Krystal Ashmeade
3/3/2016
Causes of Prejudice by: VINCENT N. PARRILLO. In this article Vincent N. Parrillo
tries to locate the source of prejudice itself by looking at prejudice from a psychological
and sociological stand point. First Parrillo begins with the psychological outlook; Parrillo
further divides psychological view into three different levels. The smaller levels are:
cognitive, emotional, and action orientation. In these different psychological levels he
explains how prejudice can have many causes such as environments, influences, and
personal beliefs. Parrillo goes in great detail in explaining not only the origin of prejudice
but he gives examples of prejudice by looking at history. He also quotes other studies of
prejudice to better understand and overall define what prejudice is. Also in this article
Parrillo defines important vocabulary that is essential to understanding prejudice. In the
Sociological section, first he supports points made in the psychological section of the
article. Parrillo quotes famous psychologist and sociologists to support his own claims
about prejudice. Secondly He explains the other theories of psychologists and
sociologists. Also in the sociological section Parrillo looks at prejudice from a cultural
view point. Lastly overall Vincent N. Parrillo comes to the conclusion that prejudice
cannot be defined because it has too many external contributors to give prejudice one
definition. And that prejudice as has too many causes for psychologists and sociologists
to understand. He believes that prejudice has no single factor and that it is to complex to
understand. Parrillo concludes that prejudice is a phenomenon that is to complex to
understand and points out how sociologists today are trying to confine prejudice into
certain categories.