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1. Define the following terms.

ethnocentrism
prejudice
stereotype
discrimination
cognitive dissonance

Ethnocentrism Since the definition of Sumner (1960) who introduced

ther term and defined it as the techical name for this view of things in
which one`s group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled
and rated with reference to it, the concept was enriched with many
characteristics meant to reveal its facets in all complexity. The
ethnocentrism can be defined as a generalized cognitive scheme based
manly on a dichotomous way of judging (in-group is superiour whereas the
out-group and eveything related is inferior; us/them) and on a feeling of
moral superiority. It is tendency to use our own groups ways of doing
things as a yardstick for judging others.The difference in itself has a
negative and inferior connotation. Hofstede has interestingly argued that
ethocentrism is to a people what egocentrism is to an individual. Apart
from all negative consequences of this simplistic way of reading the world,
we can find in litterature how this attitude and behaviour have a positive
impact on fostering the ingroup survival, solidarity, cooperation, loyalty,
patriotism, spirit of sacrifice, sense of togetherness, altruism, self-esteem.
Once found the common enemy, the cohesion of the group is easily
maintained. The ethnocentrics tend to judge by constructing
internal/external attributional bias.

Prejudice is defined as a negative attitude that encompass a cognitive,

an affective and a conative component (a behavioral predisposition to
behave negatively toward a target group). It is important to highlight that
the prejudice remain at an attitudinal level and is just a predisposition
toward a negative behaviour, not still an action. In his well-known book,
The nature of prejudice, Allport defined prejudice as an antipathy based
on faulty and inflexible generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may
be directed toward a group as a whole, or toward an individual because
he] is a member of that group. While it is difficult to formulate a single,
overarching definition of prejudice encompassing all its definitory aspects
and its dynamic nature, I will try to select some relevants components,
namely: prejudice can be seen as a mechanism that involves a negative
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sentiment towards a particular group of people, or at least

representatives from that group; the phenomenon of social categorization
is a precursor of prejudice and one direct outcome of this cognitive
process is an accentuation of differences between categories and a
diminuition of the difference within categories.

Stereotypes
Stereotypes are usually defined as fixed, rigid and oversimplified
generalizationz of group traits, reflective of the stereotyper`s underlying
prejudices or other internal motivations. Looking at the etymology, we see
that the term derives from the Greek stereos, meaning firm, solid and
typos, impression, hence solid impression. A stereotype was originally a
solid printing mould or plate which, once cast, was difficult to change. The
meaning of the word evolved and Walter Lippmann was the first to define
Stereotype as a distorted picture or image in a person`s mind, not based
on personal experience, but derived culturally.

Lipmann wrote, "the attempt to see all things freshly and in

detail, rather than as types and generalities, is exhausting,
and ... practically out of the question."

Stereotypes are transmitted through socialization, language, discourse,

they passed from one generation to the next and people take them for
granted without questioning as an economical way of saving mental
energy. Beautifully stated by Lipmann the only feeling that anyone can
have about an event he does not experience is the feeling aroused by his
mental image of that event. The stereotypes are pervasive and resistant
to change, even when individuals have different experiences that
contradict them they tend to judge this as an exception and come back to
their oversymplified generalizations. Even if generally a stereotype has a
negative connotation, they can be also positive generalizations (The Asian
are good at maths). The stereotype provides a distorted mental picture or
set of images and attitudes with a huge impact on how one approach
others. Interestingly, people tend to apply in their social judgement figure
of speech such as syncedoche and metonymy where a part of something
is taken to represent the whole, the specific to represent the general and
vice versa. This way, Muslims and Arabs are often collapsed into a single
identity and Islamic religion and culture are seen as monolithic, without
differentiating between religious and secular. This lazy inclination of the
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spirit is has been the cause of discrimination, racism, segregation and

atrocious eugenic practices throughout the history of humanity.

Discrimination
While prejudice is an attitude and refers to biased thinking, discrimination
has a concrete and material facets as consists of actions against a group
of people.
Some United Nations conventions define discrimination as any
distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour,
descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of
nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal
footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political,
economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. From this
definition, discrimination is a phenomenon beyond the individual action,
having its source at societal level. Unfortunatelly discrimination can not be
abolished by enacting conventions, laws and despite all the juridical acts
forms of discrimination can be easily identified, in forms more or less
veiled, in everyday life. Forms of discrimination are so widespread that we
may governments have created specialized bodies to deter discrimination
and set severe penal sanctions in their efforts to diminish the
discriminatory practices at all levels. Discrimination is a very complex
issue indeed and I will not develop here all its facets but sometimes even
the rules set for fighting against discrimination have their perverse effect
and cause other kind of indirect forms of discrimination and adversely
affect their reference group. I only mention for a further development
maybe the complexity of the positive discrimination (positive mesures)
whose aim is to foster greater equality and reduce specific disadvantages
but that in practice has its discriminatory effects.

