Comprehensive Overview of Prejudice: Types, Theories, and Measurement Methods

Prejudice (T/L)

Prejudice is an attitude directed towards people because they are members of a specific social group.

Stereotypes (L)

A schema that belongs to a social category of people. The cognitive aspect of Prejudice.

Discrimination (L)

A behavior directed towards a person based upon their assumed membership in a social category.

Prejudice (L)

An unjustifiable negative attitude toward a social aggregate or outgroup.

Prejudice (Allport's definition)

An attitude based on a faulty and inflexible generalization that places the object of prejudice at a disadvantage not merited by its own conduct.

Discrimination (T)

Treating people differently based primarily on membership in a social group.

Interpersonal Discrimination (T)

Treating another unfairly because of the person's group membership.

Organizational Discrimination (T)

Organizational structures, processes, and practices that guide decision making but can sometimes result in inequities, such as in who is hired or promoted.

Institutional Discrimination (T)

Discrimination that occurs when beliefs about group superiority are sanctioned by institutions or governing bodies; is rooted in the norms, policies, and practices associated with a social institution.

Scientific Racism (T)

The interpretation (and frequently misinterpretation) of research results to show ethnic minority groups in a negative light.

Social Categorization (L)

The natural tendency to put people into social groups based on characteristics they are thought to share.

Group Privilege (T)

An unearned favored state conferred simply because of one's race, gender, social class, or sexual orientation.

Schema (L)

A network of thoughts, ideas, and knowledge where each attribute is linked to all the other attributes in the schema such that the activation of any attribute activates all the attributes of the schema.

Minority Group (L)

Any social group that lacks power and/or status in society.

Ethnocentrism (L)

The view that one's ingroup is superior to outgroups in society.

Race (T)

A system for classifying human beings that is grounded in the belief that they embody inherited and fixed biological characteristics that identify them as members of racial groups.

Psychodynamic Theory

The Psychological perspective that Prejudice is the result of unconscious conflict and behaviors born from it were meant to strengthen one's personal identity and self-esteem.

Defense Mechanisms

Mental processes such as scapegoating, which allow a person to avoid uncomfortable or conflicting thoughts or feelings.

Scapegoating

The act of symbolically transferring and displacing negative feelings and frustrations on to others.

What Psychological theory are Defense Mechanisms a part of?

Psychodynamic Theory

Authoritarian Personality

A person thought to be strongly prone to believe and do whatever authority figures say, including treating members of derogated groups with contempt.

Social (Group) Conflict Theory

A theory asserting that people come to dislike members of other groups because they see those groups as competing with their own group for scarce resources.

Cognitive Theory

The Psychological perspective focused on the thought process resulting in Prejudice and focusing on cognitive processes and structures.

What belief is the Cognitive Theory based in?

Prejudice is universal and unsolvable.

Evolutionary/Biological Theory

The Psychological perspective that Prejudice is the result of human adaptation to survive and reproduce.

What does modern stereotyping and prejudice stem from according to the Evolutionary/Biological Theory?

Friend and Foe recognition that helped people to avoid threats and disease and survive to reproduce.

Intergroup Relations Theory (T)

The perspective that Prejudice derives from perceptions of competition with other groups, such as feeling deprived of a resource that another group receives and/or feeling one's group is treated unfairly compared to another group.

Sociocultural Theory

The perspective that people internalize their culture's stereotypes along with other cultural norms, social norms, and attitudes.

Internalized social role in Sociocultural Theory

Gender roles, such as men being strong and women being nurturing.

Ableism (T)

Prejudice against or disregard for the needs of persons with disabilities.

What is the result of Ableism?

People with disabilities can be affected more by social, political, and environmental obstacles than by their physical or mental impairment.

Antiracist (T)

People who support an antiracist policy through their actions or by expressing antiracist ideas.

Antiracist policy

A policy that actively works against racism.

Intersectionality (T)

The idea that people belong to many social groups at once, such as Black and woman or man and gay.

Classism (T)

Prejudice due to a person's position in the social hierarchy as indicated by wealth, degree of power, and/or membership in particular educational, income, or status groups.

Typology of Prejudice

A model of prejudice where Merton identified four types of categorizations of people based on their prejudice and discrimination.

Merton's Typology of Prejudice creation year

1946

Four Categorizations of People - Merton 1946

the Active Bigot, the Reluctant Liberal, the All-Weather Liberal, and the 90%.

Active Bigot

Someone who is both prejudiced and practices discrimination.

Reluctant Liberal

Someone who is not prejudiced but does practice or allow discrimination.

All Weather Liberal

Someone who is not prejudiced and does not practice discrimination.

90%

Someone who is prejudiced but does not practice discrimination.

Duckitt (1992 - 1994)

Historical Trends in the Study of Prejudice. Duckitt examined 7 time periods in the history of Prejudice and categorized them.

What years was Historical Trends in the study of Prejudice created?

1992-1994

Social and Historical context prior to the 1920s

White domination and colonial rule of 'backward peoples'.

Social and Historical context in the 1920s-1930s

The legitimacy of White domination was challenged.

Social and Historical context in the 1930s-1940s

The ubiquity of White Racism in the United States.

Social and Historical context in the 1950s

Nazi racist ideology and the holocaust.

Social and Historical context in the 1960s

The problem of prejudice in the American South, including the black civil rights movement.

Social and Historical context in the 1970s

The persistence of U.S. racism and Discrimination.

Social and Historical context in the 1980s

The inevitably and universality of prejudice and intergroup conflict.

