Extra-Credit Assignment on Prejudice (Students can choose to do either assignment
below)
1. For the movies “Crash”, “American History X” or “Hotel Rwanda”. Or
2. Experiencing Prejudice
1 a. Please answer the questions below if you watched “American History X” or
“Crash”. Please be creative. Your paper should be double-spaced and
approximately 2-3 pages in length.
1. How did you like the movie?
2. Did anyone in the movie learn prejudice through classical conditioning where
negative experiences were paired or associated with a certain ethnicity?
3. Did anyone in the movie learn prejudice through operant conditioning where they
were rewarded or reinforced for behaving in a prejudice way?
4. Or did anyone in the movie learn prejudice through social-cognitive ways where
they imitated important people around them?
5. Do you think the lead characters in the movie-learned prejudice in all three ways
described above? If so who did and who didn’t?
6. Were there any other things that contributed to the prejudice of the characters, i.e.,
anger, personal experiences, or society as a whole?
7. How much do you think prejudice permeates our society? What do you think we
can do to change people who are prejudice?
b. Please answer the following questions if you watched “Hotel Rwanda”.
1. How did you like the movie, was there anything that particularly moved you?
2. Were there any examples of prejudice learned through classical conditioning,
where you saw or heard bad or negativity associated with a particular race?
3. Were there any examples given or seen that showed prejudice being learned
through operant conditioning? For example, did anyone who was prejudice get
reinforced for his or her behavior or a group get special treatment? Or were
reinforcements taken away from a particular group of people? In other words,
was a particular group of people punished?
4. What do you think started the extreme hatred? Does the movie or during the
lecture did anyone describe the history that lead up to the events of the Rwandan
genocide?
5. How much do you think prejudice permeates society? Is there anything we can
do to change people who are prejudice?
2. Experiencing Prejudice:
For this assignment students should count the number of prejudice jokes they hear
in one day and cite examples. Also, discuss if you were surprised at how many prejudice
jokes you heard and at any of the content. Second, students should attend a club of a
different nationality than their own. For example, attend the Cuban Club or the Hispanic
American Club, or the Arab American Club. In a paper discuss how you were received
when you attended the club and what the club activities are like. Additionally, was there
anything that surprised you or if the club was exactly as you expected.