- Title
- Conditioning causes shifts in group exemplars’ perceived prototypicality: investigating mechanisms of stereotype formation and change
- Creator
- Turnbull, Scott Allan John
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Exemplar perceived prototypicality refers to the goodness of fit between an exemplar and the category prototype (Rosch, 1978). It is key to category activation (Macrae & Bodenhausen, 2000) and generalisation processes (Rothbart & John, 1985). Past research examined the consequences of pairing a negative/anxiety-provoking stimulus with exemplars of stereotyped social categories on perceived exemplar anxiety and exemplar evaluations (Olson & Fazio, 2006; Olsson, Ebert, Banaji, & Phelps, 2005). The present thesis extends this research focus by investigating the effects of associative learning (direct, vicarious; aversive, appetitive) on intergroup categorisation, measured in terms of perceived exemplar prototypicality of Black, White and minimal group exemplars by White participants. This research has the potential to contribute to understanding stereotype formation and change and to help design interventions that increase social integration in society. Chapter 1 reviews the stereotyping and intergroup categorisation literature, focusing on stereotyping and exemplar perceived prototypicality. Chapter 2 starts by introducing evaluative-fit and emotion-fit mechanisms as possible psychological underpinnings of prototypicality shifts under conditions of pairing group exemplars with valence and emotion. Associative learning is then described as a way to affect evaluative-fit and emotion-fit and, as a result, cause shifts of exemplar prototypicality. In three successive studies, Chapter 3 provides some initial evidence that an outgroup face (conditioned stimulus, CS) paired with an aversive stimulus (unconditioned stimulus, US; i.e., unsafe exemplar), in the form of an uncomfortable electrotactile stimulation, is perceived as being more prototypical of the outgroup following both direct and vicarious aversive conditioning. Chapter 3 also explores the properties of this basic categorisation or prototypicality shift effect: After establishing a self-reported, post-extinction, CS-specific and generalised prototypicality shift following both direct and vicarious conditioning (Study 3.1), Study 3.2 shows prototypicality shifts on an implicit measure only post-extinction. Study 3.3 shows that backward CS-masking during conditioning eliminates CS-specific prototypicality shifts and replaces it with a generalised (CS-nonspecific) prototypicality shift towards the entire outgroup. Exploring the causal role of extinction in more depth, Chapter 4 reveals that repeated presentations of ethnic cues, rather than repeated presentation of the target face per se, are sufficient to change how that exemplar is categorised. Using a minimal group procedure, Study 5.1 tests, and confirms the prediction that aversive associative learning should cause safe exemplars (i.e. those not paired with an aversive US) to be perceived as being more prototypical of the ingroup after conditioning. In contrast, Study 5.2, which explores group membership along ethnicity lines, unexpectedly reveals that both safe and unsafe exemplars tended to shift away from the ingroup prototype and become less ingroup-like. Drawing upon theories of evaluative fit, Study 6.1 attempts to test the prediction that pairing outgroup faces with positivity should make them become less representative of the outgroup whereas those paired with negativity should become more representative. A newly designed gambling game paradigm sought to test this prediction; this returned non contingent-specific prototypicality shifts when the exemplar was paired with a negatively valenced stimulus. Chapter 7 summarises the results of the empirical chapters and discusses the implications and limitations of this research, including some key methodological challenges. The research reported in this thesis provides initial evidence that associative learning shapes the goodness of fit between stimuli from stereotyped social categories and their category. Hence, the evidence presented suggests that associative learning does not only change exemplar evaluations and affect but the robustness of the effect and underlying mechanisms involved need to be further investigated. Given that perceived prototypicality influences category activation and affects how stereotypes form, change, and are applied, the research reported in this thesis provides a unique and novel perspective on ways in which problematic intergroup relations can develop and possibly change.
- Subject
- prototypicality; social categorisation; stereotyping; conditioning
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1394347
- Identifier
- uon:33684
- Rights
- Copyright 2018 Scott Allan John Turnbull
- Language
- eng
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