Prejudice; Disliking Others
Content





Definition
Characteristics
Types
Sources
Reducing Prejudice
Prejudice:
Prejudice is an attitude that predisposes a person to
think, perceive, feel and act in favorable or
unfavorable way.
In social psychology ...is defined as a negative attitude.
A prejudiced person might dislike those different from
themselves, behave in a discriminatory manner, and
believe they are ignorant and dangerous.
Prejudice is extremely powerful and ubiquitous; it
affects all of us—majority group members as well as
minority.
Prejudice is dangerous, fostering negative
consequences from lowered self-esteem to torture,
murder, and genocide.
Although over the past 50 years blatant discrimination
has been reduced, it still exists in subtle—and
sometimes not-so-subtle—forms.
Characteristics of Prejudice





…required
…has emotional terms
…directed towards the group as a
whole
…based on rigid/inflexible
generalizations
…not factual
Prejudice, Discrimination and
Stereotype
Stereotypes - beliefs about attributes that are thought
to be characteristic of members of particular groups
Prejudice - a negative attitude or affective response
toward a certain group and its individual members
Discrimination - unfair treatment of members of a
particular group based on their membership in that
group
Terms that often overlap
Prejudice
Discrimination
Stereotyping
Prejudice, Stereotyping &
Discrimination



Prejudice is an attitude and therefore has an
affective component, a behavior tendency,
and a cognitive component.
The affective component is the emotion (e.g.,
anger, warmth) associated with the attitude
object.
The cognitive component is our beliefs and
thoughts (cognitions) about the target of
prejudice. It involves stereotyping.

The behavioral component of prejudice refers
to the actions, or behavior, associated with
the prejudiced object, such as discrimination.
Prejudice, Discrimination and
Power


Issues of prejudice and
discrimination involve people
outside of power and
authority.
Stereotypes are beliefs
people form about groups
when they take in
information, these
stereotypes become
problematic when people
apply these stereotypes to
individuals. (Blond jokes,
become ideas we apply to
blond individuals as a basis
for promotions)



Stereotypes are problematic
in both their positive and
negative forms.
Prejudice forms when
stereotypes are negative and
are not changed in the face
of contrary evidence.
Discrimination occurs when
people transfer prejudice
into action and create outgroups who suffer from their
deteriorated status.
Understanding Prejudice and
Discrimination




Perception of the world is key to
understanding the development
of prejudice.
Sensory Information->becomes
an image -> that is processed
through a paradigm.
When a person perceives they
take that reality and incorporate
it into their understanding of the
world.
People do not perceive things as
they actually exist in the world.
Understanding Prejudice and
Discrimination

An example is when a child
gets close to a glowing
burner and recognizes it as
hot.




Every time they see a
glowing burner, no matter
how bright, they always now
associate it as hot.
This is how discrimination
has evolved to protect the
human species, (hot not safecool safe). It works with
objects, but not with people.
An image of reality can,
therefore, differ from person
to person.
If the image of a certain
group is negative, possibly
affected by negative
stereotypes, then they will
act badly towards that person
which is discrimination.
TYPES OF PREJUDICE







Ableism
Lookism
Ageism
Classism
Racism
Sexism
Anti-Semitism
Ableism

Prejudice against people with
disabilities, especially physical
disabilities.
Lookism

Prejudice against
people based on
their appearance.





Attractive
Unattractive
Facial features
Body features
How one chooses to
dress
Ageism

Prejudice against
someone because of
their age.




Adults
Teenagers
Youths
Elderly
Classism

Prejudice against
someone based on
social or economic
class.




Rich
Poor
College degree
Blue Collar (college
degree not needed)
Racism


Prejudice based on
race.
Belief that one race
is superior to any
other race






Race
Skin color
Culture
Language
Accent
Country of Origin
Sexism


Gender prejudice – treating people
unequally due to their gender
Gender stereotypes are stronger than
racial stereotypes.
Anti-Semitism


Prejudice against
Jews
Hostility, intense
dislike for Jews and
Judaism

Hitler and his allies
fueled people’s antiSemitic beliefs
Ethnocentrism
Believing in the superiority of one’s own
ethnic and cultural group, and having a
corresponding disdain for all other
groups.
What Causes Prejudice?
What makes people prejudiced? Is it inherited,
or is it learned? Possibly both.
Prejudice could be an essential part of our
biological survival mechanism inducing us to
favor our own family, tribe, or race and to
express hostility toward outsiders.
Or, our culture (parents, community, media)
might intentionally, or unintentionally, instruct
us to assign negative qualities and attributes to
people who are different from us.
No one knows.
Sources of Prejudice



Social Sources
Cognitive Sources
Emotional Sources
Social Sources of Prejudice
Unequal
Status
Social
Identity
Social Sources of Prejudice

Unequal Status:


Inequality in social and economic status
breeds prejudice.
Social Identity:



social categorization- divide world into in-group
(“us”) and out-group (“them”)
In-group bias- view own group more favorably
Out-group: “Them”—a group that people
perceive as distinctly different from or apart from
their in-group.
Social Sources of Prejudice

Conformity: “Most of the people tend to
follow the path of least resistance and
conform to the existing trend”
David G. Myers
If the prejudice is socially accepted, many
people will follow the path of least
resistance and conform to the fashion.
Social Sources of Prejudice

Self fulfilling Prophecy:
Social beliefs tend to be self confirming

Religion and Prejudice:
“By defining and deciding what is sacred/sin or
ethical/unethical”
Social Sources of Prejudice

Stereotype Threat:
A disruptive concern, when facing a negative
stereotype. Stereotype threat situations have
immediate effects.
Social Sources of Prejudice
Emotional Sources of
Prejudice



Frustration and Aggression: Pain and
frustration (the blocking of a goal), often
lead to aggression.
One source of frustration is competition,
one group’s goal fulfillment can become the
other group frustration.
Realistic Group Conflict Theory: The theory
that prejudice arises from competition
between groups for scarce resources.
Emotional Sources of
Prejudice

Personality Factor:
Two people with equal reasons need not be
equally prejudiced.
“People hold to beliefs and attitudes that satisfy
unconscious needs”
- Sigmund Freud
Emotional Sources of
Prejudice
a)
Need for status:
to perceive ourselves as having status, we need
people below us.
b)
The Authoritarian Personality:
People with authoritarian personality rigidly
conform, reject those they consider to be
inferiors, and express intolerant opinion.
Cognitive Sources of Prejudices

Categorization: Dividing people into
categories based on common attributes


Race, gender, other common features
Out-group homogeneity:





The belief that "all of them are the same."
Seeing out-group as being very similar
Seeing in-group members as very diverse
Studies show that this can occur very early in
life, even in infancy
May be contributed to by a lack of familiarity of
the out-group
Cognitive Sources of Prejudices

Own-Race Bias:
The tendency for people to more accurately
recognize faces of their own race.
Cognitive Sources of Prejudices

Distinctive Stimuli: A distinct person in a
group is perceived as having exaggerated
good and band qualities.

Distinctive cases fuel stereotypes …assumes
a correlation between group membership
and individual’s characteristics.
How Can Prejudice and
Discrimination Be Reduced?



‘It’s never too late to give up our prejudices.’
(Henry David Thoreau)
There are a number of ways prejudice can be
reduced. Some have been mentioned:
Getting people to focus on positive aspects
of themselves (self-affirmation) reduces the
need to denigrate others in order to get a
self-esteem boost.
How Can Prejudice and
Discrimination Be Reduced?

Blurring the distinction between ‘us’
and ‘them’ can improve attitudes
toward out-groups.