Prejudice

Prejudice Definition

People who are prejudiced hold negative views of certain people based on insufficient or incomplete levels of knowledge of them. The definition of prejudice in psychology differs from discrimination because discrimination is when you act on a prejudiced view.

Research Investigating Prejudice

Research has many valuable applications in society, such as finding ways to reduce conflict between social groups and society. One can reduce intergroup bias by getting people of various groups to identify themselves as one. As individuals will begin to see out-group members as in-group, they may start to have a positive rather than negative bias towards them. Gaertner called the process of changing views of out-group members becoming in-group re-categorisation.

However, there are many issues and debates that the nature of prejudice in social psychology research may raise. Many psychologists believe research should be carried out scientifically and empirically. However, it is difficult to investigate the nature of prejudice empirically. Social psychology research tends to rely on self-report techniques such as questionnaires.

Fig 1 - People stand up against prejudice.

Prejudice in Psychology

The research on prejudice in psychology has found that internal factors (such as personality) and external factors (such as social norms) can cause prejudice.

Cultural Influences

Social norms are usually directly related to cultural influences, which can also prejudice. This explains how environmental factors can contribute to prejudice. The differences between individualistic (Western society) and collectivist (Eastern society) can lead to prejudice.

Personality

Psychology has attempted to identify individual differences, such as if people with certain personality styles are more likely to be prejudicial. Christopher Cohrs examined this through several experiments.

Cohrs et al. (2012): Experiment 1 procedure

The study was carried out in Germany and collected data from 193 native Germans (those with disabilities or who were homosexual). The experiment aimed to identify if personality styles (the big five, right-wing authoritarianism; RWA, social dominance orientation; SDO) could predict prejudice.

The participants and an acquaintance of theirs were asked to complete a questionnaire that measured participants' personality and attitudes (two questionnaires assessing prejudice by measuring attitudes towards homosexuality, disabilities and foreigners).

The purpose of asking peers to complete the questionnaires was to identify what they believed should be the participants’ responses. Cohrs et al. could identify if participants answered in a socially desirable way. If this is the case, this will affect the validity of the results.

Cohrs et al. (2012): Experiment 2 Procedure

The same questionnaires were used on 424 native Germans. Similar to experiment 1, the study used an opportunity sample to recruit participants. The difference between the studies was that this one recruited twins from the Jena Twin Registry and a peer.

One twin was asked to complete the questionnaire based on their attitudes (participant), whilst the other twin and peer had to report based on the participant. The role of the other twin and peer is to act as a control in the experiment. To identify if the participant’s results are valid.

Nature of Prejudice in Social Psychology

The nature of prejudice in social psychology explanations focuses on how social group conflicts explain prejudice. Both theories suggest that people form social groups based on who they identify with, the in-group. The individual starts to have prejudicial and discriminatory thoughts of the out-group either to boost their self-esteem or for competitive reasons.

Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1986)

Tajfel (1979) proposed the social identity theory, which says that social identity is formed based on group membership. There are two important terms to keep in mind when understanding prejudice in social psychology.

Groups that we identify with may be based on similarities in race, gender, sociocultural class, favourite sports teams, and age, to name a few. Tajfel described it as a normal cognitive process to categorise people into groups socially. The social group that people identify with can influence an individual’s views and attitudes towards people in the out-groups.

Tajfel and Turner (1986) described three stages in the social identity theory:

1. Social categorisation: People are grouped into social categories based on their traits, and individuals begin to identify with the social groups they have similarities.

2. Social identification: Accept the group’s identity the individual identifies with (in-group) as their own.

3. Social comparison: The individual compares the in-group to the out-group.

The social identity theory explains that prejudice results from in-group members attempting to criticise the out-group for boosting their self-esteem. This can give rise to prejudice and discrimination towards the out-group, such as racial discrimination.

Fig. 2 - Members of the LGBTQ+ community may often face prejudice.

Realistic conflict theory

The realistic conflict theory proposes that conflict and prejudice arise due to groups competing for limited resources, causing conflict between the groups. This theory describes how situational factors (environmental factors rather than the self) cause prejudice.

This finding shows that prejudice between groups may result from situational factors such as competing against each other. In real-life settings such as education, this conflict may arise in terms of seeking attention or popularity.

Subtle Prejudice

Sometimes, prejudice can be overt and obvious. However, other times, prejudice can be more hidden and harder to identify. Subtle prejudice in psychology may be described as benign bigotry.

Kristin Anderson (2009) identified these primary myths that people often make when they are subtly prejudiced:

1. The Other ('All those people look alike')

2. Criminalization ('Those people must be guilty of something')

3. Backlash Myth ('All feminists just hate men')

4. Myth of Hypersexuality ('Gay people flaunt their sexuality')

5. Neutrality Myth ('I'm colorblind, I'm not a racist')

6. Myth of Merit ('Affirmative action is just reverse racism')

Prejudice Examples

Prejudice can creep into several different spaces in society including education, the workplace, and even the grocery store. On any given day, we can interact with many different people who identify with a group other than our own. Prejudice is something that any one of us may engage in but we can catch ourselves with regular self-reflection.

So what are some examples of prejudice that can occur either from ourselves or others?