This 3-page paper evaluates the methodologies used to conduct research into whether a person's feelings about himself will cause him to describe others in stereotypical terms.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_HVEval.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
a research project dealing with prejudice as a way of maintaining a positive self-image. The Studies The main problem studied in the article is whether or not prejudice against
a person or group is linked to a persons own self-image (Fein and Spencer, 1997). The article discusses three studies that were done measuring different aspects of the same
problem: whether how someone feels about himself causes him to stereotype others. Because they were closely linked, the results were published in one article. In the first study, done
using 54 students from a psychology course at the University of Michigan, Fein and Spencer tested their belief that increased self-affirmation would lead to decreased prejudice (1997, p. 292).
The group was told that they were going to participate in a "study of values," but in reality half the group had their self-esteem raised by writing about a topic
they felt was important; the other half did not have such an affirmation (Fein and Spencer, 1997). After the students were
"manipulated" in this manner, they were then told that the second half of the study was to evaluate a candidates fitness for a job by watching a videotape (Fein and
Spencer, 1997). The same young woman was used in the tape, but in one version her name was "Julie Goldberg" and it was implied she was Jewish; in the
other, she was "Maria DAgostino" and thought to be Italian (Fein and Spencer, 1997). The two ethic groups were chosen because there was a great deal of anti-Semitism toward
young Jewish women on the Michigan campus at the time, while no such prejudice existed toward Italians (Fein and Spencer, 1997). The researchers predicted that those members of the