Stereotypes Biases
Stereotypes Biases - Related Videos
02:55
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
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2020
Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are...
02:16
Stereotype Content Model
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2020
The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) was first proposed by Susan Fiske and her colleagues (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002; see also Fiske, 2012 and Fiske, 2017). The SCM specifies that when someone encounters a new group, they will stereotype them based on two metrics: warmth—or that group’s perceived intent, and how likely they are to provide help or inflict harm—and competence—or their ability to carry out that objective. Depending on the warmth-competence categorization, a person will feel...
02:09
Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
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2020
When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...
01:31
Confirmation Biases
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2020
The confirmation bias is the tendency to focus on information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore information that is inconsistent with our expectations. For example, if you think that your professor is not very nice, you notice all of the instances of rude behavior exhibited by the professor while ignoring the countless pleasant interactions he is involved in on a daily basis. Have you ever fallen prey to the confirmation bias, either as the source or target of such bias? Another...
01:12
Hindsight Biases
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2020
Hindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Can you relate this to the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" now? This text is adapted from OpenStax, Psychology. OpenStax CNX.
FAQs
These patterns can guide attention toward selected information, shape what people remember, and influence how they evaluate others. Because they may operate automatically, their effects can appear without deliberate intent. Conscious reflection can still modify their influence, making the contrast between rapid processing and considered judgment important in psychological research.
Learned associations can connect social-group information with expectations that affect interpretation and evaluation. Selective processing then determines which cues receive attention and which information is retained or used in judgment. Examining these links helps psychologists distinguish the mental processes through which biases shape decisions from the broader social consequences that may follow.
Stereotypes and biases are not necessarily fixed: the overview identifies conscious reflection, social contact, and corrective feedback as influences that can modify them. These influences create opportunities to question an initial interpretation, incorporate information that challenges it, and adjust later judgments. In psychology, this makes change as important to study as automatic activation.
Their psychological effects help explain how generalized expectations and selective judgments can contribute to prejudice and discrimination. They also provide a framework for examining intergroup conflict, where evaluations of group members may affect social interaction. Linking cognitive processes to these outcomes allows psychology to connect individual judgment with broader patterns of unequal treatment.
The topic has direct relevance wherever people evaluate or make decisions about others. The overview highlights education, employment, healthcare, and legal settings because biases in these contexts can be associated with unequal outcomes. Studying each setting helps show how similar cognitive patterns may have different consequences depending on the decisions and institutions involved.
Research can inform strategies that promote fairer judgments and social interactions by identifying when automatic or selective processing affects evaluation. Conscious reflection, social contact, and corrective feedback are especially relevant because the overview describes them as ways these patterns may be modified. The practical goal is to reduce their contribution to unequal outcomes.