Reflections and Growth in the Psychology of Diversity
Introduction
During my time enrolled in Psy 3325: Stereotypes, Prejudice Discrimination, taught by Dr. Tay Hack, we explored several topics concerning social differences. Using the textbook ‘ Understanding the Psychology of Diversity’ second Edition, I gained a deeper understanding of how the mind groups individuals together both consciously and unconsciously thus influencing the way we treat a person. In this course we covered racism, classism, homosexism, weightism, ageism, and the stigmas that come with these titles.
Journal Experiences
After reviewing my journal entries growth was very evident. In the beginning I was only noticing very surface level injustices and basic stereotyping. As I continued the journal entries began to have a little more substance. There were references to chapters and theories that and made the observations less dry. Before this period
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I survey the body language, facial expressions and the possible words or phrases that can be interpreted more than one way. Because of this course I am more tolerant to people who are prejudiced. The most personally influential chapter to me was chapter two in the assigned textbook. The chapter introduced me to how stereotypes are formed and the consequences of categorizing people. Studies show that in order to simplify the workload of the brain, we place people into social categories based on previous experience and peer learning. “Social categorization involves thinking about people primarily as members of social groups rather than as individuals” (Blaine, 22).I found that I engage in this practice, but the automatic groups do not usually have negative stereotypes attached; When I meet a negative exception, they are then sorted into a subgroup.The second most influential chapter …..Chapter four of the textbook details the components of prejudices. the stereotypes and instances of prejudice enabled me
The closest definition to individual behavior is personality which is "the totality of an individual's behavioral and emotional characteristics. Personality embraces a person's moods, attitudes, opinions, motivations, and style of thinking, perceiving, speaking and acting. It is part of what makes each individual distinct" (Answers, 2007). Diversity within organizations can positively or negatively impact individual behavior. Diversity includes all the ways in which individuals differ including race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and child/elder care responsibilities (Census bureau, 2007). Organizations can create opportunities to draw upon people with different
Stereotyping is a normal part of every one’s life. Humans, by nature, classify things. We name animals and classify them by common characteristics but stereotyping can have negative repercussions, and everyone does it. In a recent study it was proven that everyone has an unconscious need to stereotype (Paul). In Junteenth and The Invisible man, Ralph Ellison argues that stereotyping can cause mayhem by making the people become something they are not.
In a study conducted by Ford and Tonander (1998), it was hypothesized that when one’s social identity was threatened by a group who is largely different from them, that individual is likely to form stereotypes. This is based
This is a paper on stereotypes and stereotype threats.Stereotypes are made about everyone and everything. In Inzlicht and King's (2010)research there is a thing called stereotype threat. Stereotype threat is basically a person fearing they will be judged on their stereotype no matter who they ar(Inzlicht,King,2010). A stereotype is a preconceived notion made about a race,gender,or culture. People unconsciously feed into their stereotype negativity, this is known as stereotype threat. This paper is about stereotype threats and how people feed into them.
Prejudice is a topic of interest to social psychologists and society as a whole. Prejudice can be defined as ‘an attitude that predisposes a person to think, feel, perceive and act in a favourable or unfavourable way towards a group or its individual members’ (Secord and Backman, 1974, p). Prejudice is often the cause of negative behaviour such as bullying and aggression. Discrimination such as; racism, ageism, sexism, nationalism, classism may occur as a result. Jane Elliot’s study: A Class Divided (1968) attempts to highlight prejudicial behaviour in children. Elliot divided her class into groups of eye colour. She told the children that blue eye colour defined people to be more intelligent and superior to those with brown eyes.
