Prejudice

Prejudice

A negative prejudgments of a group and its individual members

Attitude

Is a distinct combination of feelings, inclinations to act, and beliefs

Affect

Feelings

Behavior tendencies

Inclinations to act

Cognition

Beliefs

Stereotype

Negative evaluations that mark prejudice can stem from emotional associations, from the need to justify behavior, or from negative beliefs

Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Sources

Roots of Prejudice

Social sources of prejudice (Unequal status)

Once the inequalities exist, prejudice helps justify the economic and social superiority of those who have health and power

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Also known as a Pygmalion effect

The person has thus had their prophecy about us fulfilled

Stereotype threat

A self-conforming apprehension that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

This refers to being at task of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group

Social Identity

Self-concept- our sense of who we ar— contains not just personal identity

Social identity theory

We categorize: we find it useful to put people, ourselves into categories (label)

We identify: we associate ourself with certain groups (ingroups); gain self- esteem in doing so

We compare: we contrast our groups with other groups (outgroups), with a favorable bias toward our own group

Turner & Tajfel

Proponent of Social identity theory

Ingroup bias

The group definition of who you are

Conformity

If prejudice is socially accepted, many people will follow the path of least resistance and conform to fashion

They will act not so much out of a need to hate as out of a need to be liked and accepted

Frustration and Aggression and personality Dynamics

Emotional Sources of Prejudice

The scapegoat theory

Pain and Frustration (a blocking of a goal) often evoke hostility

Displaced aggression

When the cause of our frustration is intimidating or unknown, we often redirect our hostility

Scapegoating

A hostile social-psychological discrediting routine by which people move blame and responsibility away from themselves and towards a target person or a group

Categorization, Distinctiveness, and Attribution

Cognitive Sources of Prejudice

Categorization

To organize the world by clustering objects into groups

Perceived similarities and differences

Distinctiveness

Distinctive people and vivid or extreme occurrences often draw attention and distort judgement

We define people by their most distinctive traits and behaviors

Fundamental attribution error

In explaining others’ actions, we frequently commit the fundamental attribution error

Lee Ross

Proponent of Fundamental Attribution Error