Unit 2: Attitude Handout

Prejudice and Stereotypes

Vocabulary of Prejudice and Stereotypes
1. Anti-Semitism: is a form of religious bigotry. It is prejudice or discrimination against Jews, based on negative ideas about
Jews' religious beliefs and practices and/or on negative group stereotypes.
2. Bias: is an inclination or preference either for or against an individual or group that interferes with impartial judgment.
3. Bigotry: is prejudice and/or discrimination against one or all members of a particular group based on negative perceptions of
their beliefs and practices or on negative group stereotypes.
4. Discrimination (an action): is the behavior that can follow prejudicial thinking. Discrimination is the denial of justice and fair
treatment in many areas, including employment, housing and political rights
5. Heterosexism: is prejudice or discrimination against people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. Homophobia is the fear of
homosexuals, or of people thought to be lesbian, gay or bisexual.
6. Racism: Racism is a prejudice and/or discrimination based on the myth of race. Racists believe that some groups are born
superior to others and, in the name of protecting their race from "contamination," they justify the domination and destruction
of races they consider to be inferior to their own.
7. Scapegoating: Scapegoating is the action of blaming an individual or group for something when, in reality, there is no one
person or group responsible for the problem. It means blaming another person or group for problems in society because of that
person's group identity. Prejudicial thinking and discriminatory acts can lead to scapegoating. Members of the disliked group
are denied employment, housing, political rights, social privileges, or a combination of these. Scapegoating can lead to verbal
and physical violence, including death
8. Sexism: Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on gender.
9. Stereotype (an idea): A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about an entire group of people without regard for
individual differences. Even positive stereotypes, such as Asians are good at math and computers, have a negative impact.

Strategies and Techniques to Tackle Prejudice at Different Places

Note: This topic is important for writing practical steps in case studies section.
No one is born prejudiced! Prejudice is learned and can be unlearned. Prejudices are attitudes rooted in
ignorance and a fear of differences. Whether the seeds are planted around the dinner table, on the playing field
or in the boardroom, they can grow out of control.
Even worse, when not uprooted, prejudices get passed on from one generation to the next and can fuel
discrimination, victimization, bigotry and hate. With awareness, education and action, we can weed them out.

How to Build a Prejudice-Free environment in family environment?

1. Celebrate holidays with extended family. Use such opportunities to encourage storytelling and share
personal experiences across generations.
2. Invite friends from backgrounds different from your own to experience the joy of your traditions and
customs.
3. Speak out against jokes and slurs that target people or groups. Silence sends a message that you are in
agreement. It is not enough to refuse to laugh.
4. Plan family outings to diverse neighborhoods in and around your community and visit local museums,
galleries and exhibits that celebrate art forms of different cultures.
5. Visit important landmarks in your area associated with the struggle for human and civil rights such as
museums, public libraries and historical sites.
6. Read and encourage your children to read books that promote understanding of different cultures as well
as those that are written by authors of diverse backgrounds.

Building a Prejudice-Free Zone in School

1. Recite a pledge against prejudice created by your student body, at a school-wide assembly. Display a
poster-size version of the pledge in a prominent area of your school and encourage people to sign it.

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2. Establish a Diversity Club that serves as an umbrella organization to promote harmony and respect for
differences.
3. Invite a motivational speaker who is a recognized civil or human rights leader to address an all-school
assembly.
4. Organize an essay contest whose theme is either a personal experience with prejudice or a success story
in the fight against it.
5. Create an anti-prejudice slogan for your school that could be printed as a bumper sticker and sold in the
wider community to raise funds for these efforts.
6. Invite your district collector, police chief or a representative from the state government to speak to your
school about civil rights, hate crimes and other legal aspects of the fight against prejudice.
7. Designate a wall space on or near school grounds where graffiti with a harmonious and unifying message
can be written, drawn or painted.
8. Meet with food services at your school to discuss the possibility of featuring ethnic cuisines on a regular
basis.
9. Advocate for the production of school plays that are sensitive to multiculturalism and incorporate a variety
of roles and perspectives representing a diverse cast, audience and story.
10. Ensure that musical selections of school bands and choruses are culturally diverse

