Prejudice

What is Prejudice?
➢ A hostile or negative attitude toward people in a
distinguishable group based solely on their membership in
that group
 Cognition
Stereotyping

Emotion (Prejudice and

ingroup favoritism) Discrimination

Affect Behavior
Activity
➢ Group yourselves into three (3)
➢ Get ½ crosswise
➢ Discuss and differentiate stereotyping, prejudice, and
discrimination.
➢What could be the consequences of pre-judging people?
 Three (3) components
The Cognitive Component:
Stereotypes
• A generalization about a group of people in which certain
traits are assigned to virtually all members of the group,
regardless of actual variation among the members
 Three (3) components
The Cognitive Component:
Stereotypes
• Gordon Allport (1954) described stereotyping as “the law
of least effort”
 Three (3) components
The Affective Component:
Emotions (Prejudice and in-group favoritism)
• “defeated intellectually, prejudice lingers emotionally.
(Gordon Allport,1954)
• Explicit or Implicit attitudes
 Three (3) components
The Behavioral Component:
Discrimination
• Unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of
a group solely because of his or her membership in that
group
 Cognition
Stereotyping

Emotion (Prejudice and

ingroup favoritism) Discrimination

Affect Behavior
Choose your apprentice
- You are an entrepreneur
- You need to ‘hire’ an engineer to set up life
on the moon.
- It’s a big, challenging job that will make
history.
- It needs the right apprentice - someone
with resilience, determination, engineering
expertise and great people skills!
Choose your apprentice
Each time I reveal a layer of information about each
apprentice, you need to ‘fire’ one person by removing them
from your line up.

Who will you ‘fire’ and ‘hire’?

 Choose your apprentice
The apprentices…

Fire one now so you have six remaining

Ali Patrick Jamie David Adriana Hannah Delroy

Choose your apprentice
Fire one now so you have five remaining

Ali Abdul Patrick Jamie David Adriana Hannah Delroy

Murphy Small Campb Carboni Mann Bailey
ell
Choose your apprentice
Fire one now so you have four remaining

Ali Abdul Patrick Jamie David Adriana Hannah Delroy

Murphy Small Campbell Carboni Mann Bailey
Choose your apprentice
Fire one now so you have three remaining
Ali Abdul Patrick Jamie David Adriana Hannah Delroy
Murphy Small Campbell Carboni Mann Bailey

Hetero- Gay Lesbian Hetero- Hetero- Hetero- Hetero-

sexual sexual sexual sexual sexual
Choose your apprentice
Fire one now so you have two remaining

Ali Abdul Patrick Jamie David Adriana Hannah Delroy

Murphy Small Campb Carboni Mann Bailey
ell

Physically Physically Physically Physically Physically Pregnant, Physically

fit but and fit and disabled, and physically fit but
wears mentally fit mentally fit mentally fit mentally fit & mentally suffers
glasses fit anxiety
Choose your apprentice
Fire one now so you have one remaining

Ali Abdul Patrick Jamie David Adriana Hannah Delroy

Murphy Small Campbell Carboni Mann Bailey

Ex-Army Entrepren- Firewoman Doctor of Engineer Army Engineer

eur / engineering and project engineering graduate
business manager officer
man
Who was your choice?
1. What choice did you make?
2. Are you pleased with your hired apprentice?
3. Would you have made a different decision if you had the
qualifications information first?
4. What is wrong with judging people with such little
information?
Who was your choice?
5. What do you think influenced your decisions?
6. Do you think people often judge people like this in our
everyday life?
7. What could be the consequences of pre-judging people?
The Effects of Prejudice on the
Victim
W H AT A R E S O M E WAY S T H AT P R E J U D I C E H A R M S I T S TA R G E T S ?
1. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
➢An expectation of one’s own or another person’s behavior
that comes true because of the tendency of the person
holding it to act in ways that bring it about
➢Example: Noah’s teachers don’t think that Noah is very
smart, so they stop paying attention to him or asking him
questions. After a few years, Noah decides there is no
point trying to do well in school because he’s dumb.
2. Stereotype Threat
➢The apprehension experienced by members of a group
that their behavior might confirm a cultural stereotype
Causes of Prejudice
W H AT A R E T H R E E A S P E C T S O F S O C I A L L I F E T H AT C A N C A U S E
PREJUDICE?
 Pressures to Conform:
Normative Rules
Institutional discrimination: Practices that discriminate,
legally or illegally, against a minority group by virtue of its
ethnicity, gender, culture, age, sexual orientation, or other
target of societal or company prejudice

