Author Question: To what degree are stereotypes accurate? What will be an ideal ... (Read 27 times)

piesebel · **on:** Jun 22, 2018

To what degree are stereotypes accurate?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Jack read about the swine flu in the papers for the past two weeks. When he comes down with fever, chills, and a bad cough, he is absolutely certain that he has the swine flu because of all the media coverage it has received. Jack is illustrating the simulation heuristic.

Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Ddddd · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

a . Possible Response Points:
i. The view that stereotypes contain a kernel of truth that people tend to overgeneralize has been tested by Swim (1994).
ii. She found that stereotypes of males versus females were fairly accurate in both content and degree. That is to say, participants in her study knew with accuracy what the differences were between men and women, and they were fairly accurate at describing the magnitude of those differences.
iii. Because stereotypes are, in some sense, a heuristic way of understanding the world, people may try to hold accurate stereotypes. However, prejudice is held for many other reasons, including motives such as to bolster self-esteem, to maintain political power, and so forth. Such motives are not as governed by a desire to maintain accuracy, so Swim's findings should be understood in this context.
3 . Similarly, in both cases there is a tendency to engage in the confirmation bias.
ii. What is different about social categorization is that people are more emotionally vested (and less purely cognitively driven). Social categorizations are therefore likely to be more difficult to alter than other types of categorizations.

Answer to Question 2

F