Building a Prejudice-Free Zone In Your Community

1. Establish a Human Rights Commission and a Community Watch Group in your city/town.
2. Organize a local multicultural committee that serves as an umbrella organization for groups which raise
awareness about prejudice and provide support for cultural events, holiday programs or community efforts
that promote intergroup harmony
3. Petition government officials to issue a proclamation making your city/town a prejudice-free zone.
4. Plan a community-wide "Walk/Run Against Hate" in which sponsored participants would donate all
monies pledged to an anti-bias or other human rights organization.
5. Become aware of your city/town's demographics and compare it to others around the state to better
understand the diversity in your community.
6. Hold a city-wide Human Rights Day.
7. Suggest to your local newspaper that it devote a corner of the editorial page each month to at least one
opinion piece relating to anti-prejudice and pro-diversity themes

Fundamental Moral Attitudes

Note: This is another perspective through which moral attitudes can be dealt with.

Moral values are the highest among all-natural values. Goodness, purity, truthfulness, humility of man has always
ranked higher than genius, brilliancy, exuberant vitality, than the beauty of nature or of art, than the stability and
power of a state. But, how can man participate in these moral values? Are they given to him by nature like the beauty
of his face, his intelligence, or a lively temperament? No, they can only grow out of conscious and free attitudes. A
man himself must essentially cooperate for their realization. Free attitudes basically mean a strong correlation between
attitudes and behaviour that is a person acts mostly in accordance with his attitudes rather than as per the situation and
materialistic benefits.
Some of the most important and fundamental moral attitudes have been discussed below which helps a person to
behave as per his morality.
 Reverence: Reverence is "a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration (adoration, worship)".
The word "reverence" in the modern day is often used in relationship with religion. This is because religion often
stimulates the emotion through recognition of God, the supernatural, and the ineffable. Reverence involves a
humbling of the self in respectful recognition of something perceived to be greater than the self. Thus religion is
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 commonly a place where reverence is felt. However, similar to awe, reverence is an emotion in its own right, and
can be felt outside of the realm of religion
It has often been seen that groups are apt to make better decisions when they do so with a sense of reverence; that is,
when they are serious and focused, when group members feel that something special is happening, when there is extra
respect for the moment and for each other. Reverence is associated with a sense of humility; a sense that there is more
happening here than I alone can comprehend or control. Indeed, that’s the thing about group decisions. It’s about more
than just me.
The fundamental attitude of reverence is the basis for all moral conduct toward our fellowmen and toward ourselves.
The basic attitude of reverence is the presupposition for every true love and is evident in justice toward others, in
consideration for the rights of another, for the liberty of another's decisions, in limiting one's own lust for power, and
in all understanding of another's rights.
 Faithfulness: is the concept of unfailingly remaining loyal to someone or something and putting that loyalty into
consistent practice, regardless of extenuating circumstances. Literally, it is the state of being full of faith in the
somewhat archaic sense of steady devotion to a person, thing or concept.
The quality of "faithfulness" is the main structural support that holds up every institution which has been created and
is an integral part of a healthy civilization. Faithfulness in our political system is a must for it to be healthy and
beneficial. when unfaithfulness manifests itself in any system all kinds of ills will show up.
Marriage cannot exist without faithfulness as part of its main structure. Even the business sector has discovered the
usefulness of having employees being faithful to their particular job area, one of the things that have made the
Japanese business system work so well.
 Awareness of Responsibility: Reverence and true fidelity can only fully unfold themselves in a morally
conscious man. This moral awakedness is the soul of the fundamental moral attitude which we call "awareness of
responsibility." Only the man with this consciousness of responsibility can justly appreciate the impact of the
demands of the world of values.
He grasps not only the splendor, the inner beauty and majesty of the world of values, but also the sovereignty over us
which is objectively due to this world. He understands the implacable earnestness of their demands; he experiences
their personal call on us. He perceives the commands and the prohibitions which issue from values. He possesses that
awakedness toward the world of values which places his life under its sword of justice, which makes him at every
moment aware of his own position and duties in the cosmos, and makes him realize clearly that he is not his own
master. He knows that he cannot act freely according to his arbitrary pleasure, that he is not his own judge, but that he
must render an account to someone who is higher than he is.
 Veracity: Truthfulness or honesty is another of the basic presuppositions for a person's moral life. An untruthful
person not only embodies a great moral disvalue but he is crippled in his whole personality; the whole of his moral
life; everything in him which is morally positive is threatened by his untruthfulness, and even becomes doubtful.
His position toward the world of values as a whole is affected at its very core.
Veracity is the basis for all true community life, for every relationship of person to person, for every true love, for
every profession, for true knowledge, for self-education, and for the relationship of men to God. Veracity also refers to
honesty which is a facet of moral character and connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness,
and straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft,
etc.
 Goodness: Goodness is the very heart of the whole reign of moral values. It is by no accident that the term "good"
means moral value as such, and also the specific moral quality of goodness. What do we mean when we say that a
man irradiates goodness? We say this of a man when he is disposed to help, when he is kindly, just, when he is
ready to make sacrifices for others, when he pardons wrongs done to him, when he is generous, when he is full of
compassion.
All these qualities are specific forms and manifestations of love. This indicates the close connection which exists
between love and goodness. Love is, as it were, flowing goodness, and goodness is the breath of love.

