Prejudice Introduction

Vocabulary:

• Prejudice: A preconceived opinion not based in reason or actual experience, bias or partiality. Typically towards a member of a marginalized group. Implicit or explicit, automatic and unconscious. Comes from personal perceptions based on opinions/beliefs/emotions. A positive or negative attitude (with cognitive and behavioral components). Derived from stereotypes

• ABCs of attitude: Affective (how we feel), behavioral (how we act), cognitive (how we think.

• Discrimination: Overt action to treat people differently due to group membership, coming from the behavioral aspect of attitude, action on prejudice

• Ingroup: “Us”, a group that an individual belongs to

• Outgroup: “Them”, a group that an individual doesn’t belong to

• Cognitive approach: A dominant theoretical perspective in research on prejudice and discrimination. It emphasizes that prejudice is a complex blend of cognitive, emotional, and social factors as opposed to being only based on irrational hatred

• Allport: Helped popularize the cognitive approach, wrote “The Nature of Prejudice”. Created the least effort principle and the Scale of Prejudice

• Least effort principle: A shortcut the brain uses to stereotype the world and use less processing power to understand the surrounding environment

• Privilege: An unearned favored state, applies to a group/individual from a certain race, gender, age, social class, sexual orientation etc. Creates disadvantages for other individuals/groups

• Stigma: Defines a person as flawed and in general undesirable, discredits an individual/group in the eyes of others

• Race: Categorization of humans based on shared physical qualities and appearance

• Ethnicity: The cultural expression and identification of people of different geographic regions, including their customs, history, language, and religion, culture based

• Stereotype: Beliefs or expectations we have about people based solely on group membership, ascribed to characteristics tend to be oversimplifications, thinking lacks rational or scientific evidence, these are transmitted culturally and collectively circulated

• Intersectionality: The framework that explores treatment of people based on their various identities such as gender, ethnicity, SES, race, and sexuality. Proposed by Kimberle Crenshaw, different versions produce unique experiences

• Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination: Categorizes different acts of prejudice, increases in severity. Created by Allport

  • Antilocution: Verbal prejudice

  • Avoidance: Complete avoidance or increased social space

  • Discrimination: Action that excludes all members of a social group

  • Physical attack: Acts of violence or semi-violence

  • Extermination: Lynching, massacres, genocide

Prejudice is still relevant, as there are still differences after the end of segregation such as differences in life expectancy, education, poverty, and health. Black men are 21x more likely to be shot by police than white men

Stereotypes → Prejudice → Discrimination