Normative Conformity: The tendency to go along with the

group in order to fulfill the group’s expectations and gain
acceptance
 Social Identity Theory:
Us versus Them
Social Identity
The part of a person’s self-concept that is based on his or
her identification with a nation, religious or political group,
occupation, or other social affiliation
 Social Identity Theory:
Us versus Them
a. Ethnocentrism
The belief that one’s own ethnic group, nation, or religion is
superior to all others

b. In-Group Bias
The tendency to favor members of one’s own group and
give them special preference over people who belong to
other groups; the group can be temporary and trivial as
well as significant
 Social Identity Theory:
Us versus Them
c. Out-Group Homogeneity
The perception that individuals in the out-group are more
similar to each other (homogeneous) than they really are,
as well as more similar than members of the in-group are

d. Blaming the Victim

The tendency to blame individuals (make dispositional
attributions) for their victimization, typically motivated by a
desire to see the world as a fair place
 Realistic Conflict Theory
- The idea that limited resources lead to conflict between
groups and result in increased prejudice and discrimination

Example: Age discrimination

Reducing Prejudice
W H AT A R E T H E C O N D I T I O N S T H AT C A N R E D U C E P R E J U D I C E ?
 The Contact Hypothesis
The contact hypothesis suggests that interpersonal contact
between groups can reduce prejudice.

Example:
In 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed
segregated schools, social psychologists were excited and
optimistic. They believed that desegregating the schools—
increasing the contact between White children and Black
children—would increase the self-esteem of minority
children and herald the beginning of the end of prejudice.
 The Contact Hypothesis
Allport’s Four Conditions
According to Allport, contact between groups is most likely
to reduce prejudice if the following four conditions are met:
1. The members of the two groups have equal status.
2. The members of the two groups have common goals.
3. The members of the two groups work cooperatively.
4. There is institutional support for the contact.
 The Contact Hypothesis
According to Sherif et al. (1961)
1. Both sides must depend on each other to accomplish
their goals.
2. Both sides must pursue a common goal
3. Both sides must have equal status
4. Both sides must get to know each other in a friendly,
informal setting where they can interact on a one-to-one
basis
 The Contact Hypothesis
According to Sherif et al. (1961)
5. Both sides must be exposed to multiple members of the
other group, not just one token.
6. Both sides must know that the social norms of their
group, institution, and community promote and support
equality.
 Cooperation and Interdependence:
The Jigsaw Classroom
Jigsaw Classroom
A classroom setting designed to reduce prejudice and raise
the self-esteem of children by placing them in small,
multiethnic groups and making each child dependent on the
other children in the group to learn the course material
SUMMARY
 What are the three components of
prejudice?
➢The Cognitive Component: Stereotypes
➢The Affective Component: Emotions (Prejudice and in-
group favoritism)
➢The Behavioral Component: Discrimination
 What are some ways that prejudice
harms its targets?
➢The Effects of Prejudice on the Victim
❑ The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
❑ Stereotype Threat: the anxiety that some groups feel
when a stereotype about their group is activated
 What are three aspects of social life
that can cause prejudice?
➢Pressures to Conform: Normative Rules
❑ Institutional Discrimination: reflects society’s norms
❑ Normative Conformity: the desire to be accepted and fit in
➢Social Identity: Us versus Them
❑ Ethnocentrism: the universal human inclination to see our
own groups as superior to all others
❑ In-group bias: Showing preference for people within your
group
❑ Out-group homogeneity: the perception that members of
an outgroup are identical to one another
❑ Blaming the Victim: “belief in just world”
 What are three aspects of social life
that can cause prejudice?
➢ Realistic Conflict Theory: prejudice is the inevitable by-
product of real conflict between groups for limited resources,
whether involving economics, power, or status.
 What are the conditions that can
reduce prejudice?
➢The Contact Hypothesis: the most important way to reduce
prejudice between racial and ethnic groups is through contact,
bringing in-group and out-group members together
➢ According to Allport & Sherif et al. (1961)
 What are the conditions that can
reduce prejudice?
Allport Sherif et al. (1961)
• equal status. • interdependence
• common goals. • a common goal
• work cooperatively • equal status
• institutional support • the opportunity for informal
contact
• the chance to interact with multiple
members of the out-group rather
than one “token”; and
• social norms of equality
Fin.
QUESTIONS? CLARIFICATIONS?