Nazareth School of National University

College of Education, Arts, and Sciences

Psychological Statistics

“Exploring the Grounds of Psychological Impact of Different Factors that Leads to

Discrimination to Young Adults”

Bachelor of Science in Psychology

PSY211

Group II

Arancillo, Rose Ann Dela Cruz

Bautista, Juliana Maye Chua

De Lara, Tricia Ellaine Rosaldo

Mañabo, Ivan Jodi Quintana

Toribio, Aubrey Africa

 Introduction

Background of the Study

Discrimination has been a part of almost everybody’s everyday lives. In today’s 21st
century, a lot of alarming cases of racism and discrimination has been engulfing in the whole
world. In recent events like the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ+ protests, up to the Stop
Asian Hate movement, we can see how people got united because they were aware of how
discrimination and racism harmed its victims and how it abused their human rights. At some point
in life, all individuals have experienced being a victim of discrimination. Whether it is because of
their skin color, gender identity, belief, ethnicity, and traditions, people often discriminate others
if there’s a chance. People generally discriminate against other people because they have taken
their convictions from stereotypes at a level that makes them think that others are not the same as
them (Writer, 2021). There are several reasons why people discriminate others. Individuals often
do this for their own satisfactory, sometimes because of peer pressure, some discriminate their
victims because they want to prove something, and mostly others do this purely for fun and
enjoyment. They sometimes fear what differentiates them from others, it could also be because of
their bad experiences from the past that triggers them to discriminate others as a form of revenge.
Whatever the reason may be, it is generally not a good reason. Discrimination leads to hate and
hate is not good thing to feel (Rushton, 2019).

Vivian Jarrett, B Psych (Hons), stated that a young child between 0 month around 9 months can
already identify familiar faces and of strangers. It is easy to see that the ability to identify the
gender, sex, age, occupation rollers, and culture is very important because there are many complex
social rules around the treatment of others. The ability to discriminate socially is an important
learning phase in the development of a child. To be able to categorize, it is to associate, security,
and development of relationships with others who share their faith and their world (Jarrett, 2021).
Nevertheless, discrimination to others has never been the greatest idea to execute just for someone
to be socially aware of his/her environment. There are a lot of ways to socialize with others while
maintaining your respect to them especially if you don’t have the slightest idea of who the person
is and what they have experienced in life. It is human’s most absolute right to be given equal
treatment and opportunity regardless of being different from others no matter who they are and
where they came from. According to National Youth Council of Ireland (2019), equality is not
always about treating everyone the same – it is about treating people in such a way that the outcome
for each person can be the same.

As this paper goes by, the researchers look forward in giving deeper knowledge about what
discrimination is, what is the reason of its persistence, the ideas, reasons, and understanding on
why people discriminate others, and discuss the different factors that result to discrimination and
how it creates a psychological impact on young adults’ behavior in life.

Statement of the Problem

This study mainly aims to explore and explain the grounds of Psychological Impact of
Different Factors that Leads to Discrimination to Young Adults. In accordance with this, the paper
aims to examine several basis that influences people to discriminate others which causes the
Psychological Impact of Discrimination. Specifically, the researchers will ask:

1. What is Discrimination and how is it relevant in the 21st century?

2. What are the different factors that causes discrimination and how does it affect a person
psychologically?

3. What are the possible reasons for discrimination to persist and how important it is to remove the
stigma and raise awareness to be able to stop its persistence?
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
Discrimination is a phenomenon that is difficult to explain and difficult to answer as to
how it originates but it can be embedded in the concept of Man versus Society. We often hear this
kind of concepts in movies and stories where it is a conflict between a person and the community
he or she belongs to. That occurs because an individual is not acting properly and acceptably or is
having an opposite view in the set of rules or expectations held by a larger group of people. In this
knowledge, inequality and the factors that may have caused discrimination can be seen. A person
who has a different belief in many things who takes an action that is not good in a situation will
be judged and rejected by those around him. He/she is being ousted because his actions are not in
accordance with the rules of society and it’s natural but on the other hand, a person who has an
unusual principle in the concepts of racism, religion, environmental issues, and much more is often
not heard and accepted by the majority which causes him to affect his behavior towards others,
and here comes the concept of discrimination where it happens not because that’s how a person
really is and it is caused by the situations he or she is involved in.

