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Unit-1 Social Diversity
and Challenges
Applied Social Psychology-II
By Dr. Houshou Suzen
Applied Psychology
We are pieces of a quilt of many colors
See, how we blend together in harmony
And each piece is not complete without the others
Stitching a quilt made of you and me.
-Music & lyrics by Lauren Mayer, © 2004
Social Psychology of Diversity
 Diversity is the presence of difference.

 Diversity is a cultural context which means collective difference that marks one group
from another. Most of the societies are mixture of different social groups,
distinguished by elements like customs, ethnicity, religion, gender, language etc.
 Social diversity- co-existence of different social groups within a given geo-political
setting or in simpler terms differentiation of society into groups.
 Other terms such as plurality, multiculturalism, social differentiation are also
interchangeably used to explain this feature.
 The diversity may be both functional and dysfunctional depending on its
composition .
 It is imperative to mention that diversity is often associated with inequality, conflict
and discrimination.
 How much pluralist a society can become without losing its organic unity?
 Diversity has consequences. Some of these consequences are positive. For
example, diversity brings a sense of excitement as we discover new perspectives
and ideas. In a sense, creativity itself stems from diversity in viewpoints. Problem
solving is enhanced as a diversity of perspectives allows groups to be more
flexible. Some consequences of diversity, however, are negative. News stories of
individuals and groups who have suffered because they are different in some way
are all too commonplace.
 A psychology of diversity considers how individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and

behaviour are intertwined with their diverse social environments. Two principles
that form a framework for a psychological study of diversity. First, social difference
is constructed and maintained by individuals, and second, social difference exerts
influence on individuals
 Note- Check Diversity- its challenges and opportunities in the book –Applied
Social Psychology by Schneider, Gruman & Coutts chapter 14
Goals-
A psychological study of diversity must:
 Examine how diversity shapes our own identities and behaviour.

 Examine how we shape the diversity of our social worlds.
 Confront a wide range of diversity dimensions, not just those that are associated
with historical disadvantage.
 Recognize the social injustice that attends many dimensions of diversity, and use
our scientific knowledge to respond to injustice.
 Recognize not just social differences, but also the diversity within, and similarities
between groups of people
Psychology of diversity: a conceptual framework
 Diversity is socially constructed

1)The individual is a social perceiver
2)The individual is a social actor
 Diversity is a social influence

1)Influence on Identity
2) Influence on behaviour
Opportunities of diversities
 Functional diversity
 Creativity and innovation
 Problem solving
 Refer the reading by Schneider
Challenges of diversities
 Stereotypes
 Prejudice
 Discrimination
 Prejudice-certain feelings and attitudes towards the target group. Feldman (1985)
defined prejudice as negative or positive evaluation or judgements of members of a
particular group. Nearly all uses of prejudice refer to negative or unfavorable pre-
judgement. Social psychologist define prejudice as a hostile or negative attitude
towards a distinguishable group pf people based solely on their group membership.
It contains cognitive, emotional and behavioral component.
 Stereotype(cognitive)- Cognitive beliefs about the typical characteristics of a group

or social category. A generalization about a group of people in which certain traits
are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual variation
among the members.
 Affective- Deep seated negative feelings, may persist even when a person knows
consciously that the prejudice is wrong. Logical arguments are not effective in
countering emotions.
 Discrimination (behavior)- Behavioral manifestations of prejudice. Unjustified
negative or harmful action towards a member of a group solely because of his or
her membership in that group.
More about prejudice………
 Hidden Prejudice
 Unconscious bias/Implicit bias
 Implicit Association test.
Nature and Contents of
stereotypes
 Stereotypes
-Include many types of characteristics
-It can be either positive or negative
-Stereotypes can be accurate or inaccurate
Why do people form stereotypes?
 Conserve mental effort and improve efficiency

 Maintaining pre existing beliefs
 Feeling positive about our group identity
 Justifying inequalities
 Process of social communication
Activation of stereotypes and its
impact on judgements and actions
 Stereotypes affect judgements and actions.
 Stereotypes have greater effects when the judgements have to be
made under time pressure
 Stereotypes have greater effect upon judgements when emotions
are intense.
 Stereotypes have greater effect upon judgements when people
hold powerful positions.
Discrimination
 Discrimination
 Forms of discrimination- crude overt
discrimination is less common
-Reluctance to help
-Tokenism
-Reverse discrimination
Sources or causes of prejudice
 Threats to self esteem

 Competition for resources- Realistic conflict theory
 Pressures to conform: Normative rules
 Social dominance theory-social inequalities breed prejudice. Motivation to
make one’s own group dominant over other groups
 Socialization- process of social learning
 Frustration and aggression (scapegoat theory)- Weatherly(1961)
 Social identity theory (social categorization)- Henri Tajfel ethnocentrism, in
group bias, out group homogeneity, blaming the victim, Justifying the feelings
of entitlement and superiority
 Belief congruence theory
 The authoritarian personality
 Elaborate each of the above points with research studies and can add more points (Books- Hogg and Vaugh, Baron,
Aronson, AK Singh)
Effects/Consequences of Prejudice
 Self-fulfilling prophecy
 Stereotype threat- undermine people’s performance.
 Social stigma- visibility/concealability &
controllability/ uncontrollability
 Damage to self worth, self esteem & psychological
well being
 Failure and disadvantage
 Attributional ambiguity
 Dehumanisation, violence and genocide
Techniques for reducing prejudice
 Social Learning View

