Social perception and social reality : why accuracy dominates bias and self-fulfilling prophesy

407 Pages·2012·1.65 MB·English

by  Jussim

social perception and social reality
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This page intentionally left blank Social Perception and Social Reality
W H Y AC C U R AC Y D O M I N AT E S B I A S A N D
S E L F - F U L F I L L I N G P R O P H E C Y
Lee Jussim
1
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1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jussim, Lee J.
Social perception and social reality : why accuracy dominates bias and self-fulfi
lling prophecy/Lee Jussim.

p.
cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-536660-0 (hardcover)
1. Social perception. 2. Stereotypes (Social psychology) I. Title.
BF323.S63J87 2012
302.’12 — dc23 2011020796
________________________________________________________________________________

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Th
is book is dedicated to my family: my wife, Lisa Baum, who has not merely been
supportive, but with whom conversations about multiculturalism in her practice
infl uenced my thinking about stereotypes; my daughter Rachel, whose righteous
indignation at social scientists’
resistance to scientifi c evidence right in fr ont of their noses has been an
ongoing inspiration for me; my daughter Kayla, whose spunk and resilience in
the face of extraordinary diffi culties is
its own constant source of inspiration for me; and to my son Josh, for giving me
numerous opportunities to discover that his very multicultural set of fr iends are
not remotely threatened by talking about ethnic and cultural diff erences
between groups and, in fact, generally enjoy such discussions.
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This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments
many of the ideas in the book are so outside the mainstream of “normal” social
science claims, that it is perhaps more obvious than usual that any errors,
misinterpretations, misrep-resentations, and the like are entirely my own. For
example, this book spends 6 chapters arguing that the eff ects of expectations are
typically overstated and, rather than being powerful and pervasive, are weak,
fragile, and fl eeting. It spends 3 chapters arguing that there is far more evidence
of accuracy than most social psychologists acknowledge. It spends 5 chapters
arguing that stereotypes are typically quite accurate, typically used in a manner
that is reasonable and more or less rational, and that it is social psychological
perspectives emphasizing stereotype inaccuracy that are exaggerated, unjustifi
ed, and irrationally resistant to change.
One can fi nd vanishingly few psychologists of any stripes presenting such
claims, so that one can be assured that any errors in making or justifying them
are entirely my own.
Although they bear no responsibility whatsoever for any of the claims that
Although they bear no responsibility whatsoever for any of the claims that
appear throughout the book, several people have been immensely helpful in
preventing me from making claims that even I would consider unjustifi ed. I am
deeply grateful for critiques and com-mentary received on one or more chapters
from David Funder, Bill von Hippel, David Kenny, Joachim Krueger, Clark
McCauley, Richard Nisbett, Charles Stangor, and Bill Swann. I (and this book)
have also benefi tted from correspondences with Alice Eagly, Sam Gosling, Judy
Hall, C. Neil Macrae, Beth Morling, Michael Norton, Stephen Raudenbush,
Carey Ryan, and Sam Sommers.
Th
is book took so long to write that, while still in progress, I extracted core ideas
from and have published them elsewhere (
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Person ality and Social
Psychology Review, and the Handbook of Stereotypes, Prejudice, and
Discrimination ). Th
e critical comments provided by anonymous reviews, and by Bill Ickes, Todd
Nelson, and Mark Zanna regarding those published pieces were then fed back to
improve the chapters in this book. I am very grateful for those thoughtful and
cogent comments.
Th
is book is, in part, a scholarly and intellectual (rather than political) polemic. Th
e dic—
tionary defi nition of polemic is: a controversial argument, as one against some
opinion, doctrine, etc. Th is book defi nitely argues against the pervasive view
among social cognition scholars that human social judgment is dominated by
bias; and it even argues against the pervasive doctrine in psychology and other
social sciences that stereotypes are inaccurate 00-Jussim-FM.indd vii
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viii Acknowledgments
and irrational. As such, I must also thank all those scholars who have promoted
and advocated the view of human social cognition as deeply fl awed and steeped
in error and bias—without them, I would have had no reason to write this book.
in error and bias—without them, I would have had no reason to write this book.
Of course, the book does not mostly “argue against” anything—it mostly argues
for a view of human social thinking as generally nicely in touch with social
reality and, generally, subject to biases that, though real, are readily reduced or
eliminated. Although my own original research constitutes a tiny fraction of that
reported in this book, much of that research was conducted with Jacque Eccles
and Stephanie Madon, collaborations for which I am deeply grateful. Last, I
must thank the Hillsborough Diner in NJ, where I wrote most of this book, for
allowing me to sit and write for many hours at a time, despite only spending a
few bucks at a pop for breakfast or lunch.
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Contents
part one | introduction: this book, basic ideas, and
the early research
1 Introduction: How Might Social Beliefs Relate to Social Reality? 3
2 Social Reality Is Not Always What It Appears To Be: Th
e Scientifi c Roots of
Research on Interpersonal Expectancies 13
3 Th
e Once Raging and Still Smoldering Pygmalion Controversy 30
part two | the awesome power of expectations to
create reality and distort perceptions
4 Th
e Extraordinary Power of Self-Fulfi lling Prophecies 49
5 Th
e Extraordinary Power of Expectancies to Bias Perception,
Memory, and Information-Seeking 64
part three | the less than awesome power of expectations
to create reality and distort perceptions
6 Th
e Less Th
an Extraordinary Power of Self-Fulfi lling Prophecies:
Considerations Based on Common Sense, Daily Life, and a
Critical Evaluation of the Early Classic Experiments 83
7 You Better Change Your Expectations Because I Will Not Change (Much) to
Fit Your Expectations: Self-Verifi cation as a Limit to Self-Fulfi lling Prophecies
100
8 Th
e Less Th
an Awesome Power of Expectations to Distort Information-Seeking 112
9 Th
e Less Th
an Awesome Power of Expectations to Bias Perception, Memory,
and Judgment 122
part four | accuracy: controversies, criticisms, criteria,
components, and cognitive processes
10 Accuracy: Historical, Political, and Conceptual Objections 145
11 Accuracy: Criteria 170
12 Accuracy: Components and Processes 194
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x Contents
part five | the quest for the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy
13 Teacher Expectations: Accuracy and the Quest for the
Powerful Self-Fulfi lling Prophecy 219
14 Do Self-Fulfi lling Prophecies Accumulate or Dissipate? 248
part six | stereotypes
15 On the Pervasiveness and Logical Incoherence of Defi ning Stereotypes as
Inaccurate 269
16 What Constitutes Evidence of Stereotype Accuracy? 307
17 Pervasive Stereotype Accuracy 323
18 Stereotypes and Person Perception: Can Judging Individuals on the
Basis of Stereotypes Increase Accuracy? 360
19 Stereotypes Have Been Stereotyped! 389
part seven | conclusion
20 Important, Interesting, and Controversial Work on Accuracy, Bias, and