This document summarizes chapter 8 of the book "Understanding Intercultural Communication Second Edition" which discusses what causes biases against outgroups. It covers several topics: 1) human perception tendencies and how they can lead to biases, 2) ethnocentrism and the development of stereotypes, 3) how ingroups and outgroups are formed and the attribution biases that can result, 4) how prejudice, discrimination and racism can develop as a "shattered lens", and 5) recommendations for reducing biases through self-reflection, education and positive intergroup contact.

1. Understanding Intercultural
Communication Second Edition
Chapter 8
What Causes us to Hold Biases Against
Outgroups?
Stella Ting-Toomey & Leeva C. Chung
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
PowerPoint Slides Designed by Alex Flecky and Noorie Baig

2. TODAY’S MENU
I. Human Perception Tendencies:
Some General Principles
II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
III. Marking Ingroup/Outgroup
Membership Boundaries
IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice,
Discrimination, and Racism
V. Intercultural Reality Check: Do-

3. I. Human Perception Tendencies:
Some
General Principles
Human perception:
• Process of selecting cues quickly from the
environment, organizing them into a
coherent pattern and labeling that pattern,
and interpreting that pattern in
accordance with our expectation.
Quick three-step process:
• Selective attention
• Selective organization and labeling
• Selective interpretation.

4. Perception Test
YouTube Perception Test
How many times does the team wearing
white pass the basketball?

5. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
A. Ethnocentrism and Communication
Ethnocentrism: derived from two Greek
words:
Ethno: ―one’s own ethnic or cultural
group‖
Centrism: ―One’s own group should be
looked upon as the center of the world‖
Degrees of ethnocentrism:
• Distance of disparagement (high ethnocentrism)
• Distance of avoidance (moderate
ethnocentrism)

6. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Developmental Model of Intercultural
Sensitivity (DMIS)
Developed by Janet Bennett & Milton Bennett
A Popular Intercultural Training Model:
• Three states of ethnocentrism
• Three states in development of ethnorelativism

7. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

8. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Stereotype content model (SCM):
Formed along two dimensions:
• Perception of warmth dimension
• Perception of competence dimension

9. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
A Two-Dimensional Stereotype Content Model

10. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes
Stereotyping is inevitable; key is to
distinguish between inflexible and
flexible stereotyping.
• Inflexible stereotyping: holds onto negative
stereotypes by operating on automatic pilot.
• Flexible stereotyping: ―mindfully minding
our mind.‖

11. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism and
Stereotypes
Table 8.1
Inflexible Stereotyping Flexible Stereotyping
Automatic pilot Mindful of
reaction categorization
Rigid categories Open-ended categories
Premature closure First best-guesses
Polarized evaluations Loose interpretations
Information distortion Information openness
Unwilling to change Willingness to change
categories categories

12. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism
and Stereotypes
Click here to view UCLA student Alexandra
Wallace’s rant on Asian students in the library
• What are your interpretations?
• Apology accepted? Forgive & forget? Forgive but not
forget?
Click here to view Jimmy Wong’s reaction to
Alexandra Wallace
• What did you think of Wong’s response to Alex?

13. II. Biased Intergroup Filters:
Ethnocentrism
and Stereotypes
B. Stereotypes and Communication
Stereotypes:
• Exaggerated pictures about a group of people
on the basis of inflexible beliefs and
expectations about the characteristics or
behaviors of the group.
• What are some factors that shape
stereotypes?
Click here to view a clip from The Color of Friendship

14. III. Marking Ingroup-Outgroup
Membership Boundaries
Ingroup and Outgroup Attribution Differences

15. III. Marking Ingroup-Outgroup
Membership Boundaries
A. Us versus Them
Social identity theory:
Study of ingroup, outgroup membership,
how emotional attachment to social
group plays key role in forming
social/personal identity.
Ingroup: feel connected to.
Outgroup: feel emotionally and psychologically
detached.

16. III. Marking Ingroup/Outgroup
Membership Boundaries
B. Group Membership Struggle
C. Intergroup Attribution Biases
Attributions: the explanations—the
meanings of why people behave as
they do.
• Fundamental attribution error
• Principle of negativity
• Favorable self-bias and other-derogation
principle
• Self-effacement bias

17. III. Marking Ingroup/Outgroup
Membership Boundaries
Media Analysis: Crash film clip
Reflection Questions:
• Where did the wife acquire her fear and
biases?
• Do you think stereotypes—both negative
and positive—have their place? How so?
• Where do we learn our stereotypes?

18. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice,
Discrimination, and Racism
Prejudice:
Describes an individual’s feelings and
predispositions toward outgroup members
in a pejorative or negative direction, but can
also mean the opposite: One can be
indiscriminately for or against members of a
particular group.
Four explanations for development of
prejudice:
• Exploitation theory
• Scapegoating theory

19. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice,
Discrimination, and Racism
B. Prejudiced Remarks . . .or Innocent
Jokes?
Click here to watch a clip on how some ingroup
members treat their own members like outgroup
members.
Where to draw the line question is difficult to
answer. . .
Click here to move toward the conscious competence
stage with respect to stereotyping, prejudice and
discrimination.

20. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice,
Discrimination, and Racism
C. Four Discriminatory Practices
Discrimination:
Verbal and nonverbal actions that carry out
prejudiced attitudes. Four practices:
• Isolate discrimination:
• Small-group discrimination
• Direct institutional discrimination
• Indirect institutional discrimination

21. IV. Shattered Lens: Prejudice,
Discrimination, and Racism
D. Different Types of Racism
Racism involves three principles:
• Feelings of superiority based on biological or
racial differences;
• Strong ingroup preferences and the rejection of
outgroups, different in customs or beliefs; and
• Doctrine that conveys special advantage to
those in power.
Three basic examples of racism:
• Racial profiling
• Perpetuating stereotypic images
• Hate crimes

22. V. Intercultural Reality Check: Do-
Ables
• Be honest about your own biases.
• Understand where you learn your
stereotypes.
• Seek accurate identity membership
knowledge.
• Get involved in diverse identity
communities.
• Cultivate constructive, intergroup contacts.
• Work on positive, interdependent task

23. Parting Thoughts…
In spite of everything I still believe that people are
really good at heart.
I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation
consisting of confusion, misery and death.
~ Anne Frank