 Re-categorization-common in-group identity model
 Benefits of guilt
 Learning to just say no to stereotypes-negation training.
 Social Influence
 Social norms favoring equality
 Contact Hypothesis- check the book by Aronson etc
 Cooperation and Interdependence-jigsaw classroom
 Diversity training (chapter 14 of the book by Scneider)
Types of Social diversity
 Gender
Patriarchy, gender differentiation, female feticide, infanticide in
India and sexism-hostile and benevolent sexism, Glass ceiling in
workplace, tokenism, Other gender
 Social inequality – the existence of unequal opportunities
and rewards for different social positions and status within a
group or society.
Class- based on socio-economic factors
Caste – based on social strata
Race- Racial distinction are based on physical and facial
characteristics, skin color, hair type etc. that are due to belonging
to particular geographical or climatic forces
Contd.
 Religious diversities
Existence of many religious traditions in a society
or nation. In India, we have Hindus, Muslims,
Christians, Sikhs, Buddhist, Zoroastrians, Jains,
Indigenous religions etc.
Social Conflicts
Conflicts is defined as a “a perceived incompatibility of interest”. (Moghaddam,

1998)
 Often the person or group is competing for limited resources with another person or
groups that holds incompatible goals.
 Conflict can also arise out of clashes of values, attitude or behaviour.
 Deutche 1973 suggested that conflict may occur when persons or groups hold either
competitive or corporative interests. For e.g. consider school project in which two
students are asked to work together, both students may be motivated to do a good
job but may disagree on how to go about this. Despite the fact that both students
have compatible goals and an equal desire to succeed, conflict can still result.
 It is assume that conflict is always a bad thing. Though most conflict we hear about
is of the negative variety, but it is not necessarily negative.
• Conflict can represent honest differences of opinion and may be healthy or
functional when people take the opportunity to express themselves assertively yet
respectfully and thus open the lines of communication. Viewed from this
perspective, conflict provides a stimulus to foster positive change.
• Despite the fact that conflict may be beneficial in the sense that it stimulates needed
change, it can also become a very serious problem with enormous implications
across organizational, community, and national settings (Fisher, 1990). Within
organizational settings, conflict has the potential to decrease the effectiveness of
employees through lost work time, lowered morale, wasted energy, and various
other negative effects. Within the community, it may lead to increased levels of
prejudice and discrimination among groups. At the international level, conflict can
be even more dangerous, as demonstrated by numerous armed conflicts throughout
human history.
WHAT CAUSES
CONFLICT?
• Social dilemmas- A conflict in which the most beneficial action for an
individual will, if chosen by most people, have harmful effects on everyone.
A Social trap- situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally
pursuing its self interests become caught in mutually destructive behaviour.
Examples include, the Prisoners Dilemma and the Tragedy of the Commons.
(figure in next slide)
• Competition/ Realistic Conflict theory

Sherif’s Robbers Cave study
• Perceived Injustice
The distribution of rewards is disproportionate to individuals’ contributions.
• Misperception
Misperception of the other’s motives and goals.
Mirror image perception, simplistic thinking, shifting perceptions.
Five modes of response to conflict/ resolving intergroup
conflict.
 Collaborating- Finding a solution to the conflicting situation that satisfies both

parties.
 Competing- when individuals follow their own needs and goals to the exclusion of
others.
 Compromising – Involves trying to find a common ground that partly satisfies both
parties.
 Avoiding- When both parties distresses are ignored by not addressing the problem.
The avoiding strategy is characterized by the acceptance that any effort to either
discuss or contest the conduct of another is desperate and pointless.
 Accommodating- Neglecting one’s own concerns in order to satisfy the concerns of
others.
Promoting intergroup peace
 Contact hypothesis- Gordon Allport suggested that negative intergroup relations could
be improved by increasing positive contact between members of two groups. the
assumption was that positive contact with members of an out-group could decrease
negative stereotyping of the out-group by the in-group and lead to improved intergroup
relations.
 Cooperation- common external threat, superordinate goals , cooperative learning
 Communication- bargaining, mediation, arbitration
 Conciliation- GRIT- Charles Osgood
 Peace education- educating for global peace
 Thank You

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Unit-1 Social Diversity

 Diversity is the presence of difference.

 A psychology of diversity considers how individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and

 Examine how diversity shapes our own identities and behaviour.

 Diversity is socially constructed

 Diversity is a social influence

 Stereotype(cognitive)- Cognitive beliefs about the typical characteristics of a group

 Conserve mental effort and improve efficiency

 Threats to self esteem

 Social Learning View

Conflicts is defined as a “a perceived incompatibility of interest”. (Moghaddam,

• Competition/ Realistic Conflict theory

 Collaborating- Finding a solution to the conflicting situation that satisfies both

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