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Prejudice

Prejudice. What is prejudice? Why are people prejudiced? Individual view Intergroup view Can prejudice be reduced?. psychlotron.org.uk. Prejudice. “An attitude (usually negative) toward the members of some group, based purely on their membership in that group” (Baron & Byrne, 1991).

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Prejudice

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  1. Prejudice • What is prejudice? • Why are people prejudiced? • Individual view • Intergroup view • Can prejudice be reduced? psychlotron.org.uk

  2. Prejudice “An attitude (usually negative) toward the members of some group, based purely on their membership in that group” (Baron & Byrne, 1991) psychlotron.org.uk

  3. Prejudice • A type of attitude: • Cognitive component - thinking • Affective component - feeling • Behavioural component - doing • Related terms: • Stereotype • Discrimination psychlotron.org.uk

  4. Individual Theories • Suggest that prejudice is due to the psychological make-up of the individual • Authoritarian personality • Frustration-aggression (scapegoating) • Norm theory psychlotron.org.uk

  5. Authoritarian Personality • Adorno et al (1950) • Suggestion that people who are prejudiced have a particular personality type: • Hostile to inferiors • Servile to superiors • Rigid & inflexible • Conventional in outlook • Intolerant of ambiguity psychlotron.org.uk

  6. Authoritarian Personality Harsh & Punitive upbringing Little affection from parents Outward respect towards authority High opinion of parents Repressed hostility and anger Needs an outlet somewhere Anger displaced onto ‘inferior’ groups… Prejudice psychlotron.org.uk

  7. Authoritarian Personality • Some evidence that shows correlation between authoritarianism & e.g. anti-Semitism • Many methodological problems • Doesn’t explain uniformity of prejudices across society e.g. • Nazi Germany – anti-Semitism • US in WWII – anti-Japanese • South Africa during apartheid psychlotron.org.uk

  8. Other Individual Theories • Scapegoating • Displacement of aggression onto ‘outgroups’ during times of hardship • Social norms • We acquire prejudices through social learning in the same way as other attitudes psychlotron.org.uk

  9. Realistic Conflict Theory • Idea that prejudice arises when social groups compete for scarce resources • Prejudice leads to hostility which is a strategy for denying resources to the outgroup whilst securing them for the ingroup psychlotron.org.uk

  10. Realistic Conflict Theory • The Robber’s Cave study (Sherif et al, 1961) • Creating prejudice between two groups of boys at a US summer camp Group isolation Prejudice against out-group In-group favouritism Competition psychlotron.org.uk

  11. Social Identity Theory • Based on idea that competition between groups is not necessary for prejudice; simply having different social groups is enough • Our sense of self is bound up in the groups we belong to – feel better about ourselves by making favourable comparisons with other groups psychlotron.org.uk

  12. Social Identity Theory • Jane Eliot’s ‘Blue Eyes – Brown Eyes’ experiment • Tajfel & colleagues (1970s) – the minimal groups experiments psychlotron.org.uk

  13. Reducing Prejudice • Equal-status contact with outgroups • Pursuit of common goals • Education psychlotron.org.uk

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