Cognitive dissonance
The theory of cognitive dissonance was formulated by Leon Festinger and
since then a lot of paradigms were developed and applied in social
psychology, particularly regarding how rewards influence attitudes and
behaviou, and how behaviour and motivation influence perception and
cognition. The main idea of Festinger`s theory is that if a person holds two
cognitions that are inconsistent with one another, he will face the pressure
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of an aversive motivational state called cognitive dissonance, a pressure

which he will try to remove by altreing one of the two dissonant cognitions
and regain this way the previous state of equilibrium.
Broadly defined, a cognition is any belief, opinion, attitude, perception,
value an individual has at a certian moment and according to which he
acts. A cognitive dissonance is an aversive drive in the sense that defines
a distressing mental state, a conflictual state that place the individual in
danger of damaging his homeostasis state. As a survival reaction, the
individual will seek thus to reduce the cognitive inconsistency and
restablish the initial state of balance and his psychological work will be
focused on supporting the cognition most resistant to change. The result
of this process will be a change in attitudes and an assesment of the
choice.
One important aspect I would hightlight here is the relation of this theory
with the choice and the decision to choose between alternatives. It is not
an easy process and has its costs. In order to reduce the dissonance,
individuals can adopt different strategies among which he can add
consonant cognitions, take away dissonant cognitions, increase the
importance of consonant cognitions or descrease the importance of
dissonant cognitions. Without entering in all subtelties of the theory, I
think it is worthwhile to mention only the new paradigms developed later
on by reasearchers like E. Aronson, (self-consistency theory) C. Steele (self
affirmation theory) and R. Fazio and J. Cooper that proposed several
competing explanations.
One of them whichI am fond of belongs to Aronson that explains
dissonance as a result of psychological inconsistency rather than logical
inconsistency between attitude and behavior. From this perspective, the
dissonance arises from inconsitencies that involves the self- concept, then
the conflict is not between two cognitions but between our cognition
about the self and one specific behaviour that violates the our coherence,
lour self-concept - but more about all this I will develop maybe on other
occasion.

How can prejudice and/or racism help a group or person feel more
comfortable about other cultures?

Paraphrasing Allport, we criticize all the time our daily routine, get bored
of the same rituals, habits, people we see every day but, in the same
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time, they are the source of our psychological comfort, of equilibrium or

self-esteem. The familiar, we are bored with, we want to escape it and in
the same time it is our cherished place, our value, we are looking for it
desperately when lost and take it for granted when we have it.

Our propensity towards a dichotomist way of thinking, whose roots are

maybe in our Occidental spiritual tradition where the world is divided
between good and evil, pure and impure, sacred and profanes, we and
they etc, seems to reflect in a certain group dynamics at social level. The
familiar is preferred, ours are almost always better than others; implicitly
I am better than you are. Negating the intrinsic value of those similar to
us, from our class or group we would deny our own value. What it is
perceived as alien is regarded as inferior, less good, and latently the
target of our aggressiveness and hostility.

The in-group is an extension of our identity, of our self, a reflection of us.

Psychologically, the familiar, provides the indispensable foundation and
the sense of belonging and affiliation are at home among the people that
share the same values, opinions, prejudice, love or hate.

This tendency is called din social science intergroup bias and refers
generally to the systematic propensity of evaluating the members of our
in-group more favourably than the members of an out-group. Bias can
encompass behaviour (discrimination), attitude (prejudice), and cognition
(stereotyping) and the main tendencies are favouritism (in-group) and
derogation (out-group). It is always true that valuating the own group does
not translate always by hostility or hate against the other but it seems
ingrained in human nature. Embracing the group norms, joining the likes
and dislikes commonly shared, letting dissolve a part of the own identity
in the social identity, seeking the acceptance are ways of finding your way
and constructing a sense of belonging that helps individuals to attenuate
the pressure of being alone.

Racism, prejudice, sexism, xenophobia, ageism, anti-semitism,

heteroxism are all forms of control and power- according to some authors.
Individuals needing to be in a dominant position and aware of their limits
in exercising it by themselves join different -ism group and become this
way empowered.

The tendency to classify our experience into categories is a fundamental

and universal aspect of human cognition. We place people, objects, facts
into categories and we feel at ease in the middle of people that share the
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same values, positive or negative attitudes, prefer similar things and as

the saying goes birds of a feather flock together. Having the same
enemy strenghtens the unity of the group and finding the scapegoat for all
kind of problems, be them social or personal, it seems to alleviate even if
the solution was not found.

Stereotypes can be helpful or they can be negative. Write a short

explanation (around 200 words) of how stereotypes can help us
within our daily lives and also the negative effect stereotypes can
have.

