Explain+the+formation+of+stereotypes+and+their+effect+on+behavior

Carolina Vargas
 * __ Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behavior __**


 * __Stereotypes:__** distorted, exaggerated, or oversimplified assumptions about the personalities, attitudes and behavior of a certain category of people. (Hogg & Vaughan, 1995)
 * They can be both positive or negative
 * The generalizations do not consider any variations from one individual to another.
 * These can stem from **prejudice**, or an unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based of the individual’s membership in a group.
 * A stereotype can also be considered a schema, as we categorize people into a group and apply general characteristics to this schema.
 * If we limit our perceptions of others to the definitions of the stereotypes, and do not add specific information for each person, then we can develop **biases** against whole groups of people


 * __Why Stereotypes are formed:__**
 * Our social world is very complex and has a great deal of information
 * To avoid information overload, we use stereotypes because they save energy and can easily be applied to people.
 * Stereotypes are derived from:
 * Personal experience with group members and the groups themselves
 * We make generalizations based on our experiences with people
 * Gatekeepers like the media, family members, and authority figures
 * Our opinions are influenced by the media


 * __Studies and Theories on Stereotypes:__**

__ Grain of truth’ hypothesis (Campbell, 1967) __
 * Theory that states that an experience with an individual from a group will then be generalized to the group
 * Campbell states that stereotypes originate from:
 * A person’s experience with another person or observing a group’s distinctive patterns of behavior
 * The communication of those experiences to other people by the gatekeepers.

__ Illusory Correlation (Hamilton & Gifford, 1976) __
 * Claim that illusory correlation forms stereotypes.
 * ** Illusory correlation ** is when we see the relationship one expects between two variables even though it does not exist
 * This is especially true for a relationship between minority groups and negative behavior.

__ Hamilton & Gifford __ performed an experiment in order to test the illusory correlation theory:
 * Participants read desirable and undesirable trait adjectives about the members of one majority group and one minority group.
 * Proportionally, there were the same amount of desirable and undesirable traits for each group
 * They found that after the experiment in the evaluative tasks, participants over-estimated the frequency of undesirable traits in the minority group.


 * This demonstrates illusory correlation, because there was no association between the traits and the group membership
 * Illusory correlations can lead to people remembering information that confirms the expected relationship.
 * This is due to **confirmation bias**//,// or when one favors information that supports their preconceptions.

__ Cohen (1981) __
 * Performed an experiment to determine whether stereotypes can affect the memories of people.
 * Participants were shown a video, and half were told the woman in the video was a waitress; half were told she was a librarian.
 * When participants recalled details about the video, they remembered details that seemed to be consistent with the commonly accepted stereotypes of the careers.
 * Those who thought she was a librarian were more likely to remember she wore glasses,
 * Those who thought she was a waitress were more likely to remember her drinking alcohol.
 * Therefore, stereotypes can affect the type of information we focus on and what we remember.

__ Brigham (1986) __
 * Studied eyewitness identification and found that White people are more likely to stereotype African Americans than other Whites in eyewitness identification.
 * This is likely due to our tendency to view people that belong to our group more favorably, while we tend to view members of other groups as having undesirable qualities.

Therefore, stereotypes can lead to biases, distortion, generalization, and they can unconsciously affect our judgment and memory, which in turn can affect our behavior.