A Critical Discussion of the Psychological Explanations of Prejudice
Gordon Allport described prejudice as “aversive or hostile attitude
toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he belongs to
that group, and is therefore presumed to have the objectionable
qualities ascribed to that group”. Prejudice is assuming things about
a person putting them into a group. The aim of this essay is discuss
the attempts to reduce prejudice and explain how successful they have
been. In this essay, it is prejudice in the form of racism and
prejudice against homosexuals that I will use
It is important that we know what discrimination means. Discrimination
is very similar to prejudice, rather than just being a thought or
opinion on something, discrimination is the thoughts from being
prejudice influencing a person’s behaviour in a negative way.
There are many explanations of prejudice given by psychologists and I
will write about these in my essay. One psychological theory by
Stephan and Stephen called Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice
describes how fear can cause prejudice. This fear has a few sources,
one being that a person has the belief that the other person will do
them harm, another is the other persons attitude will challenge their
own and the belief that any contact with the other person will cause
embarrassment, rejection or ridicule (2000 Clayton Tucker-Ladd).
Another theory by psychologists to explain prejudice is that we learn
prejudiced attitudes. An example of this is it can pay to be
prejudiced, such as the boss who pays his female worker 20% less than
males. Another example in which people learn prejudiced ...
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... from each other’s differences.
Prejudices will always be around; if people took an interest in each
other then this would decrease. It is important that studies on the
subject continue to help our future society.
Bibliography
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Eddie Baker
(2004) Internet,
http://www.stonewall.org.uk/stonewall/?CFID=251547&CFTOKEN=82061104
(2004) Internet,
http://www.c21project.org.uk/citizenship_21/?CFID=251547&CFTOKEN=82061104
Gleitman, (1981) Psychology, Fourth Edition published by Norton pp565
Internet, http://www.beyondprejudice.com Jim Cole
(2000) Internet,
http://www.biography.com/search/article.jsp?aid=9340144&page=8&search
Biography Resource Centre, Gale Group
(2000) Internet, http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/ Clayton Tucker-Ladd
Prejudice is an issue that cannot be easily avoided in today's society. It has and always will have a huge impact on the discrimination that some people face based on religion, appearance, background, mental/physical disabilities and etc.
“The psychological approach to prejudice is to examine individual behavior.” (pg. 505) the author reveals the argument he is trying to make through the article by using the psychology of prejudices to research individual behavior and then explains how to reach this conclusion. “We can understand more about prejudice among individuals by focusing on four areas of study…” (pg. 505) the author organizes the article in this fashion to first reveal the point the author wants to express to the reader then illustrate step by step how he will persuade the reader into believing the author. Throughout the article the author separates his argument into four sections the levels of prejudice, self-justification, personality, and frustration. Each category helps the author dive the reader in depth of how the psychology of prejudices works. The author then continues onto his article of describing and defining each area of study “cognitive level of prejudice encompasses a person’s beliefs and of a group as threatening or non-threatening etc., emotional level of prejudice encompasses the feeling that a minority group arouses in an individual…action-orientation level of prejudice is the positive or negative predisposition to engage in discriminatory behavior.” (pg.
Prejudice: is an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group, for example a person may hold prejudiced views towards a certain race or gender. A prejudiced person may not act on their attitude. So that means someone can be prejudice towards a certain group but not discrimate against them, an example of this was in the scene when the couple was walking down the street and as the two black man walked towards them she clinched her purse and held her husband even tighter. She judged them without even knowing what their intentions were. The interesting part was she was right and they need up carjacking them
Predjudice and Discrimination as a Part of Our Cognitive Social Being Prejudice and Discrimination are an all to common part of our cognitive social being, but many social psychologists believe that it can be stopped, but only with the help of social conditioning. In this writing I hope to explain and point out some key terms and points made in my assigned chapter. Prejudice refers to a special type of attitude, usually something negative toward any group or ethnicity that is not of one's own social class. Attitude plays a very important role in ones cognitive framework, in that it forces our minds to process information on certain social groups differently making a cognitive earmark for that individual group (stereotypes).
Prejudices shape our perceptions of various people and influence our attitudes and actions toward particular groups and prejudicial attitudes that are negative often lead to hostile relations between domi...