One characteristic of stereotypes is that they can be either positive or

negative, may be true or completely wrong and can sometimes, on limited
occasions, help individuals dealing with the complexity of reality.
Stereotyping can be a method of mentally simplify, predict and organise
quickly a big amount of information. On a psychological level provide
individual with an increased self-esteem, a positive image about his group
and himself, a stonger sense of belonging. Can be also a tool of
orientation in making decisions, choosing different paths when
disoriented by a vast array of options, or when choosing the way of
conformity for whatever reasons.
The stereotype is a judgement by induction that leads to generalizations,
social categorizations, prejudices, racism, xenophobia, forms of
discrimination. They have lasting adverse effects and influence our
perceptions and judging. Even after a person leaves a situation where
they faced negative stereotypes, the effects of coping with that situation
remain, argued Inzlicht after analysing the results of his studies.

People are more likely to be aggressive after theyve faced prejudice in a

given situation. People who felt they were discriminated against -
whether based on gender, age, race or religion - all experienced
significant impacts even after they were removed from the situation, says
Inzlicht. The impact of the stereotypes is great on our decisions also and
we can make an altered decision just because, according to the
stereotypes , we are able or not, to access some professions, to follow
some paths. It well known the impact of self-fullfilling prefecies where
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false conceptions become true and this way is perpetuating the reign of
error.

If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences-

Thomas theorem works perfectly in the case of stereotyping thinking as
well. Apart from all the obvious social negative effects the stereotypes
might have, at personal level I think that the rigidity of the mind, the
intolerance, the inflexibility and the narrow-mindedness, the bigotry are
some of the dangers of the human race as they have a constant impact
on a everyday basis. The worst thing is that repetition tends to normalize
stereotype and one day we will finish by living them them without even
questioning as we are still doing today

Find 3 examples of cultural or racial stereotypes, and discuss how

they contribute to prejudice. (You might find examples in old
literature, in the news, books, cartoons or what others say).

The biggest problem that arises out of the propensity of stereotyping is

that it creates prejudice which can be the root cause of racial
discrimination.
1. Let`s see some of the following words and try to associate quickly to
an ethnic group or the first group that cross your mind: lazy; illegal
immigrants; don't know English; work for less; mysoginistic;
agricultural labor; gardeners; hardworkers; gang-affiliated;
hypersexual; tons of children; macho men; baby-making women;
welfare; taking jobs away from whites; poor; low intelligence. Most
probably one of the first images coming to your mind are Hispanic
or Latino. This ethic group is often portrayed in the media with a
various negative stereotypes and in the collective immagination
they are associated to crime, poverty, illegal immigration, welfare,
macho, unusually cruel, avaricious, treacherous, fanatical,
superstitious, hot-blooded, corrupt, decadent, indolent, and
authoritarian. The hate speech, the discourses we can find in the
media provide models of communication with extremelly harmful
effects on this minority as they have a strong emotional impact on
people.
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2. Women dolls; Lotus blossom; sneaky; don't know English; hard-to-

pronounce names; "weird sounding" languages; eat dogs; thrift
store owners; racist; timid; ignored; martial arts; untrustworthy; bad
drivers; academic excelling; weak men; submissive women; quiet;
traditional medicine; restaurant jobs; gangsters ; unusual
mannerisms; industrious; exotic; subservient; geisha, sacrificing
their lives; are only some of the stereotypes almost all of us have
when thinking of Asian people. Even if we have never had one single
personal contact with an Asian individual we still have the arrogance
of believing that Asian people are exactly the spitting image of all
these grotesque stereotypes we have just picked them up we ignore
even when, how and why. The problem with stereotypes is that just
erase any curiosity to discover, to have our own experiences and
test the validity of all these ideas.

3. It's dark in here isn't it?" She replied, "I don't know; I can't
see."

Why couldn't the blonde add 10 + 5 on a calculator? She couldn't

find the "10"

What can strike a blonde without her even knowing it? A: A

thought.

Did you know that Christmas will be on Friday this year? Oh

hell, not Friday the 13th I hope!

And I can continue with even more or less funny, derogatory, sexist jokes
about blonde women. We all know that jokes are a good way of breacking
the ice and we all laugh or at least smile when listening a good one. Even
if they are full of stereotypes, sometimes awfully deameaning we have fun
if they are a witty ones. We have made at least once a similar joke and
reinforced this way a stereotype but not necessarily with a bad intention
or because we are mean people or because I take pleasure in damaging
the image or hurting someone. We have just done it without any negative
thought back to our mind.

One can say that jokes about blondes are one of the most inoffensive
stereotypes; they are so common, and not only in jokes; movies, media,
toys, TV shows portreyed them as stupid, superficial, narcissistic, low on
intelligence, the worst drive women;
(Police officer: "Can you identify yourself, Madam?" She pulls out her
mirror and says: "Yes, it's me."); they are considered to be sexy, thinking
only of sex etc. This image is very popular and the misogynous narative
tradition feels at home. Adhering to the stereotypes makes us part of the
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promoters and contributors to an everlasting xenophobic, sexist,

ethnocentric, racist tradition.