PSY 571: Social Psychology

Stereotyping and Prejudice Seminar

Spring 2002 / Fridays 9:05-12:05 / Room 250 Moore

 

            Instructor:  Dr. Theresa Vescio                                                      

            Office: 438 Moore Building

            Phone: 863-1714                                                                                              

            email:  tkv1@psu.edu    please put “571” in the subject line

Course Structure and Objectives

The course will be in discussion format. Discussion will generally focus on 3 to 5 empirical and/or theoretical articles, which serve as exemplars of the type of thinking and research that has been done in the area. Assigned readings should provide a sound theoretical background for each topic, as well as introducing relevant research. Readings focus primarily on contemporary contributions to the field of stereotyping and prejudice. Beyond surveying relevant research and theorizing, the primary goal of this course to encourage critical and integrative thought.  

Course Requirements

     Weekly Thought Papers and/or Comments

Each week you will be asked to turn in a 2 to 3 page thought paper. The goal of the thought paper is to simultaneously encourage critical thinking about the readings prior to class and enhance discussion quality during class. There are no formal rules regarding thought paper structure or content. The assignment is intended to provide a context within which you can raise points of interest and/or questions. Your paper may focus on theoretical, empirical, methodological, integrative or practical issues. Examples of the kinds of questions you might address include (but are not limited to) the following: (a) How does this argument (or these data) relate to other theories? (b) Is the theoretical rationale sound? (c) Does the study demonstrate what it claims to demonstrate? (d) Are there alternative explanations for the findings? (e) Are there problems with the design, statistics, procedures, etc? (f) What might other theories of social psychology (or other disciplines) have to say about the finding or approach? (g) Are the results consequential? (h) What further directions should be taken in this line of research? And importantly, what implications do these findings or set of theories have for my interests and area of specialization? 

The only firm request is that, as a rule, you make a substantive thought or comment about each reading. 

The thought papers are due by 1:00 p.m. the day before class Thought papers should be forwarded electronically to all class members. Your thought papers should be copied as text into the body of you email. Please do not forward your papers as attachments, as it may be difficult for people to access text in the absence of compatible software. Also please make sure to include, “571” in the subject header. 

     Discussion Facilitation

Each student will also be asked to facilitate course discussions. Discussion facilitation will help develop skills in leading conversations (particularly for seminars and workshops). Rotating discussion facilitators should also keep the style of weekly discussions fresh, by capitalizing on the variety of styles represented by the students' interests and personalities.

As a discussion facilitator, your role will be to help keep the conversation going and on track. Again, there are no formal "rules" about how you should facilitate discussion. If you feel creative, great. If you feel anxious and find that a more scripted initial presentation of interesting ideas and issues is helpful that will also work. In general, however, facilitators should read all thought papers prior to class and outline (or cluster) points of interest: by issue, by depth, or whatever seems to fit the particular topic. If you wish, you may begin the class discussion by "setting the stage," (i.e., abstracting the main points, sketching the design). Or you may guide discussion by providing all discussants with an outline summarizing each students thoughts. As the conversation develops, encourage people who wrote pertinent comments to contribute to the class.

Please DO NOT summarize and reiterate the arguments and/or findings of readings. Everyone will have just finished reading each of the articles. Additionally, the leader should prepare a handout of basic themes, issues and thoughts that the leader feels would be helpful for facilitating class discussion. 

    Term Paper

The term paper should be an in-depth pursuit of the students' own interests, with respect to a subset of the stereotyping and prejudice literature. As a detester of busy work, I strongly encourage you to pursue a project that is useful to you. For example, you may want to review literature relevant to your area of specialization, write up data for a thesis, or propose a study that you intend to pursue. All students are, however, required to write a literature review (though the amount of detail may vary depending on the students’ ultimate goal) and either present or propose research. Papers should be 10 to 15 pages in length. And all students are strongly encouraged to discuss their topics with the instructor early in the term. Papers are due by noon on Monday, April 29 (the first day of finals week).

Grading             

Weekly Thought Papers

Discussion Facilitation

Weekly Discussion Participation

Term Paper

30%

10%

30%

30%

 Academic Dishonesty

The University's definition of academic integrity and dishonest is as follows: Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an educational objective of this institution. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students.  In this class academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be dealt with according to University Policies ( See policy at http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/ ). It could result in failing the course.