Racial Prejudice What is a prejudice against? a set of learned beliefs and values that lead a person to be biased against other members of other groups. prejudices are convenient(bequeath,brauchbar,passend) and inaccurate. People are not seen as individuals, biased people label other people as special groups.
Two Ways to Reduce Prejudice Two ways in which prejudice can be reduced are Equal status contact and the pursuit of common goals. Deutsch and Collins (1951) carried out an early study of equal status contact. They compared two kinds of housing projects, one of which was thoroughly integrated with blacks and whites who were assigned houses regardless of their race, and the other was segregated. The residents of both housing projects were intensively interviewed and it was found that both casual and neighbourly contact were greater in the integrated housing with less prejudice among whites towards blacks.
Family, friends, work environment or media can be a factor in promoting prejudice against others. A certain individual can learn discrimination, plus prejudice, in the factors I illustrated. In the ...
Darcy jumped awake at the sound of pounding on the door. With slow, deliberate care, he ejected himself away from Amanda so not to wake her, and slipped out from under the covers, catching the time on the nightstand as he moved. Who would disturb them at half past four in the morning? It must be Wickham.
Everyone has some prejudices or biases that guide how they treat others throughout the day. Sometimes, those prejudices are so intense that others are harmed or treated badly in the workplace where everyone should be treated with respect. Common prejudices are based on race, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds. This paper will look at when a party is treated differently because of ethnicity even if they are of the same race as the person prejudicial to them.
In 1954, social psychologist Gordon Allport published a book regarded as the point of divergence for modern researchers into the nature of prejudice, and it highlighted methods for mitigating prejudice in the society. Allport delineates the inclusive origins of intergroup discrimination and also series of recommendations to eliminate prejudice. Undoubtedly, for the past fifty years, Allport theories have made the most practical attempt to promote intergroup relationship. Allport defined prejudice as a social aversion based on a faulty and obstinate generalization of an individual or a group of people grounded on their social category or group membership (Allport, 1954). According to Allport (1954), prejudice and stereotyping emerged partly due to normal human thinking
Prejudice is another obstacle that clients are faced with because of an assumption made about them. Being prejudice can negatively impact emotional well-being and one's sense of self. Actions of others may stop a client from getting the help or assistance they may need because of the fear of being judged. Prejudice often stems from stereotypes about groups of people. “Fear, uncertainty, stubbornness, denial, lack of confidence or a lack of hope, or even the inability to envision the future can be significant obstacles to change” (Summers, 2014, p. 240).
Chin, Jean Lau, ed. The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination. Rev. ed. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print.
Psychologists have created four main hypotheses which can be used to solve this problem. The first hypothesis, the self-esteem hypothesis, it is said that if people have an appropriate education and higher self-esteem, their prejudices will go away. The second hypothesis is the contact hypothesis, which states that the best solution to prejudice is to bring together members of different groups so they can learn to appreciate their common experiences and backgrounds. The third hypothesis, the cooperation hypothesis, depicts that conflicting groups need to cooperate by laying aside their individual interests and learning to work together for common goals. Lastly the fourth hypothesis, the legal hypothesis, is that prejudice can be reduced by enforcing laws against discriminative behaviour.
Four main things that play into prejudice are the different levels of prejudice, self-justification, personality, and one’s frustration. There are different severities to each prejudice; some take it more seriously than others. Maybe it is a form of feeling good for some, feeling better than those around you. Having a prejudice is not the best way to go about handling a tough situation, but many have them. Personal experiences, jealousy, and hatred are just a few of the attributes that lye behind prejudices. Some may have been learned, and some may be just out of pure ignorance. No one was born to have negative feelings towards a group of “different” individuals. Yes, we are human and no one is perfect, but if prejudice were an innate behavior, all people of the same kind would feel the same way towards the other “excommunicated” individuals. Different people have been raised with different belief systems and cultural practices. If one was raised their whole life being told that people of this specific group were bad, they would obviously have the same feelings towards them. Whether it is back in the 1800s or now, people still have prejudices against those of other sexes, race and ethnicity, and religions. All in all, many prejudices stem from others’ pride, stubbornness, fear, hatred, or maybe even their own