Extra Credit Opportunity #2

Scared Straight: 10 Years Later

Download pdf file here.

Extra Credit Opportunity #1

Download pdf file here.

Ballot Measure 9

Here are some questions and issues to keep in mind while watching the video and when thinking about the video for purposes of your 2-3 page extra credit (up to 10 points) essay, if you decide to do one. Remember that this is supposed to be a thoughtful and analytic essay, and not an essay that requires you to cite research or do any search of the pertinent research literature. Your grade will be based on the thoughtfulness and coherence of the essay, and on how well-crafted your essay is on the topic of your choice.

1. Gay and lesbian people have been the targets of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination for a long time. What does Ballot Measure 9 suggest about the nature of prejudicial attitudes, stereotypes, and discrimination? Does what we learn about prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination in this video contribute to our understanding of the nature of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination toward other groups (e.g. new immigrants, women, people of color) in our society who also have been the longstanding targets of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination?

2. Where do the prejudicial attitudes and stereotypes seen in Ballot Measure 9 originate? How are such views formed and maintained over time? Are some people more likely to feel prejudice and, if so, what is the role of individual differences in our understanding of the nature of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination?

3. What about the motivational bases of prejudicial beliefs and attitudes? Is the basis for such attitudes complex or relatively simple? Are there perhaps multiple bases on which attitudes toward gay and lesbian people are founded? Some previous, research, for example, suggests that such attitudes serve ego-defensive needs, and other research suggests that such attitudes are linked to a perceived violation of the conventional social order and traditional values.

4. When thinking about prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, we typically distinguish between the perceiver and target of prejudice. The perceiver is the one who holds prejudicial attitudes and stereotypes toward others, and the target is the other individual or group. What does the video suggest about the potential effects of perceiver views of prejudice toward target individuals or groups? How do targets, in this instance, experience the prejudice? And what are the implications of these target effects for strengthening or weakening perceiver prejudice?

5. What prejudice reduction strategies come to mind? What are the issues that need to be considered to develop an effective persuasion approach to changing prejudicial attitudes? Does it make sense to focus efforts on the individual who is prejudiced, or on the target of prejudice (e.g., helping them to buffer and minimize the prejudice), or does a strategy based on the interaction between these two make the most sense (e.g., creating the conditions under which perceivers and targets relate to each other differently)?

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This page last updated: 1/18/06

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