Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-rnpqb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T04:51:43.792Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Testimonial injustice and prescriptive credibility deficits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Wade Munroe
Wade Munroe*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
*
* Email: wemunroe@indiana.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In light of recent social psychological literature, I expand Miranda Fricker’s important notion of testimonial injustice. A fair portion of Fricker’s account rests on an older paradigm of stereotype and prejudice. Given recent empirical work, I argue for what I dub prescriptive credibility deficits in which a backlash effect leads to the assignment of a diminished level of credibility to persons who act in counter-stereotypic manners, thereby flouting prescriptive stereotypes. The notion of a prescriptive credibility deficit is not merely an interesting conceptual addendum that can be appended to Fricker’s theory without need for further emendation. I develop the wider implications of prescriptive credibility deficits and argue that they pose a challenge to Fricker’s conception of (1) the function of credibility assignments in conversational exchange and (2) how a virtuous listener should respond to the potential threat of a prejudicial stereotype affecting her credibility assignments.

Keywords

Epistemic injusticetestimonial injusticecredibility deficitprejudice and stereotypeprescriptive stereotypeMiranda Fricker
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 46 , Issue 6 , December 2016 , pp. 924 - 947
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcoff, L. 2010. “Epistemic Identities.” Episteme 7(2): 128–137. 10.3366/epi.2010.0003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allport, G. W. 1954. The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association. 1991. “In the Supreme Court of the United States: Price Waterhouse V. Ann B. Hopkins: Amicus Curiae Brief for the American Psychological Association.” American Psychologist 46: 1061–1070.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, E. 2012. “Epistemic Justice as a Virtue of Social Institutions.” Social Epistemology 26(2): 163–173. 10.1080/02691728.2011.652211CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arpaly, N. 2003. Unprincipled Virtue: An Inquiry into Moral Agency. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Blum, L. 2004. “Stereotypes and Stereotyping: A Moral Analysis.” Philosophical Papers 33(3): 251–289. 10.1080/05568640409485143CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bondy, P. 2010. “Argumentative Injustice.” Informal Logic 30(3): 263–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, M. B., Dull, V., and Lui, L.. 1981. “Perceptions of the Elderly: Stereotypes as Prototypes.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 41(4): 656–670. 10.1037/0022-3514.41.4.656CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, D., and Borgida, E.. 1997. “Refining Sex-Role Spillover Theory: The Role of Gender Subtypes and Harasser Attributions.” Social Cognition 15(4): 291–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, D., and Borgida, E.. 1999. “Who Women Are, Who Women Should Be: Descriptive and Prescriptive Gender Stereotyping in Sex Discrimination.” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 5(3): 665–692. 10.1037/1076-8971.5.3.665CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carli, L. L. 2001. “Gender and Social Influence.” Journal of Social Issues 57(4): 725–741. 10.1111/0022-4537.00238CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carli, L. L., LaFleur, S. J., and Loeber, C. C.. 1995. “Nonverbal Behavior, Gender, and Influence.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 68(6): 1030–1041. 10.1037/0022-3514.68.6.1030CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darwall, S. L. 2002. Welfare and Rational Care. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 10.1515/9781400825325CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Beauvoir, S. 1952. The Second Sex. Translated by Parshley, H. M.. New York: Vintage Publishing.Google Scholar
Diekman, A. B., and Hirnisey, L.. 2007. “The Effect of Context on the Silver Ceiling: A Role Congruity Perspective on Prejudiced Responses.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 33: 1353–1366. 10.1177/0146167207303019CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doris, J. M. 1998. “Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics.” Nous 32(4): 504–530. 10.1111/nous.1998.32.issue-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovidio, J. F., Glick, P. E., and Rudman, L. A.. 2005. On the Nature of Prejudice. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 10.1002/9780470773963CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, A. H. 1987. Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Social-role Interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Eagly, A. H., and Mladinic, A.. 1989. “Gender Stereotypes and Attitudes toward Women and Men.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 15(4): 543–558. 10.1177/0146167289154008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, A. H., Makhijani, M. G., and Klonsky, B. G.. 1992. “Gender and the Evaluation of Leaders: A Meta-analysis.” Psychological Bulletin 111(1): 3–22. 10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, A. H., and Mladinic, A.. 1994. “Are People Prejudiced against Women? Some Answers from Research on Attitudes, Gender Stereotypes, and Judgments of Competence.” European Review of Social Psychology 5(1): 1–35. 10.1080/14792779543000002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagly, A. H., and Karau, S. J.. 2002. “Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice toward Female Leaders.” Psychological Review 109(3): 573–598. 10.1037/0033-295X.109.3.573CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eagly, A. H., Mladinic, A., and Otto, S.. 1991. “Are Women Evaluated More Favorably Than Men?” Psychology of Women Quarterly 15(2): 203–216. 10.1111/pwqu.1991.15.issue-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricker, E. 1995. “Critical Notice.” Mind 104(414): 393–411. 10.1093/mind/104.414.393CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricker, E. 2004. “Testimony: Knowing through Being Told.” In Handbook of Epistemology, edited by Sintonen, M., Wolenski, J., and Niiniluoto, I., 109–130. Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricker, M. 2007. Epistemic Injustice. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198237907.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricker, M. 2010. “Replies to Alcoff, Goldberg, and Hookway on Epistemic Injustice.” Episteme 7(2): 164–178. 10.3366/epi.2010.0006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, D. T. 1991. “How Mental Systems Believe.” American Psychologist 46(2): 107–119. 10.1037/0003-066X.46.2.107CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, D. T., Tafarodi, R. W., and Malone, P. S.. 1993. “You Can’t Not Believe Everything You Read.