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

407 Pages·2012·1.65 MB·English
by  Jussim
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social perception and social reality 00-Jussim-FM.indd i 2/1/2012 11:09:57 AM 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 00-Jussim-FM.indd iii 2/1/2012 11:09:57 AM 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2012 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press ________________________________________________________________________________ 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 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 00-Jussim-FM.indd iv 2/1/2012 11:09:58 AM 2/1/2012 11:09:58 AM 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. 00-Jussim-FM.indd v 2/1/2012 11:09:58 AM 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 2/1/2012 11:09:58 AM 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. 00-Jussim-FM.indd viii 2/1/2012 11:09:58 AM 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 00-Jussim-FM.indd ix 2/1/2012 11:09:58 AM 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

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Social Perception and Social Reality contests the received wisdom in the field of social psychology that suggests that social perception and judgment are generally flawed, biased, and powerfully self-fulfilling. Jussim reviews a wealth of real world, survey, and experimental data collected over the
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