In accordance with Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, a person tends to get

confused on what is right or wrong in which he calls the ID personality. As a result, the current
study was related in a way that the researchers who conducted the paper considered the outcome
of discrimination internally with its psychological and behavioral impacts as well as externally
with its social factors namely racism, human rights, and inequality which relates to the discussion
of how a person’s mind reacts to what is right or wrong. However, all the impacts mentioned can
be prevented if the ego works against two other structures of human personality, which Freud call
the reality principle because it works in a realistic way and seeks an appropriate and acceptable
result of action. The Superego personality can also be incorporated with the social factors
mentioned since the researchers would be analyzing the person’s moral mind and how clarity of
thoughts will be guaranteed to them once they will be able to acquire proper knowledge on what
or how these factors affect a person’s life and behavior.
 The concept map shows the different impacts of Discrimination that varies internally from
Psychological Impacts to Behavioral Implications, and externally from its Social Implications.

This research can be explained by Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory. In his hypothesis, he
said that human attitude and behavior came from childhood experiences and in what kind of society
a child was shaped as a human being. According to Freud, the structure of our personality is
divided into three namely: ID, ego, and superego. ID is the pleasure principle of our personality
and because it is entirely unconscious, it is not aware of the concept of what is right or wrong.
With that, the concept of discriminatory behaviors will enter because if a person does not have a
sense of discipline in his usual environment, he will think that his actions will not cause pain to
others so that instead of thinking about the possible consequences, it becomes a source of his
satisfaction. While the Ego is the realistic principle of our being that ensures that we will have a
good outcome in fulfilling our wants and desires because it is done with enough reason and the
action is done realistically and acceptably. Here is where a person becomes aware of the decisions
and choices they make. Lastly, the superego is the part of the personality that includes the standards
and morals that every individual concluded from parents, authority figures, and society. This is
where the concept of having sufficient clarity of thought comes into play because there are guides
and moral standards that are embedded in this part of our being. Because of this, a person can see
and know what can be caused by their actions and in line with this, they will think that
discrimination has no good effect on both.

The research paradigm presents the concept that needs to be changed and the factors connected to
how it can be given a good outcome.

Research Gap

• Racial Inequality

A study shows the persistent racial inequality in employment, housing, and a wide range of other
social domains has renewed interest in the possible role of discrimination. But they never took
account that people might also suffer from mental pain due to them not being accepted for the
reason that their race, beliefs, and lifestyle is different.

• Effects of Age Discrimination

The authors investigated the effects of perceived age discrimination on well-being and group
identification. According to the rejection-identification model, perceived discrimination harms
psychological well-being in low status groups, but group identification mitigates this effect to
some extent. The authors hypothesized that this process model would be confirmed among older
adults because their membership in the low status group is permanent, but not among young adults
because their low status is temporary.

• Racism due to Skin Color

What was written on the article was about racism due to skin color. People who have fair skin were
belittling those with dark skin. Most of the time they make insensitive jokes just to satisfy
themselves on seeing other people making fun with darker skin tone. They do not know if they
cause stress or depression to whom they are bullying, maybe the person has insecurities which
they are trying to cope with and then by hearing discrimination it may turn as discouragement on
their self-confidence.

• Contrast Detection and Discrimination

The purpose of the article is to see if there are any age differences in contrast detection thresholds
that extend to suprathreshold contrast discrimination. As in young adults, contrast discrimination
in the elderly is independent of mean display luminance. In both young and old adults, normalized
contrast discrimination functions have the same shape and show no change.

Possible Hypothesis

Philippines can be one of the most country that has a lot of issues whether in gender, race,
skin color and even how women clothe themselves. It is truly being normalized especially
nowadays, people who are in lower class are being neglected by people who have power. With the
variables present in this research that connects to the grounds of psychological impact of different
factors that leads to discrimination to young adults, it is most likely natural that people will judge
others based on the different factors they see in them. However, if people were to have knowledge
about how equality works and break the barriers that surrounds each one of them, they might be
able to understand how discrimination affects a person’s lives negatively and by breaking the
stigma in discrimination, people can maintain everyone's peace of mind. To care for other lives
does not make someone's day exciting instead, it gives other people mental health problem. "It is
not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those
differences."-Audre Lorde.

Possible Assumptions
 In this part of the study, researchers want young adults to be aware of what discrimination
can do to other people and how can it affect one's personality and self-esteem. Discrimination has
created a big impact on people's life, it can affect how a person will think of their self, it may also
have impact on how they will function their everyday living. As stated by Williams (2019)
"Discrimination being positively associated with measures of depression, anxiety symptoms, and
psychological distress, it is also associated with increased risk of defined psychiatric disorders." A
single word can make one's life miserable, even if it was not intentional. Young adults must know
that life is not just about living, to live means to love and understand not only oneself but also
others. In, conclusion, young adults must know and be aware of life that it is not just about living,
to live means to love and understand not only oneself but also others. To respect everyone's
boundary should be taught and understand, teach it to a kid so that they will carry it through their
whole journey, and it may be passed by generations to generations.
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