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65(2): 221–233. 10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.221CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilovich, T. 1991. How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Glick, P., and Fiske, S. T.. 1999. “Sexism and Other “Isms”: Interdependence, Status, and the Ambivalent Content of Stereotypes.” In Sexism and Stereotypes in Modern Society, edited by Swan, W. B., Langlois, J. H., and Gilbert, L. A., 193–221. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Glick, P., and Fiske, S. T.. 2001. “An Ambivalent Alliance: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism as Complementary Justifications for Gender Inequality.” American Psychologist 56(2): 109–118. 10.1037/0003-066X.56.2.109CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glick, P., and Fiske, S. T.. 2011. “Ambivalent Sexism Revisited.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 35(3): 530–535. 10.1177/0361684311414832CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glick, P., Fiske, S. T., Mladinic, A., Saiz, J. L., Abrams, D., Masser, B., Adetoun, B., et al. 2000. “Beyond Prejudice as Simple Antipathy: Hostile and Benevolent Sexism across Cultures.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79(5): 763–775. 10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.763CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., and Pettigrew, T. F.. 2014. “With Malice toward None and Charity for Some: Ingroup Favoritism Enables Discrimination.” American Psychologist 69(7): 669–684. 10.1037/a0036056CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harman, G. 1999. “XIV-Moral Philosophy Meets Social Psychology: Virtue Ethics and the Fundamental Attribution Error.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 99(3): 315–331. 10.1111/paso.1999.99.issue-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heine, S. J., Proulx, T., and Vohs, K. D.. 2006. “The Meaning Maintenance Model: On the Coherence of Social Motivations.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 10(2): 88–110. 10.1207/pspr.2006.10.issue-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henderson, D. 2008. “Testimonial Beliefs and Epistemic Competence.” Noûs 42(2): 190–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horai, J., Naccari, N., and Fatoullah, E.. 1974. “The Effects of Expertise and Physical Attractiveness upon Opinion Agreement and Liking.” Sociometry 37(4): 601–606. 10.2307/2786431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R., and Nosek, B. A.. 2004. “A Decade of System Justification Theory: Accumulated Evidence of Conscious and Unconscious Bolstering of the Status Quo.” Political Psychology 25(6): 881–919. 10.1111/pops.2004.25.issue-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., and Tversky, A.. 1982. Judgment under Uncertainty. New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511809477CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandelbaum, E. 2010. The Architecture of Belief: An Essay on the Unbearable Automaticity of Believing. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, E. 2014. “Thinking is Believing.” Inquiry 57(1): 55–96. 10.1080/0020174X.2014.858417CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matschiner, M., and Murnen, S. K.. 1999. “Hyperfemininity and Influence.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 23(3): 631–642. 10.1111/pwqu.1999.23.issue-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medina, J. 2011. “The Relevance of Credibility Excess in a Proportional View of Epistemic Injustice: Differential Epistemic Authority and the Social Imaginary.” Social Epistemology 25(1): 15–35. 10.1080/02691728.2010.534568CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mele, A. R. 1987. Irrationality: An Essay on Akrasia, Self-deception, and Self-control. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mele, A. R. 2001. Self-deception Unmasked. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Michaelian, K. 2010. “In Defence of Gullibility: The Epistemology of Testimony and the Psychology of Deception Detection.” Synthese 176(3): 399–427. 10.1007/s11229-009-9573-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monteith, M. J., Ashburn-Nardo, L., Voils, C. I., and Czopp, A. M.. 2002. “Putting the Brakes on Prejudice: On the Development and Operation of Cues for Control.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83(5): 1029–1050. 10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1029CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. 1989. 490 U.S. 228.Google Scholar
Propp, K. M. 1995. “An Experimental Examination of Biological Sex as a Status Cue in Decision-making Groups and Its Influence on Information Use.” Small Group Research 26(4): 451–474. 10.1177/1046496495264001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., and Greenberg, J.. 2015. “Thirty Years of Terror Management Theory: From Genesis to Revelation.” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 52: 1–70. 10.1016/bs.aesp.2015.03.001Google Scholar
Reid, S. A., Palomares, N. A., Anderson, G. L., and Bondad-Brown, B.. 2009. “Gender, Language, and Social Influence: A Test of Expectation States, Role Congruity, and Self-categorization Theories.” Human Communication Research 35(4): 465–490. 10.1111/hcre.2009.35.issue-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ridgeway, C. L. 2001. “Gender, Status, and Leadership.” Journal of Social issues 57(4): 637–655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudman, L. A., and Fairchild, K.. 2004. “Reactions to Counterstereotypic Behavior: The Role of Backlash in Cultural Stereotype Maintenance.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87(2): 157–176. 10.1037/0022-3514.87.2.157CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudman, L. A., Moss-Racusin, C. A., Glick, P., and Phelan, J. E.. 2012. “Reactions to Vanguards: Advances in Backlash Theory.” In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, edited by Devine, P., and Plant, A, Vol. 45, 167–227. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schimel, J., Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Waxmonsky, J., and Arndt, J.. 1999. “Stereotypes and Terror Management: Evidence That Mortality Salience Enhances Stereotypic Thinking and Preferences.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77(5): 905–926. 10.1037/0022-3514.77.5.905CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shieber, J. 2012. “Against Credibility.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 90(1): 1–18. 10.1080/00048402.2011.560953CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stich, S. P. 1990. The Fragmentation of Reason: Preface to a Pragmatic Theory of Cognitive Evaluation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Vrij, A. 2004. “Why Professionals Fail to Catch Liars and How They Can Improve.” Legal and Criminological Psychology 9(2): 159–181. 10.1348/1355325041719356CrossRefGoogle Scholar