Prejudice
Definition: A positive or negative attitude towards a group or its individuals which causes us to
think in a particular way towards them.
Cognitive element- based on our beliefs and stereotypes about the group
Affective elements- based on our feelings towards the group
Behavioural element- actions for or against the group
Social identity theory:
The social identity theory proposed by Tajfel(1970), argues that the simple fact of belonging to a
group is enough to lead to prejudice against another group.
This process occurs in three stages:
For each stage write a brief explanation and an example.
In your explanations use the following words: in-group, out-group, difference, norms, values, selfesteem.
Social categorisation: categorise self as member of a group (s)
Social identification: adopt the norms of a group in-group and identify differences between in-group
and out-group
Social comparison: in group favouritism and over accentuation of similarities
Evaluation:
Read Tajfel et al., 1971
How does the study support the social identity theory?
Could the validity of ‘minimal group’ experiments like Tajfel’s be criticised? If so, what implications
would this have for the theory?
Tajfel’s experiments could be said to show a bias in favour of the in-group. Is this the same as a
prejudice?
The social identity theory predicts that, when one of a person’s in-groups is doing badly relative to an
out-group they will expend considerable mental effort looking for ways to reverse their perception of
this situation. Can you identify some examples of this that would be consistent with SIT (thinking
about football fans might help)?
Alternative explanations:
Read the authoritarian personality and the realistic conflict theory below.
Think of 2 examples of prejudices in everyday life and explain them using the social identity theory or
one of the theories below
Authoritarian personality
Adorno et al. (1950) proposed the concept of the authoritarian personality, someone who is prejudiced
because of specific personality traits which predispose them to be hostile towards ethnic, racial and
other minority and out groups.
Adorno et al. began by studying anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany in the 1940’s. He then emigrated to
the USA and carried on with his experiments on over 2000 college students and other native-born
white non-Jewish Americans. His tests were designed to reveal unconscious attitudes towards minority
groups.
A number of scales were developed to measure
Anti-Semitism: assessing attitudes towards Jews
Ethnocentricity: assessing attitudes towards different races
Political and economic conservatism: assessing right-wing political tendencies
Potentiality for fascism (F scale): assessing anti-democratic tendencies
They found that a set of personality characteristics tended to be linked together, and were related to a
particular type of upbringing.
Traits found in authoritarian personality
 Hostile to people seen as inferior
 Contemptuous of weakness
 Intolerant of ambiguity
 Upholder of conventional values
 Servile to people seen as superior
 Unwilling to introspect
 Rigid and inflexible
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Upbringing:
Harsh, punishing , disciplinarian
upbringing
Little affection shown
Unconscious hostility towards parents
displace onto minority groups and /or
projected onto these groups (the
authoritarian fells threatened by them)
Latent hostility towards parents
Evaluation
It does not explain the widespread uniformity of prejudice
If prejudice is explained in terms of individual differences how can it be manifested by a vast majority
of a population?
Realistic Conflict Theory
This theory suggests that prejudice arises where there is competition for resources between groups.
According to Muzafer Sherif (1966), when two different social groups compete for the same valued
resource (i.e. foods, jobs, housing) their members become prejudiced against and hostile towards each
other. This hostility is adaptive, in that is causes people to attempt to deny the resource to members of
the out-group, thus ensuring a greater share for their in-group and, consequently, themselves.