Predjudice and Discrimination as a Part of Our Cognitive Social Being Prejudice and Discrimination are an all to common part of our cognitive social being, but many social psychologists believe that it can be stopped, but only with the help of social conditioning. In this writing I hope to explain and point out some key terms and points made in my assigned chapter. Prejudice refers to a special type of attitude, usually something negative toward any group or ethnicity that is not of one's own social class. Attitude plays a very important role in ones cognitive framework, in that it forces our minds to process information on certain social groups differently making a cognitive earmark for that individual group
Diversity’s real mean comprises traits and personal experiences that have one stand out as a unique piece among a thousand in a puzzle. Anglophones in Cameroon make up the minority who have remained medically underserved and economically disadvantaged because of government neglect. In an attempt to adapt and thrive in a country that offered limited options to English speakers like myself, I learned to read, write and speak French. My bilingualism has since aided me in the US as I tutored fellow students in French and even got employed. Under the supervision of a licensed translator, I sometimes acted as an interpreter at the MVA, but more frequently translated certificates, transcripts, licenses and other foreign documents into English documents
Most people find stereotypes to be obnoxious, especially when they have to do with sensitive subjects like gender or race. “Stereotyping is a generalization about a group or category of people that can have a powerful influence on how we perceive others and their communication behaviors” (Floyd, 61). Because they underestimate the differences among individuals in a group, stereotyping can lead to inaccurate and offensive perceptions of other people. Although stereotypes are prevalent in almost every society, becoming aware of our perceptions of others, as well as differentiating between both positive and negative stereotypes can help us overcome those stereotypes.
We are all affected by the process of stereotyping. Wyer and Scrull defined stereotypes as abstract knowledge structures linking a social group to a set of traits or behavioral characteristics (3). Bigots aren’t the only ones who have experiences with stereotypes and it is critical to realize that in order to fully understand how everyone is affected by stereotypes. There are stereotypes of various social groups circulating in our culture and we’re all familiar with them. According to Annie Paul, children have definite and entrenched stereotypes about blacks, women, and other social groups by five years of age. (“Where bias begins: The truth about stereotypes” 52-56). At such a young age, the growing adolescents of the world begin to form an infrangible association with stereotyping. It wouldn’t matter whether one would like to be affiliated with stereotyping or not because ultimately, it is not a choice for one to make.
Cognitive Bases of StereotypingThe Relationship between Categorization and Prejudice Shelley E. Taylor & Hsiao-Ti Falcone
Racial prejudice is a common part of our cognitive social being. Some social psychologists trust that it can be immobile with the support of social conditioning. Racism and racial prejudice are intricate attributes and indicators of mainly differentiated organized class societies. Racial prejudice is an attitude, typically something negative toward any group or ethnicity that is not of one’s own class. With regard to human dignity, in contrast to forming stereotypes and discriminating amongst one another, will abolish the virus that racism spreads. African Americans are occasionally portrayed as having violent, quick tempers, and overtly lethargic. Caucasians are occasionally portrayed as psychopaths, drug users and rednecks, and barely educated. These prejudice assessments are forms of joint representation. Individuals form views of specific social groups by analyzing individual traits of one group member, establishing an opinion for the entire group. Modern day, called it discrimination when an
However, many of the group-based stereotypes are incorrect and generalizing and it promotes further misunderstandings and prejudice. Prejudice is having a false attitude toward an out-group in comparison to one’s in-group. Prejudiced individuals are prejudging without knowing any information about the “Others” (Rogers and Steinfatt).
Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination have been targeted intensely within these last years in society. It is very important to know and understand the differences. At one point in our lives we have all participated in stereotyping at least one weather you have noticed it or not or wanted to or not. It is one of those things that are learned form or parents and culture. Stereotypes are simply “the beliefs about the personalities, abilities, and motives that doesn’t allow for individual variation” Franzio (208). Stereotypes usually cause prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice is an attitude one has about a specific group which are usually negative attitudes. Discrimination is negative actions towards a specific group. Although it can sometimes
Social cognitive theory is based on the belief that learning occurs in a social context and that much of what is learned is gained through observation of the environment. People learn from observing the environment they are and this learning is impacted by things or people we see every day and things or minorities that we witness less often. Social cognitive foundations affect everyone’s lives and three concepts that we discussed were stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. We learned in class that stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination can be understood as a mere consequence of the architecture of the mind. The brain is wired to be as efficient as possible and these actions are the result of that wiring and the observations we make
Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping are important topics at the cause of debating within social psychology. A stereotype is a generalization about a group of people, in which certain traits cling to all members, regardless of actual individual variation (Akert, Aronson, & Wilson, 2010). As humans, people assign objects and individuals into categories to organize the environment. Individuals do this for not only organization, but also survival. Is stereotyping inevitable? That is the question; according to Devine (2007), it is, but Lepore and Brown (2007) have to disagree. Devine believes that “stereotyping is automatic, which makes it inevitable.” On the other hand, Lepore and Brown are not convinced that stereotyping is