Hamilton And Gifford, 1976 (Stereotypes)

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Stereotypes

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A social perception of an individual in terms of group membership. It is a generalization made about a group and then attributed to members of that group. Such generalizations could either be positive or negative.

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Stereotype formation

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There are several explanations about how stereotypes are formed. One explanation of how stereotypes are formed is ILLUSORY CORRELATION, illustrated using Hamilton and Gifford's experiment.

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Illusory correlation

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Stereotypes are a result of illusory correlations, that are cognitive biases. This means that our mind tends to create a relationship between two variables when there is no actual relationship.

Observers conclude that two variables are associated despite the lack of any real association. This is often the case with negative stereotypes of minority groups and the stereotypes tend to be maintained through confirmation bias.

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Confirmation bias

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When people tend to overlook information that contradicts what they already believe. In social context, they pay attention to behaviours that confirm what they believe about a group and ignore those behaviours contrary to their beliefs. It makes stereotypical thinking resistant to change.

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Aim

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To investigate illusory correlation of group size and negative behaviour.

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Method

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Experiment

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Procedure

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Participants were asked to read descriptions about individuals either identified as Group A or Group B, so there was no prior stereotypes about these made-up groups.

Descriptions were based on a number of positive and negative behaviours. Group A (majority group) had twice as many members as B and they performed 18 positive and 8 negative behaviours.

Group B (minority) performed 9 positive and 4 negative behaviours.

The ratio of positive and negative behaviours was the same. Participants were asked to attribute the behaviours to the groups.

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Results

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Because the negative statements were rarer and therefore more distinctive than the positive statements, there were also less people in group B than A, more undesirable behaviours were attributed to the minority Group B than A.

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Conclusion

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The findings are based on the idea that distinctive information draws attention.

Group B members and negative behaviours are both numerically fewer and therefore more distinct than Group A members and the negative behaviour.

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Explicit sentence

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This study shows evidence for illusory correlation because the participants had formed an illusory correlation between the size of the group and the type of behaviour and it could be used to explain how stereotypes are formed about negative behaviours of minorities.

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Distinctive

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Appealing or interesting because of an unusual quality or characteristic