Running head: PARTIAL RESEARCH REPORT ABOUT PREJUDICE 1

Partial Research Report about Prejudice

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Abstract
Prejudice is considered to be an inappropriate attitude towards a distinct individual

based exclusively on their membership of an individual of a societal group that is often

considered to be associated with a negative aspect. In other words, an individual might

prejudice his or her views regarding a particular gender or race. A prejudiced individual

might avoid acting on their attitude. Prejudice is largely influenced by social norms that are

regarded appropriate for social groups. The individuals who are provided with the

opportunity to affirm are mostly less prejudiced. The following research report aims to focus

on ageism, its theory in order to have proper and better knowledge or understanding.

Additionally, the paper also concentrates more on the contact theory and thereby focuses on

the previous researches about ageism and contact theory. It also emphasizes the methodology

part and what type of materials and procedures have been used.
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Introduction

Psychology refers to the knowledge of behavior and mind comprising sensible and

insensible phenomena as well as thought and emotion. In addition, the psychologists discover

behavior and mental procedures containing cognition, intelligence, perception (Heider, 2013).

The term prejudice is a form of human behavior which needs to be considered by

psychologists (Lucas, 2009). Ageism is undesirable behavior which arises as an outcome of

the certainty that older individuals are of less importance than younger people. In addition,

ageism is very common phraseology and age studies generally refers to undesirable

discriminatory practices in contradiction of old persons, individual in their middle years,

children and teenagers. Moreover, the term ageism is also known as age discrimination

actually refers to when somebody treats an individual dishonestly because of the age. It can

also thereby involve the way that older persons are characterized in the media that in turn can

have a broader influence on the attitude of the public. The term ageism can also have a

positive viewpoint like when the attributes of age are being estimated

advantageous.According to Simpson &Yinger (2013), ageism can be purposeful, meaning a

thoughtful procedure of thought and accomplishment to stereotype constructed on age.

Ageism is very important because it is common for the world for dividing themselves into

numerous age groups for the objective of assigning rights and accountabilities. As opined by

Pettigrew (2008), the contact theory or the contact situation comprises of informal, personal

communication with outgroup associates. In addition, quality contact more than quantity

contact was related with rises in outgroup helping goals.

Literature Review

The contact theory is highly prevalent in the fields of sociology, criminology and

Psychology. This theory lays emphasis upon mediating the disputes that arise between
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diverse relations and squads. According to Pettigrew, Tropp, Wagner & Christ (2011), the

theory improves the strained relationships and efficiently decreases the detriment among the

diverse squads and teams. This theory emphasizes upon keeping contact with each other. This

means the communication between people should continue. In this way, all the conflicts,

disputes and misunderstandings can be resolved easily without much effort. Challenges like

differentiation and detriments often take place between competitors. According to Joyce

(2017), however, the contact theory cannot provide with the desired consequences when there

is a situation of perturbation subsists. This takes place when there has been the persistence of

conflicts over a long period of time. For resolving such a situation, the disputes need to

resolved over a long period of time. Such a situation usually prevails over trade and business.

Often, physical brutality and differentiation between each other arise due to the heated up

situations. These situations have to be dealt with very patiently, and the solution can be

brought about with the tenets of the contact theory. Gordon Allport’s conjecture has

commonly evolved to be the contact theory. The incidence of the contact theory mechanism

aim towards the amelioration of mutual relationships. It possesses the effect of hiding the fact

that the contact mechanism is primarily a detriment but not a theory which deals solely with

intergroup relationships.

Ageism is commonly known as the differentiation in age. It refers to a situation when an

individual is treated differently without justification. Such differentiation without justification

is mainly because of age. As opined by Palmore, Branch & Harris (2016), Ageism has a great

effect upon the society, it is the natural law that all people are increasing their age everyday

on earth. This means everybody is ageing day by day and it is a continuous process. Ageism

mostly hits the employment opportunities, faith, the monetary status and the standard of

living for the old. It is essential that ageism is treated well and nobody misses an opportunity

on account of age. On the contrary, North & Fiske (2012) has stated that Ageism cannot be
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seen as an ill effect in every field. It is often treated as a necessity because, with age people

tend to become weaker physically. They cannot give the same level of effort like they could

when they were younger. The incidences of ageism include retirement from employment and

not getting recruited everywhere, declining of interest free credit, insurances of almost all

sorts. Sometimes the attitude and behavior towards the older generations is different than

towards the others. There is also declining of the special sources to work for them or the

participation in clubs. Basically, the older people lose their importance and receive negligent

attitude from the people.