 Additional Information

The Pennsylvania State University encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation in this course or have questions about physical access, please tell the instructor as soon as possible.

 

Readings

Readings are in the file cabinet located in the Psychology Department’s faculty mail room (423 Moore). Please SIGN out the readings and return promptly.

 

READING LIST

 January 11            Introductions and Course Requirements

 January 18            Impression Formation

Brewer, M. (1988). A dual process model of impression formation. Advances in Social Cognition, 1, 1-36. 

Fiske, S., Lin, M., & Neuberg, S. (1999). The continuum model:Ten years later. In S. Chaiken and Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 231 – 254). New York: Guilford.

Pendry, L. F., & Macrae, C. N. (1994). Stereotypes and Mental Life: the case of the motivated but thwarted tactician. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 303-325.  

January 25            Origins of Stereotypes

Hoffman, C., & Hurst, N. (1990). Gender stereotypes: Perception or rationalization? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 197-208. 

Eagly, A., & Steffen, V. (1984). Gender stereotypes stem from the distribution of women and men into social roles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(4), 735-754. 

Schaller, M., & Maass, A. (1989). Illusory correlation and social categorization: Toward an integration of motivational and cognitive factors in stereotype formation. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 56, 709-721. 

Thompson, M. S., Judd, C. M., & Park, B. (2000). The consequences of communicating social stereotypes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 567-599. 

February 1            NO CLASS: SPSP 

February 8            “New” Racism Theories

Gaertner, S., & Dovidio, J. (1986). The aversive form of racism. In J. Dovidio & S. Gaertner (Eds.), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism (pp. 61-89). New York: Academic Press. 

McConahay, J., Hardee, B., & Batts, V. (1981). Has racism declined in America? It depends on who is asking and what is asked. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 25, 563-579. 

Kinder, D., Sears, D. (1981). Prejudice and politics: Symbolic racism versus racial threats to the good life. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 40, 414-431. 

Bobo, L. (1983) Whites' opposition to busing: Symbolic racism or realistic group conflict? Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 45, 1196-1210. 

Sniderman, P., and Tetlock, P. (1986). Symbolic racism: Problems of motive attribution in political analysis. Journal of Social Issues, 42, 129-150.  

February 15            The Stereotypes of The High and Low Prejudice

Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5-18.  

Locke, V., MacLoed, C., & Walker, I. (1994). Automatic and controlled activation of stereotypes: Individual differences associated with prejudice. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 29-46.  

Lepore, L., & Brown, R. (1997). Category and stereotype activation: Is prejudice inevitable? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 275-287.  

Vescio, T. K. (2002). The attributional underpinnings of stereotypes and prejudice. Manuscript submitted for publication.  

February 22            Stereotype Suppression and Rebound

Macrae, C. N., Bodenhausen, G. V., Milne, A. B., & Jetten. J. (1994) Out of mind back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 808-817.  

Monteith, M. J., Spicer, C. V., & Tooman, G. D. (1998). Consequences of stereotype suppression: Stereotypes on AND not on the rebound. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 355-377.  

Wyer, N. A., Sherman, J. W., & Stroessner, S. J. (2000). The role of motivation and ability in controlling the consequences of suppression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 13-25.   

Monteith, M. J., Sherman, J. W., & Devine, P. G. (1998). Suppression as a stereotype control strategy. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2, 63-82.  

March 1            Perception of those belonging to multiple categories

Stangor, C., Lynch, L., Duan, C., & Blas, B. (1992). Categorization of individuals on the basis of multiple social categories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 207-218. 

Macrae, C. N., bodenhausen, G. V., & Milne, A. B. (1995). The dissection of selection in person perception: Inhibitory processes in social stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 397-407.  

Stroessner, S. J. (1996). Social categorization by race and sex: Effects of perceived non-normalcy on response times. Social Cognition, 14, 247-276.  

Sinclair, L., & Kunda, Z. (1999). Reactions to a Black Professional: Motivated inhibition and activation of conflicting stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 885-904. 

Crisp, R., Hewstone, M., & Rubin, M. (2001). Does multiple categorization reduce bias? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 76-89. 

March 8            NO CLASS: Spring Break 

March 15            Power and Stereotyping

Fiske, S. T. (1993). Controlling other people: The impact of power on stereotyping. American Psychologist, 48, 621-628.  

Overbeck, J. R., & Park, B. (2001). When power does not corrupt: Superior individuation processes among powerful perceivers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 549-565.  

