Discrimination

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Ethnocentrism can lead to discrimination—behavior toward a person or group based solely on their membership in a particular group, class, or category. Discrimination arises when attitudes about the supposed superiority of one culture lead to rules and behaviors that favor that group and harm another.

Recall from chapter 2 that stereotypes about and prejudice toward a particular cultural group may result in discrimination, preventing individuals from understanding and adapting to others (Cargile & Giles, 1996). Yet seemingly positive stereotypes can have similarly discriminatory effects. For example, consider the “model minority” stereotype of Asian Americans that characterizes them as quiet, hardworking, studious, and productive. As Suzuki (2002) points out, these beliefs have led some employers to dismiss Asian Americans’ complaints about discrimination in the workplace and have made government agencies and nonprofit organizations less inclined to support programs that assist lower-income Asian Americans because Asian communities seemed largely self-sufficient.

Discrimination can be explained in part by research on intergroup communication. Studies show that we have a biased tendency to treat fellow ingroup members better than we treat members of outgroups (Giles, Reid, & Harwood, 2010). In fact, we even interpret ingroup behaviors more favorably than outgroup behaviors. For example, if you discovered that someone in your sorority was caught cheating on an exam, you would likely explain the behavior as an unusual situation brought on by challenging circumstances. On the other hand, if you heard about someone from another sorority (an outgroup) cheating, you would be more likely to attach a personal explanation, such as that the cheater is dishonest.

On a related note, behavioral affirmation is seeing or hearing what you want to see or hear in the communication of assorted group members. In other words, if you think teenagers are lazy, then regardless of how hard your fourteen-year-old cousin studies, you don’t see the effort. Instead, you notice his eye rolling or slumped shoulders, so you still perceive him as unmotivated. Behavioral confirmation is when we act in a way that makes our expectations about a group come true (Snyder & Klein, 2005). Again, if you think your teenage cousin (like all teens) is lazy, you’ll more likely give him tasks that do not require much effort. When he, in turn, fails to put in a great deal of effort, you confirm to yourself, “See? I knew he wouldn’t try very hard.”