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 Question Answers for Reference
Section A question: How could social influence and persuasion contribute to the success of BetiBachao,
BetiPadhao campaign of Indian government? (150 words, 10 marks)

Answer. Child sex ratio, which is defined as number of females per 1000 males in 0-6 age group, declined
from 927 in 2001 to 919 in 2011.Various laws like PCPNDT (1994) do exist in India, but their gross violation
shows that punishment is not acting as deterrent for people. In this context social influence and persuasion can
be used as effective tool to successfully implement of BetiBachao, BetiPadhao campaign.
Social influence occurs when one's emotions, opinions, and behaviors are affected by others in the society. It
is a broad term that relates to many different phenomena like conformity, obedience and persuasion. Certain
techniques are:
a. Social institution including family school, college, youth clubs, employment institution etc. must lay
emphasis on educating younger generation about the equality of gender as they are the ones who have
fresh outlook and can act to bring sustainable results.
b. Ensuring adequate safety to girl child and women cohesively by all members of society and providing
them their adequate opportunities by authorities will remove the fear of raising a girl child.
c. Removing evil practice of dowry as a collective initiative of society will help removing biasness against
girl child.
d. Government support in terms of education subsidy, reservation in state employment, leadership
opportunity in legislative assembly and parliament etc.
Persuasion is a technique of social influence to change the attitude of people. It can be effectively used in the
context of BetiBacahoBetiPadhao as follows:
a. Role modeling - Popularising success stories of women like Geeta and BabitaPhogat, P.V Sindhu, Sakshi
Malik etc. to show that girl child also brings fame, glory and pride to the family and nation.
b. Incentive - Cash incentive, SukanyaSamridhiYojana
c. Debates, deliberations, discussions on importance of gender equality.
d. TV plays, NukkadNatak, documentaries, newspaper reports etc
e. Emotional appeals through campaigns like selfie with daughter
f. Providing good schools for girls with appropriate facilities so that the parents can showcase their changed
attitude.
Healthy child sex ratio is linked with economic progress of a country. Efforts in this direction can help India
achieve various other socio-economic goals.

Case study 1: You have been working as a chief medical officer in a rural district of Uttar Pradesh. The
health department of the state has asked you to implement a family planning project that involves free
distribution of contraceptive pills and condoms in your district, which has seen a large rise of population
in the last two decades. However, the district is marred with low literacy rate and use of contraceptive
techniques is considered tabooed and irreligious by the local population. Few religious leaders are giving
explicit directions to people for not using such products. Your administrative staff, which includes a
substantial number of local residents, is also not very optimistic about the success of the project. In this
context: (250 words, 20 marks)
a) What are the ethical issues involved in the case?
b) What steps you will take in order to motivate your staff and persuade local people for the successful
implementation of the project.

