Question

Heidi is having trouble understanding the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and why her workplace sent out an email affirming the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion. This is probably because as a white woman from a small town with little exposure to diversity efforts, Heidi has not had much education about what BLM is trying to accomplish. She is wrestling with this new information about systemic racism and ultimately dismisses it as unfounded because it is contrary to her past experiences. This is an illustration of which of the following?

a. Stereotyping
b. An entrenched mental model
c. Leader-Member Exchange Theory
d. Ethnocentrism
e. Social Identity Theory

Answer 1

e. Social Identity Theory

Step-by-step explanation:

It is correct to state that the scenario in the question above refers to the theory of social identity, which is a theory that seeks to explain how the categorization of groups such as those based on culture, social class, race, age, directly impact the life of an individual and their perception of the world. Psychology seeks to analyze how important it is for an individual to belong to a group and to form an identity based on the collective of that group, that is, to form a society.

Therefore, the theory of social identity suggests that there is an inclination for individuals to overestimate the characteristics of the group to which they belong and to minimize the characteristics of other groups, which can generate prejudice, racism and apathy, which is what happened with Heidi, who considered information about systemic racism unfounded by the fact that they are contrary to their previous experiences.