The Causes of Prejudice by Vincent N. Parrillo

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Prejudice is known for negative beliefs and actions upon individuals or even groups of people. In the article, “Causes of Prejudice” by Vincent N. Parrillo, Parrillo talks about both the psychological and sociological causes of prejudice but in this particular essay we will just be focusing on the former side of the equation. It happens at the cognitive level of prejudice where a person or a group of people believe in something that is not true. For example, some people say Asian people are not good drivers. This type of prejudice can cause deep frustration in Asian people who drive. Today we will be analyzing the psychological aspects of action-orientated prejudice as well as displaced aggression. Understanding the two articles The Help and Chyna and Me, will provide us with a broad understanding on what role racism plays in prejudice as well.
Many students today tend to experience displaced aggression in their lives because during their childhood, their parents would would always give them orders in an authoritative manor that would cause the children to be somewhat intimidated or scared. Vincent N. Parrillo states in his article “Causes of Prejudice”, “Childhood experiences of harsh parental discipline and their development of an authoritarian personality as adults”(pg.508). Parrillo explains that parents who discipline their children in an aggressive manor tend to cause their kids to become more rebellious when they grow up because they no longer have anyone holding them back from doing bad things. Some ethnicities believe that all Asians are smart. This represents the action-orientation level of prejudice that gives a positive judgement on Asians but yet is not a valid information because it could just m...

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... along with one another, show hate. The person experiencing the prejudice may feel threatened by the person offending them in some way, and will just try to avoid them at all costs. Prejudice has existed for many generations and still exists today. Some people just think they are better than other people so they try to denigrate them so that they could feel superior. Overall prejudice is something that is mostly negative because it brings lots of emotions that may contain frustration to the human body. Lots of stereotypes are formed I through the prejudice situations like saying that some ethnicities are smarter than other or judging the person by the skin color. Much discrimination was formed through prejudice where a certain race would take control because they feel power upon other race. It is time to put an end to this gruesome enemy called, prejudice.

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