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Answer: unfortunately, the use of contraceptives in India is largely influenced by the dictates of religious
faith of people. This is because sex is treated as having no value except for reproduction; therefore, hindering
reproduction encourages sinful uses of sex.
There are many ethical issues involved in this context:
 My virtues of empathy, moral courage, perseverance and public interest will be tested in this situation.
 stable and healthy population which is in the national interest
 trust and credibility between citizen and government agencies, which should be increased for better
governance
 efficiency and effectiveness of government institutions and work culture
 Right to follow one’s own religious beliefs and traditions
 Right to dignified life of children whose parents are not able to provide the same due to huge family
burden.
 Right to self-determination of women in India is often violated on religious grounds
 Illiteracy among people which allows some religious leaders to take advantage of them my mis-
interpreting the religion.
 Optimism and dedication on the part of officers of the medical office
 Commitment of government employees towards government policies and programs.
 Injustice with the children who will not get better facilities and environment due to population explosion
 Gandhi’s Talisman: the burden of religious taboos will fall upon the poorest sections of society.
Thus, it is in the interest of all that this project becomes a success. However, use of force or direct confrontation
may only lead to more problems and is also not warranted in a democracy. Such situations can only be resolved
through social influence and persuasion. Thus, I would take following steps as a chief medical officer:
 I will have to motivate the officials first for the sustainability of this program. Showing my leadership
quality for their motivation I will go to the field for the awareness campaign and distribution of
contraceptive pills and condoms.
 Special 5-minute programs and other advertisements can be aired on the local TV and radio channels in
the mother tongue of the people.
 I will request the local MLA to address the campaign which will influence the cognitive component of the
people. As people are usually familiar with MLA this can make a large difference.
 With the help of young students of colleges, NukkadNataks (street plays) can be carried out at every square
of the district and villages for percolating this awareness and changing the perception of the people.
 The female officials or volunteers like ASHA workers should be made responsible for spreading this
message to the females of the district and to solve their queries. With this, female can openly talk about
their issues which they are facing and we can gather helpful information which may be useful for making
this campaign successful.
 The team of youth and elder persons should be clubbed for each locality and villages who will make people
understand that contraceptives and religion are separate issues. And this initiative is for their coming
children and grandchildren. Such clubbing will be helpful for knowing the attitude of all age groups and
thus we can work according to it.
 Social comparison in terms of controlled population and increase in literacy should be put in front of all
the people by giving the example of Kerala.
 Role models can be invited to campaign in support of the project.
 Telling people about the benefits of government projects which are only limited to the first two children.
 For long term, sex education should be provided to the students in the schools and colleges through various
seminars so that in future they will give importance to family planning.
Religion, low literacy and rationality often clashes with each other and makes the process of development
slow in a society. This also makes the society vulnerable to the diseases like AIDS. It is a duty of the state to
direct the society towards the right path and should deliver the people what they deserve. This will be in the
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interest of nation, as it will lower the health expenditure. The same expenditure can be used to literate the
people of that district making strong human capital for the country.

Attitude Quotes
1. Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can
help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
2. Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how
well you do it. Lou Holtz
3. Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. Winston Churchill
4. Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character. Albert Einstein
5. Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.
Earl Nightingale
6. Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it can't be
done. Bo Bennett
7. You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations.
Zig Ziglar
8. Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one. Hans Selye
9. Abhorrence of apartheid is a moral attitude, not a policy. Edward Heath
10. The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of
mind. James Truslow Adams
11. The only disability in life is a bad attitude. Scott Hamilton
12. A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug. Patricia Neal
13. Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions; it is governed by our mental attitude. Dale
Carnegie
14. Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they
have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful,
conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results. William James
15. The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society. Mark Skousen

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