RPTS 340 Notes
Unit 2: Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice
I. Prejudice
A. Prejudice defined: “A hostile or negative attitude toward a distinguishable group based on
generalizations derived from faulty or incomplete information” (Aronson, 1984, p. 229).
1. Prejudice involves a hostile or negative attitude. Attitudes are negative or positive
responses or evaluations toward some object, person, place, idea, policy, etc.
2. Prejudice involves generalizations often derived from faulty or incomplete information.
These overgeneralizations may be stereotypes. According to Aronson, “To stereotype is
to assign identical characteristics to any person in a group, regardless of the actual
variation among members of that groups” (p. 299).
B. Prejudice must be understood in terms of how we categorize people. Categorization is the
natural tendency to define or classify objects or people into homogenous groups.
Categorization helps reduce complexity and makes living easier.
1. Objects do not naturally have meaning. Through direct experience, overt teaching, or
subtle cues we assign meaning to objects. This suggests that our attitudes are acquired.
2. Simple distinctions lead people to categorize others into favorable and unfavorable
groups. Categorization is facilitated when others exhibit distinguishing traits (age, skin
color, disability status, gender, nationality).
3. We categorize people in terms of personal attributes (e.g., personality, ability, sense of
humor, types of clothes they wear) and social attributes (e.g., ethnicity, nationality,
religion, group membership).
4. We tend to view in-group members (people who identity with each other in some way) in
terms of personal attributes and out-group members (persons who are seen as not
belonging to an in-group) in terms of social attributes.
5. The more information we have about a person, the more likely we are to classify him or
her in terms of personal attributes rather than social attributes.
C. Our prejudices act as a filter in how we interpret the world. Stated differently, they guide our
behavior and expectations.
D. Our prejudices may result in a self-fulfilling prophecy: “An expectation whose existence
creates the conditions for its own fulfillment.” In many cases, these expectations lead us to
organize the world in ways that actually bring about the very behaviors we expected in the
first place.
II. Causes of Prejudice
A. Economic and political competition. Resources are limited and one group (a dominant group)
may seek to exploit another group in order to maintain some material advantage.
competition ---> aggression ---> directed to presumed source of frustration.
B. Scapegoating. Frustration may cause aggression that cannot be readily directed at the source
of frustration. Suppose that a teacher humiliates a eight-year old child. The child can’t be
expected to fight back. Hence, the child may take out his or her aggression on another child,
particularly one believed to be unable to fight back.
frustration ---> aggression ---> displacement on individual that is visible and powerless
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C. The prejudiced personality. Following World War II researchers believed that there were
personality differences in regard to prejudice. Sociologists and psychologists referred to such
tendencies as the "authoritarian personality." The authoritarian personality was believed to
possess a number of characteristics:
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Rigid beliefs
Intolerant of weakness
Suspicious
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Conventional values
Tendency to inflict pain or punishment
Respectful of authority to an unusual degree
Advocates of the theory discovered that people high on authoritarianism experienced harsh
and threatening parental discipline, and their parents used love and its withdrawal as a means
of producing obedience. As a result, the child developed an unconscious fear and hostility
toward them. As adults these feeling find expression in displaced aggression against
powerless groups. All the while, the individual maintains an outward respect for authority.
childhood frustration --->aggression ---> displacement on weak out- groups
D. Conformity. Critics of the authoritarian personality have argued that it is more likely that
prejudice occurs through conformity: “Acceptance of norms and beliefs in a particular group
or society.” According to this perspective, prejudice is learned and reinforced through
interaction with like-minded individuals.
III. Techniques for Reducing Prejudice
A. Information campaigns. This is the “Frontal-attack approach."
B. Media. Historically, the mass media has been guilty of perpetuating prejudice and racist
beliefs. Television or films that show minority groups as attractive role models are believed
to break down negative stereotypes. Ironically, people often attribute positive cases as the
exception and use such models as a justification that the system really works.
C. Contact situations. Putting people of different backgrounds together so they can learn about
one another. Research suggests that contact should not be superficial and that only certain
types of contact situations help promote positive racial attitudes.
1. Contact occurs between members of majority and minority groups who are of equal status.
2. Contact is sanctioned by institutional support (law, custom, local atmosphere). When
people see that contact is inevitable, prejudiced attitudes begin to change.
3. Contact should be intimate rather than casual. Intimate contact leads to the perception of
common interests and common fate.
4. Contact occurs in the form of cooperative of interdependent activities. Here, people of
different groups might work together on school or work-related projects, and play together
on sports teams.
Conditions of contact--->Redefinition of group (separate to inclusive) --->Change in attitudes
(negative to positive)
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