Prejudice & Discrimination

Psychology 40S

What is prejudice?

• Prejudice is an attitude toward a group that leads people to evaluate members of that group
negatively—even though they have never met them
• It involves two things: cognition and emotion
• Cognitive level – prejudice is linked to expectations that members of the target group will behave
poorly in the workplace or public, or engage in criminal behaviour or terrorism
• Emotional level – associated with negative feelings, such as fear, dislike, or hatred
• Prejudice is connected with avoidance, aggression, and discrimination

What is discrimination?

• Behaviour that results from prejudice

What kind of groups have experienced discrimination?

• Women, gays, lesbians, older people, ethnic groups e.g., African Americans, Asian Americans,
Latin Americans, Irish Americans, Jewish Americans, and Native Americans

What are examples of discrimination?

• Denial of access to jobs, voting, and housing

• Overt and covert behaviors, including microaggressions, or indirect or subtle behaviors (e.g.,
comments) that reflect negative attitudes or beliefs about a nonmajority group

What is racism?

• Racism is the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, as to
distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another

The forms of racism:

• Explicit racial prejudice and discrimination by individuals/institutions

• Structural or environmental racism in policies or (e.g., attendance policies that favor a majority
group).
• Unconscious beliefs, stereotypes, and attitudes toward racial groups in the form of implicit bias
(e.g., assuming limited ability when students speak non-standard English or fearful responses to
verbal or physical behavior of non-White students
• Modern symbolic racism: when people deny the continued existence of racial inequality while
contributing to discrimination through ingroup favouritism for the dominant racial group

What is stereotyping?

• Erroneous (wrong) assumptions that all members of a group share the same traits or
characteristics
• E.g., incorrect assumptions such as “are women good drivers? Are gays + lesbians are unfit for
military service?”

Can there be positive stereotypes?

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Psychology 40S

• “Good things come in pretty packages” – attractive people are judged and treated more
positively than their unattractive peers
• We expect attractive people to be poised, elegant, popular, intelligent, successful in their jobs
and marriages
• Attractive people are more likely to be judged innocent of crimes in mock jury experiments and
receive less severe sentences.

How does attitude tie in?

• People who are susceptible to prejudice tend to be low in agreeableness and low in openness to
experience

What are the sources of prejudice? Why are people prejudiced?

1. Dissimilarity
• We tend to like people who share our attitudes
• People of different religions and races often have different backgrounds, giving rise to
dissimilar attitudes
2. Social conflict
• There are often sources of economic (money) and social conflict between different races
and religions around the world
3. Social learning
• Children imitate their parents, and the parents reinforce that behaviour when it occurs,
because it shares their views
4. Information processing
• Prejudices act as cognitive filters through which we view the social world
• and we see people as “familiar and foreign” and “good and bad”
5. Social categorization
• We tend to divide into “us and them”
• People view those who belong to their own group (the in-group) more favourably than
the out-group (outsiders)
• Isolation from the outgroup means that people will maintain these stereotypes

How can we combat prejudice?

1. Encourage intergroup contact and cooperation

a. Prejudice encourages us to avoid other groups, but meeting other groups is a way of
breaking down prejudices
b. Intergroup contact heightens awareness of individual variation & leads humans to
abandon stereotypical thinking
c. Intergroup contact is especially effective when people are striving to meet common goals
2. Present examples of admired individuals within groups that are often stigmatized
a. There was a study done where negative attitudes against African Americans could be
modified by presenting photographs of admired individuals
3. Attack discriminatory behaviour
a. It can be easier to modify people’s behaviour than to alter their feelings
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Psychology 40S

b. Cognitive dissonance theory makes a comeback…

i. When we change people’s behaviour, their feelings may follow along because
their mind can’t handle the discrepancy
4. Hold discussion forums
a. Seek out workshops & discussion groups on gender, race, and diversity
b. This can be done in person/online
5. Examine your own beliefs
a. Prejudice is in everyone, but it is easy to focus on prejudice of others
b. Are you idle if you see or hear something? Or do you say something?