Jost, J. T., & Banaji, M. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 1-27.  

Sidanius, J. Levin, S, Federico, C. M., & Pratto, F. (2001). Legitimizing ideologies: The social dominance approach. In J. T. Jost and B. Major (Eds. ), The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (pp. 307-331). New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press.

 March 22            Outgroup Extremitization

Linville, P., & Jones, E. E. (1980). Polarized appraisals of outgroup members. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38, 689-703.  

Jussim, L., Coleman, L. M., & Lerch, L. (1987). The nature of stereotypes: A comparison and integration of theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 536-546.  

Vescio, T. K., & Biernat, M. (1999). When stereotyped based expectancies impair performance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 961-969.  

Katz, I., & Hass, R. G. (1988). Racial ambivalence and American value conflict: Correlational and priming studies of dual cognitive structures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 893-905. 

March 29            Constrastive Stereotyping Processes 

Biernat, M., & Manis, M. (1994). Shifting standards and stereotype-based judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 5-20.  

Biernat, M., & Vescio, T. K. (In Press). Values and Prejudice: Historical Conceptualizations and Current Issues. To appear in C. S. Crandall & M. Schaller (Eds.), Prejudice: Historical Issues and Current Research.

 Kunda, Z., & Oleson, K.C. (1997). When exceptions prove the rule: How extremity of deviance deterimines the impact of deviant examples on stereotypes, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 965-979.  

Kunda, Z., & Thagard, P. (1996). Forming impressions from stereotypes, traits, and behaviors: A parallel-constraint-satisfaction theory. Psychological Review, 103, 284-308.  

April 5            Responses to Stereotypes of and Behavior Toward One’s Ingroup I

Brewer, M. B. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482. 

Biernat, M., Vescio, T. K., & Green, M. (1996). Selective self-stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 1194-1209. 

Simon, B., Glaessner-Bayerl, B., & Stratenwerth, I. (1991). Stereotyping and self-stereotyping in a natural intergroup context: the case of heterosexual and homosexual men. Social Pscyhology Quarterly, 54, 252-266.  

Swim, J. K., & Hyers, L. L. (1999). Excuse me—What did you say?! Women’s public and private responses to sexist remarks. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 35, 68-88.  

April 12            Responses to Stereotypes of and Behavior Toward One’s Ingroup II

Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identify and performance. American Psychologist, 52, 613-629.  

Pinel, E. C. (1999). Stigma Consciousness: The psychological legacy of social stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 114-128.  

Schmader, T. Major, B., Ecclesston, C. P., & McCoy, S. K. (2001). Devaluing domains in response to threatening intergroup comparisons: Perceived legitimacy and the status of value asymmetry. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 782-796.  

Kray, L. J., Thompson, L., & Galinsky, A. (2001). Battle of the sexes: Gender stereotype confirmation and reactance in negotiations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 942-958.  

April 19            Stereotype Change and Prejudice Reduction I

Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2000). Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice: Recent meta-analytic findings. In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination. ‘The Claremont symposium on applied social psychology’ (pp. 93-114). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.  

Garcia-Marques, L., & Mackie, D. M. (1999). The impact of stereotype congruent information on perceived group variability and stereotype change, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 979-990.  

Kawakami, K., Dovidio, J. F., Moll, J., Hermsen, S., & Russin, A. (2000). Just say no (to stereotyping): Effects of the negation of stereotypic associations on stereotype activation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 871-888. 

Fiske, S. T. (2000). Interdependence and the reduction of prejudice. In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination. ‘The Claremont symposium on applied social psychology’ (pp. 115-135). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 

April 26            Stereotype Change and Prejudice Reduction II

Batson, C. D., Polycarpou, M. P., Harmon-Jones, E., Imhoff, H. J., Mitchener, E. C., Bednar, L. L., Klein, T. R., & Highberger, L. (1997). Empathy and Attitudes: Can feeling for a member of a stigmatized group improve feelings toward the group? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 105-118. 

Monteith, M. J., & Walters, G. L. (1998). Egalitarianism, moral oblication, and prejudiced related personal standards. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 186-199. 

Wolsko, C., Park, B., Judd, C. M., & Wittenbrink, B. (2000). Framing interethnic ideology: Effects of multicultural and color blind perspectives on judgments of group and individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 635-654.