Running Head: STEREOTYPES
Stereotypes
Stereotypes
According to system justification theory, what motives drive low-status groups to engage in cognitive, affective and behavioral support for a system that conflicts with their personal interests? Explain conscious and unconscious cognitive processes assumed to underlie the pursuit of such contradictory behavior.
There are a wide range of reasons as to why people go against their own beliefs or interests in support of another system. In terms of the cognitive factors there is the desire to find an explanation relating to various issues, the desire to conserve cognitive, the minimization of cognitive and the need to close cognitive. There are also other reasons to this such as the fear for equality, the illusion held of control, the reduction of conflict as well as the trust and belief that a person holds in relation to a just world (Jost, Pelham, & Carvallo, 2002). The conscious and unconscious cognitive processes are used to justify these prevailing social arrangements. Using the justification theory, such processes build on social identification, ethnocentrism or also similarity with the desire to add on to their self-esteem. Such processes are affected by competing aspects and hence the need to balance them. An instance is the perceived legitimacy advancement of favoritism on the side of the high status group’s members but minimize increase of out-group members. There is also the personal differences that is related with social justification are used to enhance the hatred in such groups. There is consequently the conflict of the ego held as well as the justification of the group (Lerner & Miller, 1978). Favoritism with other groups is likely to be held with the decline of self-esteem.
Can you provide any real life examples of low status group preference for the out-group?
A real life evidence of such out-group preference is the self-hatred that exists between the blacks and the Jews. The blacks are considered not to be helpful to their other black counterparts. A study to prove this aspect of out-group favoritism was performed by Gaertner and Bickman between the blacks and the whites. The whites were fully willing to assist the whit counterparts in their work while the blacks were not willing to assist their black counterparts.
The justification theory does apply in real life situation, take an instance of a family where the father, who has been placed with several responsibilities of fending for the family; buying food, clothes, paying rent, school fees and many others. He is a person who was loved by the society for the several roles that he has played in establishing proper security lights as well as other development projects that he engineered. In his employment he is loved by all his workmates and was regarded as a competent and responsible person, he was later promoted not long after this does a tragedy befell this family and society; He is attacked by robbers in the same neighborhood he was trying to trying to establish security while from job. One would not understand why a person with such good deeds and loved by everybody and school had to die so early and young. Rumors went round that the workmates did this to take up his position at the job while others were heard saying that it is the neighbors who were fed up by his constant projects.
In another instance is the deprival of or cut of salary to female employees who go for maternity leave, on the basis that they are not providing anything for the family. Their male counterparts on the other hand do not experience these things. This discrimination is gender biased that looks down upon women for the attributes they possess and is natural to them.
Take an instance where a woman, of Caucasian origin, happens to get married to an African man who is caring and loving, but was from a different culture that required one to take after the name of the husband which is not allowed in my Caucasian culture. In Caucasian culture, a woman is not allowed to change her surnames, it is not easy for the woman to agree to forego her culture and follow the husband’s culture. The finally was able to change her name to follow the husband’s culture. Women are normally considered to be of low consideration when it comes to making decisions that goes against the husband’s decision.
Bibliography
Jost, J. T., Pelham, B. W., & Carvallo, M. R. (2002). Non-conscious forms of system justification: Implicit and behavioral preferences for higher status groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 586–602.
Lerner, M. J., & Miller, D. T. (1978, Vol. 85, No. 5). Just World Research and the Attribution Process: Looking Back and Ahead. Psychological Bulletin, 1030-1051.
