QCE Psychology - Unit 4 - Attitudes

Bias, stereotypes, prejudice and priming

Distinguish self-serving and confirmation biases, evaluate stereotypes and prejudice formation, contrast prejudice with discrimination, and interpret priming data.

Part of the free QCE Psychology notes library for Unit 4: Attitudes.

Updated 2026-08-08 - 4 min read

Cognitive shortcuts can organise information quickly, but they can also distort evidence and support unfair treatment. A strong response distinguishes a mental association, an evaluative attitude and an action.

Self-serving and confirmation bias

Self-serving bias is an attributional pattern: favourable outcomes are more readily credited to internal qualities, while unfavourable outcomes are more readily attributed to external circumstances.

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek, interpret or remember information in ways that support an existing belief while discounting disconfirming evidence.

A self-serving statement is “I succeeded because I am skilled, but failed because the test was unfair.” “I am above average” may reflect overconfidence, but it does not by itself show the attributional pattern.

Bias can sometimes protect self-esteem or reduce decision effort, but can also prevent learning, polarise groups and produce harmful or unintended consequences.

Stereotypes

A stereotype is a generalised belief about members of a group. It can support rapid prediction in information-rich settings, but risks overgeneralisation, ignored individual variation, self-fulfilling expectations and unequal decisions.

Accuracy is not solved by finding one true average. Applying a group-level tendency to an individual can still be a poor prediction, and socially constructed categories change across contexts.

Formation of prejudice

Prejudice is an attitude or evaluative response toward a person based on perceived group membership. The syllabus recognises several formation routes:

• scapegoating: blame is displaced onto a group
• direct experience and personal prejudice: an experience is generalised beyond its evidence
• group prejudice: norms and identity transmit evaluations
• prejudiced personality: relatively stable dispositions may increase susceptibility

These can interact with social, economic, cultural and ethical contexts.

Discrimination is behaviour that treats people differently based on group membership. Prejudice and discrimination can occur together, but one does not guarantee the other. Institutional rules can produce discriminatory outcomes even when an individual reports low explicit prejudice.

Stereotype priming and Bargh et al.

In experiment 2 of Bargh, Chen and Burrows (1996), participants exposed to elderly-stereotype-related words later walked more slowly than controls. The study was interpreted as stereotype priming influencing behaviour outside awareness.

Current learning must include evaluation. A modified study should define priming, standardise exposure, measure behaviour unobtrusively and protect participants. Replication concerns, experimenter expectancy, measurement flexibility and demand characteristics constrain the conclusion.

A priming effect, if observed, does not prove that participants endorsed the stereotype. Activation, explicit belief and deliberate discrimination are different constructs.

Worked data interpretation

Designing a safer modification

Avoid reinforcing harmful stereotypes. Use low-risk neutral categories, justified deception only where necessary, informed consent at the appropriate level, right to withdraw, confidentiality and full debriefing. Measure and control experimenter expectations.

For the IA3 research investigation, separate:

• claim
• focused research question
• selected evidence
• trend or relationship
• study limitation
• conclusion against the question
• evaluation of the broader claim

Try it yourself

Common exam traps

• defining self-serving bias as simply high self-esteem
• presenting stereotypes as always consciously endorsed
• using prejudice and discrimination interchangeably
• treating priming as proof of explicit belief
• saying (p=0.09) proves no effect
• ignoring social and historical context when explaining prejudice

Sources

• QCAA Psychology 2025 v1.3 syllabus
• Bargh, Chen and Burrows (1996), Automaticity of social behavior
• OpenStax Psychology 2e: Prejudice and Discrimination

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