Prejudice- Psychology

  • Prejudice: Pre-judgement; an unjustifiable, usually negative preconceived attitude towards a group of people

  • Puts people ‘in boxes’

  • Most commonly based on visible difference

    → i.e., sex, age, and race

==COMPONENTS OF PREJUDICE==

  • Stereotypes → put people into boxes, which makes people think that characteristics of some members of a group applies to the entire group
  • Negativity → Dislike and hostility is often part of prejudice- fear of being attacked
  • Tendency to Act Discriminatory → Prejudice is the attitude, discrimination is putting the attitude into action

==RACISM AS A FORM OF PREJUDICE==

  • Racism: Prejudice or discrimination against an individual on the basis of their racial/ethnic group

    → Involved belief that one’s own race (including social norms, values, and behavior) is superior

    → Based on assumed rational differences

  • Since European settlement, Indigenous Australians have been subjected to stereotypes of being lazy, drunk, and dirty as well as discrimination

    → i.e., social exclusion, not being able to vote, difficulty to find housing and employment, etc.

  • 1995 study of over 2000 international uni students showed 73% had experienced discrimination

Survey of Taiwanese students in 1997- mostly verbal discrimination, but 15% had experienced physical attacks

==CAUSES OF PREJUDICE==

==JUST WORLD PHENOMENON==

  • Assumption people get what they deserve
  • When group has more power, money, etc. they tend to consider it to be because of hard work and intelligence, and the other groups are poorer off due to laziness and ignorance
  • Way to mentally justify inequalities

==SOCIAL CATEGORIZATION==

  • Triggers in-group favoritism and out-group rejection

  • 1968 experiment

    → Third grade teacher divided class based on eye color

    → Gave favors to blue eyes students

    → Belittled brown eyed students, saying the blue-eyed were better and smarter

    → Children quickly joined in, and blue-eyed children started acting more superior and (verbally) attacking the brown-eyed students

    → The next day, she reversed the roles

==SOCIAL INFLUENCE==

  • Adjusting/changing one’s attitudes, behaviors, etc. to meet demands of one’s social group

    → Change caused by presence of others/what they do, think, and feel.

  • Attitudes, including prejudice can be learned from family and friends as result of social influence

  • Aboud and Doyle (1996)- study showed racial attitudes of children were based on what they thought their parent’s and friend’s attitudes were- not what they actually were.

    → Believed their parents were prejudiced against something, then they would express that attitude

==HOW TO REDUCE PREJUDICE==

==INTER-GROUP CONTACT==

  • Contact breaks down negativity

  • Most effective w/ intergroup contact over a period of time where they must work towards a common goal

    → Better if they are of equal status, and rely on each other to complete goal

Jigsaw classroom- each student given piece of paper w/ info, has to share info w/ whole group to successfully complete work

→ Found that children in these classrooms like each other more, are less prejudiced and produce better classwork

==COGNITIVE INTERVENTIONS==

  • Strategy to try and change negative attitudes towards others
  • Re-categorization: one strategy, not recognizing groups that you are/are not a part of
  • Individuation: another strategy, seeking info about people as individuals, not stereotypes of the group to which individuals belong

==CULTURAL INFLUENCES OF ATTITUDES==

  • Culture: Behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and traditions that are shared by a group of people and passed down from one generation to the next