It is need of the society, that ageism should be done away with. Ageism has become one of

the greatest villains of the society which create demarcation between the old and the younger

ones. As opined by Vantilborgh (2013), sociologically, every individual should possess equal

rights in the society. Equal status, equal opportunity with regard to the capability is the urgent

requirement of the society. The contact theory can contribute in the aiding of the aged.

Interactions between the young and the old, between the different generations can resolve the

difficulties faced by the aged. The contact theory opens up the scope of communication

between the aged and the young. This would be highly effective in solving the issues and the

problems faced by these people in the society. Ageism can be decreased to a great deal and

can be highly mitigated with the help of the mechanisms given by the contact theory. The

basic problems are examined from the roots and can be dealt with in the most efficient

manner. The contact theory thus, has to be used in the most efficient manner to curb the

problems relating to ageism. Replacing discomfort with comfort is the ultimate objective of

the contact theory. It has a positive impact upon the people of the society and brings the

peace of mind back in case of disputes. This is one of the ultimate methods of redressing the

issues in the society.

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Rationale/Aim

Research Aim

The main aim of this research is to find out how the quantity or the quality of the

intergroup contacts is impacted by the out-group positive attitude.

Research Objective

The research objective here is to see the exact correlation between people’s attitude

towards other people and their prejudice. The younger person having a prejudice regarding

the older people is the focus area of this research.

Research Question

The primary research question is how the out-group attitude, i.e., the attitude of the

young towards the old people is related to intergroup contact or interaction among the two

groups. On the other hand, there are some secondary questions as well which include the

correlation of contact quantity and out-group attitude and the correlation of contact quality

and out-group attitude.

Hypothesis

H0: Contact quality and contact quantity have negative impact on the elderly age group

people.

H1: Contact quality and contact quantity have positive impact on the elderly age group

people.
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Methodology

Participants

The participants of this research are 100 participants from a relevant group such as

young people who are studying in schools, colleges and youngsters working in different

workplace environments. Among the 100 participants, there are 55 men, 40 women and 5 did

not identified their gender. The participants are the main center of focus in order to carry out

the partial research smoothly and effectively. Among the 100 participants, there are few who

has already experienced discrimination and prejudice in their life and thereby has affected

their lifestyle.

Materials

The materials that are required in this research are sets of questionnaires, interview

experts and presentation of various videos to the several participants and taking their opinions

from them regarding the same. It is necessary for the researcher to keep all the essential

materials in a precise and appropriate manner for carrying out the activities effortlessly and

effectively without any hassle. Materials like questionnaire sets should be arranged in an

ordered manner so that the participants do not experience any type of difficulty while giving

their opinions. The researcher has also used contact measures as well by questioning the

participants and has tried to gather information more about the contact frequency. Contact

measures has been developed for explaining the positive impact of contact involving creating

group saliency low so that individual people concentrate on individual features and rather not

group level qualities.

Procedure

The procedure which needs to be followed for carrying out the research such as

distributing the sets of questionnaires to all the 100 participants at first and know their

opinions and thoughts on prejudice and discrimination. Then the researcher should conduct
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interview session for all the participants who already appeared for the tests. In regard, the

interview session will help the researcher to know about each participant personally and have

knowledge about his or her opinion on prejudice. Furthermore, the researcher should conduct

the presentation of several videos on prejudice and know their deep opinions and would ask

them to share as well.

Questionnaire:

 Is ageism a really big issue in an individual’s life?

a) Yes b) No

 Is the influence of ageism on health of the individuals is really big?

A) Yes b) No

 Does really age matters in relationships?

a) Yes b) no

 Does the Equality Act does encouraged anti-discriminatory practice?

A) Yes b) No
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References

Heider, F. (2013). The psychology of interpersonal relations. London: Psychology Press.

Joyce, N. (2017). Intergroup contact theory. The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural

Communication, 1-8.

Lucas, S. (2009). Theorizing discrimination in an era of contested prejudice: Discrimination

in the United States. London: Temple University Press.

North, M. S., & Fiske, S. T. (2012). An inconvenienced youth? Ageism and its potential

intergenerational roots. Psychological bulletin, 138(5), 982.

Palmore, E. B., Branch, L., & Harris, D. (2016). Encyclopedia of ageism. Routledge.

Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in

intergroup contact theory. International journal of intercultural relations, 35(3), 271-280.

Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in

intergroup contact theory. International journal of intercultural relations, 35(3), 271-280.

Vantilborgh, T., Bidee, J., Pepermans, R., Willems, J., Huybrechts, G., & Jegers, M. (2013).

From “getting” to “giving”: Exploring age-related differences in perceptions of and reactions

to psychological contract balance. European Journal of Work and Organizational

Psychology, 22(3), 293-305.