to try and detach ourselves from him. This is in line with the black sheep effect, where there is high polarization of judgment on deviant ingroup members in order to sustain group cohesion and positivity (Steain, Stanton & Stevens, 2019). Even though this was probably not the best way to deal with the situation, it helped us maintain a positive image.

References

Everett, J. A., Faber, N. S., & Crockett, M. (2015). Preferences and beliefs in ingroup favoritism. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 9, 15.

Shaver, K. G. (2015). Principles of social psychology. Psychology Press.

Stein, A., Stanton, C. J., & Stevens, C. J. (2019). The black sheep effect: The case of the deviant ingroup robot. Plos one, 14(10), e0222975.

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Weekly Short Essays-Week Six

This is a short essay assignment with a mixture of multiple-choice/short answer and essay questions that cite evidence or research to explain/support your answer.

Your essay answers must be in your own words, with paraphrasing properly source credited. Quotes in lieu of answering in your own words will not receive points.

Exploring Stereotypes, Prejudices and Social Categorization- Reflections on Bias and Fairness

Please submit your responses as a Word document (.docx file). Make sure to number your responses so your instructor will know where one response ends and the next starts. It is not necessary to rewrite each question in your document. For multiple choice questions, CLEARLY indicate your response (a, b, c, or d) so that your instructor does not have to search and try to determine your response in your short answer explanation.

Each response is worth 20 possible points. Please see the attached Rubric for the grading schematic that will be used to evaluate your responses. Your responses should be approximately one-half page each (double-spaced) for a total of three pages (not including Title and References Pages if you choose to include them).

Ch 12

Look again at the pictures in Figure 12.2, and consider your thoughts and feelings about each person. What are your stereotypes and prejudices about them? Do you think your stereotypes are accurate?

On which (if any) social categories do you categorize others? Why do you (or don’t you) categorize? Is your behavior fair or unfair to the people you are categorizing?

Think of a task that one of the social groups to which you belong is considered to be particularly good (or poor) at. Do you think the cultural stereotypes about your group have ever influenced your performance on a task?

Consider some of the important social groups to which you belong. Do your group memberships lead to ingroup favoritism or even prejudice?

Describe a time when the members of one of your important social groups.