The motives underlying stereotype-based discrimination against members of stigmatized groups

Eric Luis Uhlmann, Victoria Brescoll and Edouard Machery ()
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Eric Luis Uhlmann: GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Victoria Brescoll: Department of Psychology - Yale University [New Haven], School of Management - Yale University [New Haven]
Edouard Machery: university of pittsburgh, dot of history and philosophy of science - PITT - University of Pittsburgh - Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE)

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Abstract: We argue that the motivations that underlie stereotype-based discrimination against racial minorities and other stigmatized groups often fail to meet standard criteria for rational judgments. Stereotyping of such groups is often driven by threats to one's self-esteem and a desire to rationalize inequality, and declines when the perceiver is motivated to be accurate. Also, Bayesian racism--the belief that it is rational to discriminate against individuals based on stereotypes about their racial group--correlates highly with negative feelings toward minorities and the desire to keep low-status groups in their place, and correlates negatively with indices of rational thinking. The motives that drive social judgments call into question whether people engage in stereotype-based discrimination for rational reasons.

Keywords: Stereotyping; Rationality; Threatened egotism; System justification; Social dominance orientation; Bayesian racism; Bayesian prejudice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-03
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Published in Social Justice Research, 2010, 23 (1), pp.1-16. ⟨10.1007/s11211-010-0110-7⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00528406

DOI: 10.1007/s11211-010-0110-7

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