Social scientific question prior to the 1920s

Identifying the deficiencies of 'backward peoples'

Social scientific question from the 1920s-1930s

Explaining stigmatization of minority groups; measurement of attitudes and stereotype content

Social scientific question from the 1930s-1940s

Identifying universal processes underlying prejudice

Social scientific question from the 1950s

Identifying the prejudice prone personality

Social scientific question from the 1960s

How social norms and influences determine prejudice

Social scientific question from the 1970s

How prejudice is rooted in social structure and intergroup relations

Social scientific question from the 1980s

What universal psychological processes underlie intergroup conflict and prejudice

Image of prejudice prior to the 1920s

A natural response to 'inferior peoples'

Image of prejudice from the 1920s-1930s

Prejudice as irrational and unjustified

Image of prejudice from the 1930s-1940s

Prejudice as unconscious defense

Image of prejudice from the 1950s

Prejudice as an expression of pathological needs

Image of prejudice from the 1960s

Prejudice as a social norm

Image of prejudice from the 1970s

Prejudice as an expression of group interests and intergroup relations

Image of prejudice from the 1980s

Prejudice as an inevitable outcome of social categorization

Predominant theories/research orientations prior to 1920s

Scientific Racism

Predominant theories/research orientations from the 1920s-1930s

Psychodynamic (conceptualizing prejudice as a social problem)

Predominant theories/research orientations from the 1930s-1940s

Psychodynamic (defense mechanisms)

Predominant theories/research orientations from the 1950s

Psychodynamic (individual differences)

Predominant theories/research orientations from the 1960s

Sociocultural

Predominant theories/research orientations from the 1970s

Intergroup Relations

Predominant theories/research orientations from the 1980s

Cognitive and Evolutionary

Notable study by Bogardus in 1926

The Social Distance Scale

Creation year of the Social Distance Scale

1926

Social Distance Scale

The first measure ever developed to see white people's prejudice against different minority groups

Functionality of the Social Distance Scale

Functioned as a 6-item questionnaire that got harder for prejudiced people as they went up the level because it tested what social situations they'd be willing to accept outgroup members in

Results of the Social Distance Scale

Groups that looked most like White People scored highest, and the groups that looked least white-looking scored lowest

Self-Report Measures

Asking people about their attitudes, opinions, and behaviors and then recording what they say

Old Fashioned Racism

Blatant in-your-face racism that is based on biological inferiority and negative stereotypes with exclusion and discrimination being prominent.

Modern Racism

Based on beliefs such as work ethic and the idea that anyone can succeed; those who aren't successful are morally inferior and are at fault.

How is Modern Racism connected to Race?

Indirectly connected to race through socioeconomic, social, and political factors.

Reactivity (L)

The tendency to have a psychological and physiological response in reaction to real or perceived prejudice, affecting both those who experience prejudice and those who think in a prejudiced way.

Bogus Pipeline (T)

When a person shows more truthful prejudice when they believe that their lying can be checked; because lie detection cannot be checked by the machine, it is called bogus.

White Ambivalence (L)

A form of prejudice in which white people have a mixture of positive and negative beliefs about and feelings toward an outgroup, resulting in ambivalent attitudes toward members of that group.

Ambivalence-Amplification (L)

In the right situation, confliction leads to an amplification in people's positive or negative reaction which results in more extreme behavior.

Individualism (T)

A value system based on a strong emphasis on self-reliance and independence from others.

Explicit Prejudice

Intergroup attitudes and stereotypes that people intentionally retrieve from memory and so are willing to personally endorse and which lead to deliberate, intentional behavior.

Implicit Prejudice

Intergroup stereotypes and attitudes that are automatically activated when a person encounters an outgroup member.

Modern-Symbolic Prejudice

A form of prejudice that avoids blatant derogation of outgroups; it is rooted in abstractions, such as cultural stereotypes of outgroups and cultural values, rather than in people's direct experiences with members of those groups, as well as the idea that outgroups unfairly get more and unfairly deprive ingroups of resources.

Paradox of Egalitarianism (T)

A paradox of modern-symbolic prejudice rooted in the belief that all people are equal and should be treated identically, but opposing policies such as affirmative action that could bring it about.

Egalitarianism

The belief that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.

Subtle Prejudice

Indirect and often unconscious prejudice that manifests itself through behaviors such as microaggressions, stereotyping, and uncomfortable feelings.

Microaggressions

A subtle and indirect form of prejudice such that most people in the majority group wouldn't notice it, but minority groups who experience it notice.

Equality of Opportunity (T)

The principle that everyone should have an equal, fair chance at success in life and that one function of government is ensuring such equality.

Equality of Outcome (T)

The belief that government should ensure that everyone, regardless of their personal resources, should receive an equal, or at least a reasonable, share of society's resources.

Aversive Prejudice

A form of prejudice in which people feel uncomfortable interacting with members of minority groups and so try to ignore their existence and avoid contact with them, although they try to be polite and correct when they do have contact with members of minority groups.

Psychological Conflict (T)

When people's ambivalent, or inconsistent, feelings about minority groups are made aware to them, thus conflicting with the person's self-image.

Hostile Prejudice (T)

A traditional form of prejudice that is expressed in terms of negative beliefs about and emotional responses to targets of prejudice.

Benevolent Prejudice (T)

A form of prejudice that is expressed in terms of apparently positive beliefs and emotional responses to targets of prejudice.

Adjective Checklist (L)

A psychological tool used to assess attitudes and stereotypes toward a specific social group by having respondents check off adjectives from a list.