Attitude Formation and Change

Lena signs up for a coding elective and is surprised to see that her lab partner is a cheerleader. She mutters, “Huh, I didn’t expect her to be into programming,” even though she knows nothing about her partner’s skills. Lena’s assumption is based on a simplified idea about a group of people, or a

During group project sign-ups, Nate refuses to work with students from the band class. He says, “They’re all too serious and boring.” Even though he’s never worked with any of them before, he assumes they won’t be fun partners and feels annoyed that they’re in his group. His reaction is based on a negative attitude or _______________ toward the group, not on anything the individuals have actually done.

During a science lab, the teacher lets students choose their own partners—but when Tyler tries to join a group of students from the honors section, they say, “We’re trying to keep it just honors kids.” Even though Tyler is capable and interested, they won’t let him join because he’s in a different class section. Their action is based on his group label, not his individual ability; it's an example of

In a college admissions committee meeting, one member says, “Students from rural schools usually struggle with advanced science courses,” despite having no data to support the claim. This generalized belief about a group reflects a generalized belief, or __________________ that may not apply to individuals.

In the early 1900s, sociologist William Sumner, who coined the term ___________________, observed that many societies tend to judge their own customs as superior while viewing other groups’ traditions as strange or wrong. For example, in cross-cultural studies of family life, some Western participants reported feeling confused or judgmental when shown photos of families sleeping in one room, a common practice in many parts of the world. Even though this practice works well in those cultures, the participants assumed their own family structure was the “right” or “normal” way. This reflects a tendency to judge other cultures by the standards of one’s own.

In the famous “audit study” by Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004), researchers sent out nearly identical résumés to employers, with only the names changed. Applicants with names like “Emily” or “Greg” received more callbacks than those with names like “Lakisha” or “Jamal.” Since the qualifications were identical, the only difference was perceived racial background. This real-world study demonstrated how group membership—rather than ability—can lead to unequal treatment in hiring. A clear example of ____________________.

In studies using a test developed by Greenwald and Banaji, participants were asked to sort words and faces into categories as quickly as possible. The results showed that even people who claimed to have no bias showed faster associations between positive words and certain groups (e.g., white faces) than others (e.g., Black faces), suggesting they may hold some...

The first person to bring attention to this phenomenon was Melvin J. Lerner. Once, Lerner overheard university students disparaging poor people, claiming that they were responsible for their own misfortunes. The students held that poor people were probably just lazy and didn’t try to do anything to improve their circumstances. However, these students didn’t consider arguments regarding basic inequality and other uncontrollable forces. An example of the...

In the Tajfel & Turner minimal group experiment (1971), researchers randomly assigned boys to meaningless groups (“over-estimators” and “under-estimators”) and then asked them to distribute money. Even though the group divisions were meaningless, participants consistently gave more rewards to their own group, showing how quickly people form preferences and favoritism for people who they identify with... showing...

Tajfel & Turner found that participants not only favored their own in-group, but also tended to describe out-group members as all alike, while describing their own group as more diverse. This tendency to assume “they’re all the same” about people outside one’s group is a key part of how bias develops.